Stephen Thirlwall
The Turning Point is the last store I shopped at before the COVID-19 lockdown and the first I went to as shops reopened. That’s because music is integral to our lives, going to The Turning Point is a great experience, and shopping there supports a long-established, local independent business.
First and foremost, the Turning Point is “a music store” selling used CDs and records. It’s located in an old converted two-storey house at 411 Cooper, just west of Bank.
The store specializes in rock in its many forms from the mid-1950s on: rock ‘n’ roll, mainstream pop & rock, classic rock, soul, R&B, psychedelia, indie & alt, Prog, Metal, electronica, and so on. Surprisingly, the store has always had a large selections of blues and international jazz from the 1940s to present, along with smaller sections for folk, Celtic, classical, world music, reggae & ska, country, male and female vocalists, and other categories. It also sells used DVDs and Blu-rays, and takes great care to provide clean and undamaged CDs and DVDs.
Its stock includes hard-to-find music. I have discovered superb albums I had not seen elsewhere in Ottawa and from bands whose music is barely known in Canada: for example, Prog bands Magenta and Big Big Train from Britain and leading jazz artists from Scandinavia (E.S.T. and Helge Lien Trio). There are also excellent CDs from various countries, in various languages (French, Swedish, Czech, Polish, Italian, to name a few). Did you know that Finland has exceptional rock and jazz musicians (e.g., Wigwam and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra)?
Three decades of selling music
Over the years, the Turning Point has had several owners and has been a family affair. In 1983, a Francophone couple (Yvan and his wife) owned the store, originally at the corner of Somerset and Lyon. At that point, it was just a record store, but an extremely good one. I remember it as being like a hobbit hole lined with bins of records.
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The store moved to its current location by the mid 1990s. Near the end of the 1990s, brothers Dan and Tom Gamble became owners. They were avid concertgoers and huge fans of the Beatles and other 60s and early 70s rock groups, as shown by rock memorabilia covering some walls. The Gambles organized the store further, building up its CD collection and starting to sell DVDs. Tom retired around 2014. Dan, while gradually retiring, took on his son-in-law Nick Beaton as store manager. Nick gained full ownership in June 2018.
I have a memory of going to the Turning Point before Yvan owned it, but neither Dan nor Nick are aware of this. If anyone can confirm it, please let Nick or The BUZZ know.
The current owner: Nick Beaton
Nick says “I am a father, sound engineer, musician, record shop owner and passionate music lover.” He juggles operating the store, family life with a daughter aged 7 and a son aged 4, and a musical career.
Nick used to try to control everything. Now, to balance things out, he has put family first. In the store, he relies on a strong team. In his musical writing, recording and performing, he is now pursing a more solo route. He also trains in martial arts.
Starting in 2006, Nick worked in an Ottawa sound studio working with artists including Snoop Doggy Dogg. Since 2009, he has been lead guitarist and singer with local rock group Autumns Cannon, which has recorded one album and opened for Peter Frampton at Bluesfest, as well as Bon Jovi, The Goo Goo Dolls, and ZZ Top. He is currently recording a solo album.
Being a local musician himself, Nick has added his own new character to the store’s operations.
He wants customers to feel “at home” when they are there – and uses their questions to determine store stock and learn more about music and film. Nick closely follows customer requests and researches different musical styles, performers, and labels. He says he continues to learn of new groups and different types of music, for example, Sir Lord Baltimore.
Nick sees himself as a curator making careful choices in buying CDs and organizing the store, drawing on both his store experience and musical background. His four staff members also help evaluate items based on their own backgrounds. They assess a CD’s condition, its musical era, the importance of its label, its genre, and how much it is on the fringes, and balance this against what will sell best, what is already in stock, and the store’s main focus.
Half their stock comes from purchasing large collections, which are placed on the shelves a few at a time. The rest comes through smaller specialized collections and small scale in-store buying from regular customers.
Some collections are made available through music collectors who decide to shed parts of their stash; some others are offered when the parents of grown-up children die and the next generation clear out their parents’ things.
Nick tested buying and selling new sealed vinyl, but this did not prove cost-effective. He hopes to add some live music in the store, but this may have to be after hours. The small shop size, its layout and interference with customers who just want to shop makes hosting performances difficult during regular hours. He is also considering having some independent film showings in the evenings.
Survival
The Turning Point survived the demise of the big music stores and, so far, the pandemic. There was a time when music shops were plentiful along every main street and in every shopping plaza, but most have disappeared. But a handful of small independent music stores continue, such as the Turning Point, Compact Music, Vertigo Records, and The Record Centre. Their smaller size may be an advantage: the bigger a company grows, Nick says, the more they lose sight of the smaller necessary details and their connection with customers.
He said the pandemic-required closure of the store for a long period was difficult but it survived, possibly due to a strong regular customer base. The Boxing Week sale last month brought in a significant amount of business, he said.
Wrap it up, take it home
Music is a deep part of our culture. It stimulates us, tells stories, gives us identity, feeds creativity, raises our spirits and can be very therapeutic in difficult times (think of the blues). Plus, music shops contribute to our economy.
Having a wonderful music store like the Turning Point (for me just a few minutes’ walk) is amazing. But I do have to pace my purchasing because there are hundreds of new items added to the shelves every week.
Nick concludes, “As the store enters its fourth decade in operation, I am grateful for all the personal inspiration it brings, as well as the connection to its well-rooted legacy within the city of Ottawa. It has been an honour to serve the Ottawa music and film community.”