Red interviews Gord for Global News
6
MAY
2015
MAY
2015
0
What
a roller coaster ride this month has been for us – namely with our website.
Firstly we want to apologize to our faithful customers that have been so patient with us as we try to get our website back up and operational. We unfortunately were hacked – this meant our website was down for most of October. We know there is still a ways to go to get it back to where it was, so please have just a bit more patience.
Our equipment for sale pages are back up and running with inventory updated weekly, as per usual, and pictures added too.
We will keep you in the loop as everything is brought up to speed. If you find something that is not working, please just let us know and we’ll get it updated as soon as possible.
Until next month,
Susan
21
OCT
2014
OCT
2014
Can you feel it? A touch of fall is in the air. Seems like we just turn around and summer is over.
But it’s also a great time to try out some new music! With so many options available nowadays getting great deals is not a problem. It’s like going into a used book store, not so hard paying $5.00 used vs $25.00 for a new book in order to check out a new author – it’s the same way with music. How can you go wrong with a $0.99 album? We have an amazing record room where something new is always coming in. Be sure to stop in and go upstairs and see what we have available. So many specials and hard to find items are being brought in.
Estate sales and moving to smaller digs and garage sale items are coming in fast and furious. We’re processing as fast as we can and items that are available for sale are put up on our website with pictures and prices almost weekly. Be sure to check out the revamped website. Let us know if you are having any issues with it, but we’re almost done and we think it’s an improvement.
As always, if you need more information, please stop into our store. We try to spend as much time as we can with you to answer all your concerns thoroughly. If not, or you’re not local, send us an email. We’ll help as soon as possible, but again, general inquiries are handled as we have time.
We look forward to an Indian summer (okay, we’re hoping for one) and inviting old and new customers to stop in sometime, we’d be happy to see you.
Until next month,
Susan
2
SEP
2014
SEP
2014
We got started in the audio business because, like you, we have a passion for music. We are always looking for cool and interesting ways of reproducing it through devices that not only sound incredible, but can be individually selected to accommodate modest budgets.
Although we originally started our business with one foot deeply entrenched in the ‘home theater’ field (including full installations of dedicated rooms and multimedia applications), we had the other firmly planted on trade-ins and ‘vintage audio’ equipment. Over the first few years we came to realize that the home theater market was too volatile and in 2007 made the decision to simply concentrate on used two-channel audio equipment, including our real passion – vintage gear.
8
JUL
2014
JUL
2014
June 2014
UPDATE: I’ve added lots of pictures to our 2014 Garage Sale page – check it out!
This month the big highlight for us is our Annual Garage Sale…..it’s our 7th ONE! Where does the time go!
It’s going to be our biggest event EVER!! I know we say that every year, but it’s true – it keeps growing and growing because the love of music is growing! The weather is looking to cooperate. We have some amazing guests that will be onsite for signing and picture taking and we have people arriving from Hawaii, Los Angeles and Washington State coming to see what all the hoopla is about. This is the one event in North America every music enthusiast wishes they had in their neck of the woods. We will have lots of photos throughout the day on Facebook and afterwards on our website for those who can’t make it. We know this is going to be a fun day to chat about the industry – where it was and where it’s going. Vancouver is THE hot spot for vintage audio!
Gord & I always look forward to this event (okay…. The DAY of the event we enjoy – the prep work is daunting) as we get to chat with so many of our customers that can’t come in during business hours as often as they’d like and we can be really busy in the shop and not able to catch up as much as we’d like, but it’s always fun to hear what they’ve been up to when they come in on this day. Be sure to say hi to us!
Our business is always changing and this time we’ve spruced up our turntable section with an improved display area. This is part and parcel because we now have available a talented gentleman – Geoffrey Deering, who has refinished a lot of our speakers we have/had for sale in the past few months; built the “soon” to open record room display cabinets and the Altec 19s you might have seen on Facebook. Please call us if you need any woodworking or wood refinishing work! He is simply amazing.
Have to get more work done, but we are looking forward to a great summer!
Until next month,
Susan
7
JUN
2014
JUN
2014
Yippee! Spring is in full bloom and yes, those ‘Garage Sale’ signs are starting to pop up on many a street corner in neighborhoods across Vancouver!
Recently, we purchased the assets of a repair shop in North Vancouver, and after boxing, packing and moving three truckloads of goods, we have many weeks ahead of us to unpack, sort and inventory literally hundreds of thousands of much needed (and very hard to find ) parts required for our repair department.
We are also very pleased to announce that we are now offering full wood restoration in our long list of services, and pictures / details will be available soon on our website.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be digging deep within the hidden (and some forgotten about) racks of audio gear in our back warehouse. We are trying to make as much room as possible by clearing out stock that has been there for years – yes, YEARS! – and not used for anything. In most cases, these were items that were purchased as bulk buys, and simply put away to be dealt with at a later date. Well, that ‘later date’ has come and gone so we need to clear house! Look for SKIDS of cool audio components being offered in our upcoming – and now nationally famous – Vintage Audio & Record Garage Sale.
Over the past month we have been running radio ads on the Red Robinson Show – called the ‘Red Rock Diner’ – on CISL AM 650 Sunday afternoons from noon to 4 pm. This station is found on the AM dial at – you guessed it – 650. We have had a great response from both customers and listeners and wanted to say ‘thank you’ to all those that heard these ads and came to our shop to see what the hoopla was all about. We hope that it was worth the visit!
