SURREY 鈥� With so many cardboard boxes of vinyl records to sift through, Mark Smith is feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of them,鈥� Smith said nervously as he scanned the interior of , a store in Newton devoted to fixing and selling vintage sound equipment.
In a rear storage area rest boxes full of close to 40,000 titles culled from the collection of Howard Tsumura, who previously ran the record bins as an independent arm of Gord Sauck鈥檚 store operations.
Earlier this month, Smith acquired all that vinyl and, with the help of a half-dozen people, moved it from Tsumura鈥檚 house to the store on 78th Avenue.
鈥淣obody really knew how much of a hoarder he really was,鈥� Smith said with a laugh. 鈥淗e had a lot of good titles, and there is some stuff that wouldn鈥檛 sell, sure, but he was just overwhelmed and probably didn鈥檛 have a chance to get at the boxes and just go through them, of course, with his full-time job. He鈥檚 a busy guy.鈥�
In his 鈥渙ther鈥� life, Tsumura is an award-winning sports reporter who launched 鈥� a hub for high school and university athletics 鈥� after leaving his job in the print-journalism industry.
While many people know the humble Tsumura for his detailed sports coverage in Metro Vancouver, few know him as an avid record collector and, until recently, a seller of vinyl at the Innovative Audio store in Surrey.
鈥� RELATED STORY: , from 2015.
On Thanksgiving weekend, with Tsumura鈥檚 sale to Smith completed, the big move was on.
鈥淲e had 400 small U-Haul boxes that each fit 100 records, so that was 40,000 of them,鈥� Smith recalled. 鈥淵ou have to jam them in tight to maximize storage space, and that was 70 pounds each of boxes. It was all in his basement, so we halved the boxes to make them 35 pounds each, I guess.
鈥淭hat took us close to five hours, with a good crew, to pull them from his basement,鈥� Smith continued. 鈥淭hat was just 20,000 of them. The next Sunday, we got the other 20,000, which were stored in his heated garage. We just pulled them out with the hand dolly and out they went. That took us only a couple of hours.鈥�
Smith, who lives in Pitt Meadows, said he appreciates the variety of vinyl he bought from Tsumura, who had everything from classical to country in the collection.
鈥淭he thing is, we鈥檙e in the record-selling business, not the collecting business, and I think Howard had a hard time parting with some of these 鈥� I know he did, which is fine, because people do get attached to this stuff,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淎nd now we just want to get it out there, and we want the price to be right. I mean, I鈥檝e got so much stuff to move here, and at the rate he was going, he was almost collecting more than moving these records.鈥�
Over the past few years, with Tsumura鈥檚 guidance, Innovative Audio has become a go-to place for record collectors, and Smith is happy to be part of the action now.
鈥淚 like what I鈥檓 doing, and this is just an extension from working here in the stereo store,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚鈥檝e always wanted to take over from what Howard was doing, and I had my eye on it for a long time, but he was very reluctant to get out of it, but it finally happened. And when it happened, it happened fast, and it鈥檚 kind of overwhelming for me, too, because I have a lot of stuff to process and go through in the back.
鈥淚 know Gord wants his warehouse back,鈥� Smith added, 鈥渁nd he鈥檚 doing me a favour by storing all these boxes of records back there as I dwindle that 40,000 down, and around 25 per cent of that would be dollar records, I figure. There are so many titles that have a few marks and scratches on them, but we鈥檒l do a store thing and sell a bunch of dollar records, just to move them out. There鈥檒l be some good titles that people want.鈥�
Not surprisingly, Smith has some observations and opinions about vinyl records 鈥� their past, their future and why people continue to appreciate them in the age of digital audio technology.
鈥漋inyl never really died,鈥� he started, 鈥渂ut it did dwindle down, for sure. The biggest thing is, people want to hold something in their hand. Some people like the sound better, but the kids who like (vinyl) now, it鈥檚 about holding it, showing their friends. It鈥檚 a collection, it鈥檚 cool. You鈥檙e not going to say, 鈥楬ey, you want to see my MP3 file collection? They鈥檙e on my computer.鈥� So with that, you don鈥檛 physically own anything, even though you pay for it 鈥� or not, I guess. And people like the thrill of the hunt and come to places like this and find things they want. Even online you don鈥檛 get that, but here, you never know what you鈥檒l find.鈥�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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