At 18, Nathan Wilding has already enjoyed running his own business in the downtown core for the better part of the last year.
Born and raised in the Sault, Wilding launched Void Vinyl on Queen Street East in November 2019.
Wilding describes his shop as “a safe space” in the downtown. He sees it as a spot where customers can enjoy coffee, shop for vinyl records, listen to music, shop for vintage clothing and ‘streetwear’ from New York and Los Angeles (popular with those in their teens and 20s) and admire art, a corner of the establishment dedicated to the work of local artists.
“I’ve wanted to do it (own his own business) for a while. I always knew I wanted to do it because my Dad owns his own company too (a Toronto construction company) and that’s always motivated me,” Wilding said, speaking to SooToday.
Currently, Void Vinyl is open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (having recently reopened as COVID-19 restrictions have loosened somewhat), Wilding hoping to extend hours of operation beginning in September.
“Business has been picking up recently. We opened up Nov. 21, which was Midnight Madness night. We closed the store down (with the COVID-19 shutdown in March) but we decided to do orders, so people could place orders with us through email, by phone or even social media and we just delivered records or clothing to them. We weren’t affected too badly (by restrictive COVID measures),” Wilding said.
“The majority of our customers are younger, but it varies. A lot of people from different age groups enjoy the store too, the music, the clothing.”
The younger set is into buying vinyl records made by hip hop and indie rock artists, while the older crowd also enjoys browsing through records from older bands and older artists, such as Elton John and Elvis Presley, says Wilding.
“It’s going pretty good. We haven’t been able to do all the stuff we wanted to do initially. We wanted to hold events here, so we’re unable to do that right now but we’re trying to get back into that, now that things are starting to get better with the COVID situation. We’re selling coffee and we have tables where people can sit,” Wilding said.
“It feels great (to be an entrepreneur at a young age).”
“It feels really good to hold all the creativity of the business and decide how to present the company and what I want to sell, what I want to do with the space.”