New Westminster’s loss is the West End’s gain. Citing mediocre foot traffic at its previous location on 6th Street in the Royal City, Groove Cat Books and Records has packed up and relocated to 1823 Robson Street, not too far from Stanley Park.
Proprietors Cat and John Hughes have also brought their newest feline companion, Chester, to the store with them. Gotta love a book-and-record store with a cat in it!
“We want to say how excited we are to meet our new West End neighbours”, John Hughes told the Straight. “Cat and I actually started dating years ago when we were both living in the West End, so in many ways this move feels like coming home.”
It was always a pleasant drop-by checking in with John at the New West shop, and I do have a few serious vinyl scores I got off him over the years, including an OG Velvet Undergound Peel Slowly and See, an Adicts album, and a bizarro Vancouver rarity called Silent Space, put out by the “Silent Record Co.” located in Kits, with a catalogue number of 00. The album one-ups John Cage’s 4’33” by offering a full length LP with absolutely nothing on it.
Hughes was as amused as I was by the album, and priced it at what seemed to me to be a very reasonable $15.
Take note, however: all the other records at Groove Cat actually have sounds on them!
Groove Cat will also be expanding its publishing imprint, Cosmic Cranium Press, which to date has two titles: Canada Is Not the 51st F**king State: Canadians Face Off Against Donald Trump’s Worst Idea Ever, an anthology of essays by Canadian writers, and Dream-Punk: A Nightscape, which strives to “re-examine the dream as a historical power struggle”.
Their inventory is searchable online. Hey, look, they still have that rare Pointed Sticks single! Might just have to make the trek.