No argybargy at Argy’s Records

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/03/2021 (828 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ray Giguere is the owner of Argy’s Records & Entertainment Shop. I applied basic mathematics and guessed that his initials were used together to form Argy’s.

It makes sense, right? But it turns out I was wrong (more on that later).

A few weeks back, I set out on a mission to learn how Argy’s, located at Unit 9-1604 St. Mary’s Rd. earned its name and other interesting facts.

I’ve been in Argy’s a couple of times and purchased a few items like a record or two and a couple of sports cards.

When I asked Ray if the name was indeed a play on his initials, he said “you’re the reporter so you will have to do your own research. Ha ha.”

Ray’s sense of humour becomes evident upon visiting Argy’s website, social media accounts or when you first meet him face to face.

I then asked him if he was the only employee.

“It was just me but I had a helper the last three or four years when I did farmers’ markets, because I was selling produce from my other avocation, Giguere Honey Farm,” he said.

“Before the second lockdown I was going to open later and on Sundays and hire someone.”

So COVID has stricken another job possibility…I’m sure it won’t be the last. The current Argy’s location is the only one and Ray has not considered expanding. He first opened at the “friendly confines of 767 St. Mary’s Road” in 1982, right across the street from Glenlawn Collegiate.

This is stated on his web page, www.argy.ca, as were many of the answers to my inquiries. Argy’s moved to its current location in October of 1989 and has been there since.

When asked about the demographics of his customers based on gender, age, and/or what they collect, Ray said: “The ages are all over the board so it’s tough to say – 16 to 75 would cover it all. Everyone collects something different but the classic rock veins from the ’60s to the 2000s are the top sellers as that was the heyday of vinyl.”

I wholeheartedly agree, because I truly believe the golden age of music for the masses was issued during the decades he indicated. From the 1980s until New Year’s Eve, 1998, I operated as a mobile DJ; first for a music service outfit, then my own. I was pulled back into the DJ fold in 2007 when I got involved playing music at hockey games in the Morris area during stoppages in play and period breaks.

But I digress… when I spoke to Ray, he was doing pickup and mail-order only, as public health restrictions had not been relaxed to allow for non-essential shopping. He was looking forward to re-opening.

“I can’t wait to reconnect with our customers and get to meet all of our new ones we have met through a face mask. I anticipate a strong reopening and would hope it continues,” Ray said.

One last thing. About that name… I did my homework and found this quote from Ray in a 2019 Winnipeg Free Press story by David Sanderson.

“Everybody assumed it was a play on my initials, R.G., but it’s actually taken from a Squeeze album called Argybargy, which came out in 1980. Only later did somebody point out if you move the letters in Argy’s around you get Ray G, but that never occurred to me at the time.”

Weldon Rinn lives, writes, and enjoys living in St. Vital. He can be reached at weldonrinn2@gmail.com