High Park record store offers hot coffee and high fidelity

Alex Harrison prepares food for hungry patrons at Cabin Fever
Photo Credit: Latte With Me

With a struggling music industry forcing musicians, labels and record stores to improvise, Robyn and Alex Harrison are helping put food on the table by putting food on the table.

The Harrisons are the owners of Cabin Fever, a record store, café, art gallery and soon-to-be bar located in the High Park area of Toronto.

The couple opened up shop in December 2012 with the hope of sustaining a brick-and-mortar business filled with their favourite records despite a fragile industry.

“We knew we wanted to open our own space and we knew we wanted to have records involved, but it didn’t really make sense for us to just open a record store,” said Robyn.

“So then we tried to integrate other things to sell to make it a little bit more realistic, so that’s where the café end comes in.”

The renovated shop now houses a full kitchen and carries everything from hot coffee, to artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches to Queens of the Stone Age records.

Friend and regular Mike Keenan said the Harrison’s relationship with the surrounding community and their clientele are what help set Cabin Fever apart.

“The simple layout of the store, it’s all really homey. It feels like you’re in someone’s living room, and you can really feel that it’s something that they’ve put together themselves,” said Keenan.

“It’s a really unique establishment to just hang out, listen to music and get some good food. There aren’t a lot of places with that kind of combination that are as warm and friendly.”

Though not bound to one genre of music, the couple lives by the business model of knowing what you’re selling, and having faith in your product.

“Our selection is so curated that, really, if you pick anything off the wall we’re going to be able to tell you about it because we specifically chose it and because we love it,” said Robyn.

“If someone brings up an album that we have no relation to, or we can’t really start a conversation about, then what’s the point?”

Both Robyn, 32 and Alex, 33 worked in IT, and with absolutely no experience in owning a business, they have cut their teeth on what Alex calls a daily trial by fire.

“Neither of us had opened a store or owned anything before so it was kind of a guessing game about expenses and overheads,” said Robyn

“Things like having business insurance and liability and that sort of thing. We just kind of had to learn as we went along, but I think two years in now we’ve got a pretty good handle on it.”

The couple opened the store to involve themselves with something they care deeply about as well as an alternative to early entry into middle-aged doldrums.

“Our selection is so curated that, really, if you pick anything off the wall we’re going to be able to tell you about it because we specifically chose it and because we love it,”
Robyn Harrison, co-owner of Cabin Fever.

“Everybody is told to work for somebody else to make their business successful, and it’s like, you know, we have 1,000 square feet, we can do whatever we want with that 1,000 square feet, and it can make us whatever money we want, and we get to choose the direction of our future, instead of somebody else,” said Robyn.

“I don’t want two weeks of vacation and weekends off. It would be nice, but it means you’re working for someone else.”

With the new kitchen and a potential liquor licence on the horizon, the couple plans on expanding their food and drink menu to include healthier selections.

“We don’t just want to be a typical bar, you know, where you’ve got greasy burgers and fries and onion rings,” said Alex.

“We want to have it where you have a little bit more of a fresh option, and that’s probably us getting into our 30s and realizing that you just can’t eat shit all the time.”

Cabin Fever’s inventory can be found on the Discogs online marketplace or you can visit their website at cabinfevercollective.com.