Kelvin Forgo stands among the vinyl at the store he's run for the last decade.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Growing up as a child in the 1960s, Kelvin Forgo's home was full of music.

His mother was a huge Elvis fan and the house echoed with 1950s rock and roll, played on 7-inch records, on what he calls a "kick-ass" tube console stereo.

The 1970s arrived and with it Forgo's love of hard rock, as he spent his pay cheques on Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd vinyl.

Fast forward 40 years and Forgo found himself working part-time in a used record in Vernon, playing vinyl and trying to wind down from his full-time job as an armed security van driver.

It was only when the shop's owner decided to pull the plug on the business that Forgo's brother gave him some advice.

"He bought a little... sprint race car. And he says, 'Let's go sprint car racing, and you can own a record shop,'" Forgo said. "And I'm like, what? Where did this come from... (but) that is what ended up happening."

While owning a record store had been a fantasy in the back of his mind since childhood, both brothers - now in their 50s - decided to make their boyhood dreams a reality.

Now, after living that childhood fantasy for a decade Forgo has decided to close Record City.

"It was my dream job," he said. "There's a couple of times I had to pinch myself and go, I actually own and run a record shop and I make a living doing it."

However, making a living doing it hasn't been easy and Forgo openly admits he's paid himself the minimum wage all these years.

Now, at the age of 63, he's decided to call it a day.

Customers browse at the store.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Sitting behind the counter at the record store, Forgo smiles and greets customers as they walk into the store. He's the polar opposite of the stereotypical grouchy and pretentious record store owner.

"I try to be friendly and make people feel comfortable to hang out here for a while," he says.

He chats about his passion for music as an early Heart record plays on the turntable. The store is full of racks of vinyl and 1970s-era hi-fi equipment, which Forgo can often be found tinkering with at the back of the store.

Like many others, he says it's the "warmth" of the sound of vinyl which is why he loves it so much.

He's collected records since his teenage days in the 1970s, although didn't embrace the disco of the era which he says he "absolutely despised" at the time.

However, like many others he got rid of all his records when CDs came out – sold on the promise of no scratches and better digital quality.

It was only in the mid-2000s he rediscovered records again.

He bought an amplifier and the seller threw in a turntable. He pulled out Dire Straits Brothers in Arms LP and put it on.

"And was immediately blown away by how good it sounded," he said. "And I'm like, why did I give up on vinyl when it sounded this freaking good? So I tried a couple of other records, and they all sounded that good."

After that, he says he went "down the rabbit hole."

At the time it was easy to find boxes of used records at yard sales and thrift stores. He'd pay $50 for a box which less than 20 years later would be worth thousands.

"I was scooping it up left, right, and centre until my entire living room was filled," he said.

He ended up with about 4,000 – more records than he could ever listen to in his lifetime.

Once he acquired the shop he set about moving it and scouted around Vernon for a good location.

Not all records are worth much.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

He found an empty restaurant at the current location on 30 Avenue half a block from Highway 97. As a former restaurant, he thought the space would be great as he had a small stage and enough room to put on live music.

He gave the landlord what he calls a "crazy, crazy, lowball offer" but to his surprise, the landlord said yes.

While he'd never run a record store before, Forgo points to the fact that he'd never fired a gun before he became an armed security guard.

He said running the business was a little scary at first but the first couple of years went really well.

As vinyl began its resurgence, the demographic of his customers changed.

"It was mainly guys my age... and always men," he said.

Now, there are plenty of teenagers and 20-somethings buying vinyl and about a third of his customers are women.

He once saw a 12-year-old in a Frank Sinatra T-shirt flicking through his jazz section.

"I'm like, OK, there's hope for today's youth," he said, adding that the same kid - now in his early 20s - still comes in and buys jazz records.

Along with the customer demographics changing, what people are buying has also changed.

To his surprise cassette tapes have once again become somewhat popular, and more recently CDs are starting to sell again.

In a digital age, it appears people want something tangible that they can hold.

Live music is also put on at the back of the store.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Over the years Forgo said he also changed his opinion about music.

While he wasn't interested in electronic music when it came out in the 1980s he now has an extensive Depeche Mode collection. He'll even listen to some of the disco music he despised as a teenager.

A common misconception people have is that the old record collection they have sitting in the basement is worth a fortune.

Looking around the store, most records are priced between $10 and $25, and there are racks and racks of $5 albums.

However, he doesn't sometimes stumble on rare and therefore pricey gems.

Someone once brought in a collection containing rare Japanese jazz records. Each one was worth more than $100 and the person had no idea.

He was once presented with a couple of Alan Lomax records which the owner didn't know what they were. Lomax travelled around the Deep South recording music in the 1930s and onwards and the records brought into Record City were worth $275 and $150.

Forgo said he's had to call customers back and offer more money, after finding pricey gems hidden in collections he'd brought.

Over the years Forgo's passion for music hasn't waned, and along with selling music, the store has put on hundreds of live shows over the last decade. He says he loves the live music, but hates the organization and left the live music for others to organize.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Making money has been the difficult bit.

He looked at selling new records but said the margins were too small to make it work.

"I wish I had been able to make it a little better, but this is what it is," he said.

When the cost of one record can be more than the monthly cost of a streaming service, it's remarkable he managed to live out his boyhood dream for the last decade.

So what has he enjoyed about it the most?

"(The) first crack at good vinyl," he joked, before adding, "the people."

He has numerous loyal and regular customers many who just stop by for a chat.

"When I walk away, that's what I'm going to miss. I'm going to miss the daily people," he said.

He plans to close the doors of Record City in December forever but has recently been approached by someone.

"So (it) might not be totally the end of the record store," he said. "We'll see. We'll see."

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