The past year... and, yes, it won't be long before it's been a full year of this global pandemic situation... has been pretty nutty. It has affected people in many ways... their health and the health of their family and friends, their jobs, their income, and their general security and safety as they try to manage daily life, often from the confines of their home for extended periods.
I have been lucky enough to have retained my job, and have continued working. I envy those who can work from home, but being in the retail service industry, I am right out there among co-workers and the shopping public. It can be pretty stressful at times.
It's during a time like this that the little things in life matter a lot, too. Like the stuff that helps keep us physically and mentally fit. How we maintain at least a somewhat positive outlook, and escape from the grim reality for a while through sports, exercise, entertainment and hobbies.
Thankfully, I have a lot of interests, so when I'm not working, I can turn to any number of diversions. Music, movies, shows, books, writing (this blog, movie reviews), exercise workouts, art, and so on.
But the world has been a different landscape as far as accessing certain forms of entertainment. While movies and shows and music can be gotten through online streaming services, there's been a noticeable decline in the amount, and even the quality, of the content that's available.
Since good movies and shows weren't in abundance in 2020, I leaned more on books and music for entertainment. And when it came to record collecting, some of the fun was gone. Gone were the outings to the flea market, record store browsing, and local record shows. Getting out and physically handling records, and mingling a bit with fellow collectors, went right out the window. In my area, some shops recently re-opened, though with COVID restrictions in place... like masks required, physical distancing, and limiting the number of shoppers in the store at one time. I will just skip the stores until things have calmed way down.
What I have been doing is carrying on with online record shopping, though I purchased a lot less in 2020 than I had in previous years. The Discogs website came in handy for locating vinyl LPs (and the odd CD) at reasonable prices. In my effort to support local or local-ish stores and sellers, I've avoided the corporate giants, like Amazon. Amazon has enough money... and enough of my money, so I'll take a break from them. I'd much rather give my money and support to smaller and/or independent businesses that are either in my city or at least in my country. I broke that rule only the odd time, shopping mainly from Canadian sellers. And I bought direct from the artist occasionally, too, whether Canadian or not. That way, I know my dollars are helping the artist out far more.
Some of these decisions are important to me regardless of the COVID situation. Why not support your own city's or country's economy over that of another nation? I just feel better doing that.
So I did some homework (Google searches) to find record, music, and media stores in my region, or not far off. Now I am happily supporting a couple more Canadian businesses that I'd previously never dealt with. They are Sonic Boom and Pop Music, both Toronto stores with online services. The bonus is that I'm keeping my money within the country, shipping costs are much lower, and shipments generally arrive much faster. Hard to argue with this logic.
Let's keep the record industry alive. Support the artists as much as you can, and support your local and independent record stores, whether they're brick-and-mortar or online. In these troubled times, music still matters... it soothes and de-stresses, energizes and lifts your mood.
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