Yorkville, a Record Store and Verna

The rent for the store was $200 a month. She wasn’t sure her venture would be successful when she launched it with a friend who had worked in a nearby bookstore. (In those days, women had few rights at the bank!) “First of all, there were only 10-inch LPs, and it was very, like, Brahms and Beethoven, not that they were bad, but there was very little Renaissance music, or Vivaldi, and that whole era, which is my passion. But Verna had the right formula at the right time. “Things just grew broader and broader very quickly, and everything was great. We were making enough to pay the rent.” During the 1950s and ’60s, Yorkville was changing, the artists were moving in, and Verna’s concept of a friendly place with a wide selection of music fit right in. She was to meet many of the performers who passed through the neighbourhood on their way to fame and fortune. But, alas, the industry in the 1960s went through some changes, and small record stores like Verna’s and even the record departments at Eaton’s and Simpson’s suffered. In this video, she remembers those times of excitement and challenges. Sadly, Verna passed away on July 2, 2025. We are grateful to have been able to interview her earlier this year.