Anime, Records & More
There will be two events this weekend, one in Ottawa, Ontario and the other in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The first Anime Ottawa will be held at the EY Center from the 29th to the 31st of March, 2024, and will of course feature memorabilia form this art form.
Ticket prices vary. Click here for additional information. And the nearest bus stop, 1076, is at the venue itself. Contact OC Transpo for additional information.
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The Halifax Record Fair will be held in the Maritime Hall of the Halifax Forum on Saturday the 30th on March, 2024, from 9am to 4pm.
Early admission will be $15 from 9am and regular admission will be $5 from 10am. And the nearest bus stops, 8564 and 8572, face the venue and are serviced by Halifax Transit.
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Rakuten Kobo shoppers will be able to obtain bonus PC Optimum points on gift card purchases for this shop until March 30th, 2024 – 10,000 bonus points per $50 gift card purchase at participating Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix stores and 15,000 bonus points per $100 gift card purchase at participating Atlantic Superstore/Real Canadian Superstore locations.
The bonus offer at the later also applies to Google Play and Playstation gift card purchases. Consult PC Optimum for additional details.
This Weekend’s Events
There will be three events this weekend two of which will be collectors conventions for music, television and film memorabilia and the third being a record convention.
Tsokino-Con 2024 is an anime convention that will occur from the 23rd to the 25th at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, primarily in the Engineering and Computer Science Building (ECS), Bob Wright Centre (BWC), and the Elliott Building (ELL).
Admission ranges in price depending on one’s age and one’s stay at the convention (click here for details) and the nearest bus stops to the venues are #101036 and #100991. The later is a seven minute walk away from the buildings hosting the event, along Ring Road, and additional information on the routes servicing the area can be obtained from BC Transit.
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613Flea is a gigantic flea market held monthly at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Landsdowne Park, in downtown Ottawa. And this month it will be on the 24th from 10am to 4pm.
Admission is free and you may find vendors that sell vinyl and/or the aforementioned memorabilia. And the nearest bus stop, which is serviced by multiple routes, is 3080 and is a five minutes walk away from the venue. A trip planner is available from OC Transpo.
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The Oshawa Record Show will be held at their usual venue, the LVIV Hall & Pavilion at 38 LVIV Blvd in Oshawa on Sunday, the 25th of February, from 10am to 4pm.
Admission is $5 or free for students and children under 14. And the nearest bus stops are 667 and 668 on Simcoe St or 1058 and 1089 on Bloor Street East, all a five minute walk away from the venue, over the Hwy of Heroes.
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Remember, cash is preferable at these events. Enjoy.
Free transit In December in Ottawa
If you’re planning on visiting or shopping in Ottawa in December, you should know that transit will be offered for free that month.
Here are my favourite music stores in the city:
- Compact Music – 785 Bank Street (at Third St) – Used/New CDs, DVD audio, LPs, vinyl accessories (map)
- Crosstown Traffic – 593 Bank Street (at Sommerset) – Used/New CDs, DVDs, LPs (map)
- Granata Music – 1568 Merivale Rd (at Meadowlands) – Musical Instruments/Sheet Music/Accessories (map)
- Legend Records – 383 Winona Ave (at Richmond Rd) – Used/New CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-ray & more (map)
- Long & McQuade – 66 Hearst Way – Musical Instruments/Accessories/Sheet Music (map)
- The Odds & Sods Shoppe – 1440 Clyde (at Starwood) – Used/New CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-ray & more (map)
- Steve’s Music – 308 Rideau (at King Edward) – Musical Instruments/Sheet Music/Accessories (map)
- Turning Point – 411 Cooper Street (at Bank) – Used/New CDs, DVDs, Blurays, LPs (map)
- Vertigo Records – 1280 Bank St (at Cameron Ave) – Used/New CDs, LPs / turntables & vinyl accessories (map)
A Legend Records is also located in the Hazeldeen Mall (map) whilst Sunrise Record stores can be found in the Bayshore Shopping Centre (map), Carlingwood Mall (map), St Laurent Shopping Center (map) and Place D’Orleans Shopping Centre (map).
You’ll notice that quite a few stores are located along Bank Street, which is serviced by bus routes 6 & 7. Additional information on local transit in Ottawa can be found at the OC Transpo web site.
Goodbye CD Warehouse
My favourite independent music retailer has announced that they will be closing their doors permanently next spring after 25 years of operation.
CD Warehouse had at one time been a major source for compact discs and DVDs in Ottawa with three stores in the Ottawa area and another in Kingston, Ontario. But sales of compact discs have of course dropped significantly since the commercialization of music downloads on the internet and although the retailer has started selling vinyl and renting DVDs/Blurays, the reduction in stores and the closing of the chain was an eventuality.
The chain’s online counterpart, MyMusic.ca, also faltered and failed to gain traction against the major music retailers online. And unfortunately the industry has not provided enough new releases or re-releases to keep customers like me going to the store.
This closure will unfortunately result in the loss of yet another source for vinyl in my city. And now residents of the city will need to either go downtown for their used and new LPs or order these albums online.
Budget Day Goodies ?
Today is Budget Day in Ottawa. And the current government has been promising to address some issues related to the higher prices Canadians pay for certain products.
Canadians pay significantly more for certain products than the Americans and although some of the price differences can be attributed to tariffs, labour and transportation costs, much of the purchase price is pre-determined by the manufacturer.
“Country Pricing” has become the standard and unfortunately Canada’s prices have not been adjusted to match our dollar’s strength.
Some online retailers have done their best to match prices but Canadians were still forced to either import products from the states or pay higher prices at their local retailers.
I suspect that tariffs will be reduced or eliminated on certain products in this budget, perhaps on books, clothing, electronics and home appliances.
Those are the most imported products, especially on Black Friday. But I’m also hoping they will follow the recommendations in the February 2013 Senate Committee report of the US/Canada Price Gap and raise the de minimis threshold for postal shipments from $20.
When you import most products by mail you are exempt from duties, fees and taxes if the product or products shipped are valued at less than $20 Canadian.
I’ve managed to save some money using they exemption. But many countries like the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore had raised this minimum to US$100 in November 2011, enabling their citizens to avoid paying the hefty brokerage fees some couriers charge on parcels.
Brokerage fees have recently gone up in Canada so I’m hoping they will at least consider a CAN$50 threshold.
The other probabilities in the budget are reductions in credit card/banking fees, funding for an expansion of high speed internet into rural areas, and the unbundling of cable channels so I guess lots of Canadians will be watching this afternoon.
The budget broadcast will air on television and online on CPAC at 4PM Eastern. Details on the budget will also be made available on the Government’s Official Site after 4 PM Eastern.