Meet Audrey a minimalist both in practice and words, with some strong similar interests to mine: coffee, cats and vinyl, c’mon. She is the co-owner and co-founder of Société des Loisirs (Leisure Society), a pressing plant, coffee and record store in downtown Quebec city. I’ve mentioned how important it is to continue to share this trade with generations to come because with that comes the potential for innovation. Seeing Audrey and her friends open a pressing plant, coffee shop and record store in one is a great testament to that drive that comes with a passion for vinyl. I look forward to seeing what they do in continuing to evolve and grow their business and in doing so the industry.

When asking Audrey what she does in the clearly little free time she has she says, “…are cats and food considered hobbies?”, touché!

How did you get into your industry / What motivated you?

I worked in coffee shops and music venues during my studies and met wonderful people there, especially my best friend, partner and half-of-my-brain Olivier Bresse. Having a record store axed on discoveries and niche artists was a dream Olivier and Jean-François had for a long time. We were aware that our town was missing a pressing plant and have been dreaming of this pressing plant/record store/coffee shop for a long time. When I finally graduated from architecture school, we just did it.

What is a day in the life like?

Wake up, feed the kittens, go grab a coffee downstairs and see what are the priorities. I mainly press records, brew coffee for clients, manage accounting and take care of social networks.

What has been your favorite / the coolest thing you’ve worked on?

Building up this business itself from scratch and without any experience, creating tons of valuable friendships and having people trusting what we built is still the coolest thing in my eyes. Since we’re a really really new pressing plant, every project we work on amazes us!

What has been / is the most difficult part of your job?

Starting a new business (which is 3 businesses in the end) during a pandemic.

If you aren’t a vinyl collector yourself, what drew you to the industry?  

I’m a miiiiiinimalist vinyl collector. I don’t like to own a lot of objects, so my collection is small and curated, mostly records I bought as memories of shows I particularly loved.

What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into pursuing what you’re doing?

Be nice and curious, ask questions and talk to people. The pressing industry is small and kind if you are; we learned it fast and it helped us so much since day one.

What types of things are happening in your industry / with vinyl that you’re excited or worried about? i.e. innovation, or trends you’re seeing.

I might be able to better answer this question in a few years.

During this time we’re currently in, what message do you have for music and vinyl fans? How can we support you, the industry?

Keep supporting your indie record stores, buy directly from the artists when it’s possible, stay curious and share your new discoveries with your friends.

Tell me what you’re listening to right now.

I’m going in every directions when it comes to music genres, even more since I work in a record store daily. I’ve been listening to the 4 same albums all week, Gaspard Eden – Soft Power, Pure X – Angel, Adrianne Lenker – Anything & Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Transmissions: The Music Of Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Find Audrey:

Instagram:

La Soc: @societe.des.loisirs

Audrey: @audreylapointe

Facebook: @societedesloisirs.stroch

Website: www.societedesloisirs.ca