May has traditionally been a quiet month for our shop but this year we are already seeing that this is not the case. With tons of new gear being put on the sales floors, our repair department running at full tilt, and even our speaker department is seeing a huge increase it looks like it’s going to be one busy month!
With that, I guess I need to get back to work putting those skids of goodies together!
Until next month,
Gord
6
MAY
2014
MAY
2014
Can you believe that we are already 4 months into the new year? Yikes!
Ok, so April is traditionally the start of ‘garage sale season’ so this is a great opportunity to remind people that our 7th annual ‘Vintage Audio & Record Swap Meet’ is happening in a mere two months time – June 8th to be exact. Yup, already the 60 spots we have allocated are starting to fill so now is the time to bundle up all those cool items collected since last year, and book a space to sell them off for more great items! We will be advertising this awesome event heavily due to the rumoured guests we have slated so spots will go quick! Details can be found here
A quick reminder for those that may not know: WE NO LONGER HAVE RECORDS FOR SALE IN OUR STORE. We struggled with this for quite a while and universally decided that its better to do what we do best which is audio equipment. There are quite a few awesome record stores around including Krazy Bobs Music Emporium (http://www.cyberspaceit.com/krazybob/), Apollo Music (http://www.audiophilerecords.ca/), Neptoon Records (http://neptoon.com/) and many, many others. When you want to buy your records, check out these great stores. When you need awesome gear to listen to those records, come see us 🙂
Over the past few months, we have had an amazing amount of people using our ‘layaway’ service. For others, they had no idea we even offered this so for those in the latter group, check out our layaway page (http://www.iavscanada.com/layaway/) for more info. If you want that really cool piece but short of bread then this is definitely for you!
More great news! Ever since we opened our speaker repair decision things have been absolutely incredible. In fact, we are now getting speaker drivers shipped to us from all over North America! How cool is that? In addition, we are proud to announce that we are now an authorized repair depot for Tannoy speakers! Yup, this just became ‘official’ three weeks ago and already the news went Canada wide.
You know, I have to include here all the awesome people that make Innovative Audio what it is. This was my dream, my “grand idea” to have a different kind of audio shop and yet its the people behind the scenes that truly make this place so special. So, to Brian, Susan, Edwin, James (J.R), Marc, Tim and the other Mark – thank you. You guys are without a doubt simply the best.
With that, I have to continue getting the back warehouse cleaned up. With the new forklift acquisition we now need to start getting things into their place – and off the floor so we can bring in more stuff!
Until next month,
Gord
2
APR
2014
APR
2014
March is the month where spring usually starts showing her colours and green buds start peeking through the ground and the weather starts to get a bit warmer BUT it seems that Vancouver just didn’t get that memo! Yup, starting March 1st it started snowing – AGAIN! We had a good snowfall the week before so for those that love snow (that’s me!) this was a cool surprise!
So what better way to spend a snow day (or any day off for that matter) than to fire up the stereo, spin some vinyl, and maybe have a coffee or two.
Last month, we did not have the time to do all the updates that transpired and for that, we apologize. So here is our opportunity to catch you up on what has happened so that you are informed.
The first is that we are no longer selling records at our store – sorry. Over the past years we have had an incredible relationship with Apollo Music but due to time and efforts it has been decided that both companies should do what they do best. In Apollo’s case its records, and they are definitely the go-to place if you love vinyl. You can check out their website here http://www.audiophilerecords.ca/
The second major news is that Innovative Audio is now the new home for the Red Robinson DJ Booth. This iconic piece was displayed for years at the Red Robinson Show Theater in Coquitlam until the recent name change. With the huge help from both Jamie Anesty and Red Robinson himself, we purchased this item with the full intention of keeping it original, open to the public and FULLY OPERATIONAL! The booth is housed in its own room that will be reminiscent of an actual broadcasting room. Over the next while, we will be adding memorabilia, sound dampening and other cool things so things may take a bit before they are finally completed. If you want to have your picture taken behind the mic of this incredible piece of history, drop on by and we will make it happen. A quick story can be read here: http://redrobinson.com/blog/?p=4064
Holiday closure: March 23rd, reopening on April 1st (no fooling!).
Like a lot of businesses, we know the importance of online media and social sites like twitter, Facebook and others. While we do not have an active twitter account, we DO have a Facebook page that we use to promote cool items, great deals and other interesting articles, news and events. Like us so you too can know all the specials we’re offering (*hint* we have one going on now until March 15th) https://www.facebook.com/#!/143594795699332/photos/a.154498537942291.32538.143594795699332/667804666611673/?type=1&theater
Oh yeah, I thought that with the snow falling that this would be a great time to announce that we have set a date for our 7th Annual Vintage Audio & Record Swap Meet – June 8th so mark your calendars! We have confirmed that renowned journalist Brent Butterworth will be attending all the way from the deepest bowels of California so this is your opportunity to meet one of the best audio writers in the industry! We will also be having a few more surprises as this event draws near so stay tuned! Any persons wishing to book a spot (or spots) just give us a call.
As always, we are more than happy to answer or address any questions, qualms or concerns that you may have so please feel free to call us during normal store hours, or fire us an email at info@iavscanada.com.
Until next month,
Gordon
4
MAR
2014
MAR
2014
I first talked with Brent several years back when I wanted to get permission to re-print an awesome article he wrote back in 1997 when he was still with Home Theater magazine. It stuck with me all these years, because this article was dedicated to 8 track tapes, and this was a home theater magazine, written during a time when DVDs and digital sound reigned supreme!
15
JAN
2014
JAN
2014