17-year-old Okotokian making dreams come true by selling vinyl

What did you want to do when you were 17?

It's not a stretch to think most teenagers don't have an idea where and what they want to do with the rest of their adult lives.

A 17-year-old Okotokian is finding success selling something most people thought was on its way out; vinyl records.

In a world of instantaneous entertainment, the permanency of physical media has started rising again, and Okotoks now has its very own record shop.

Jaica Tipper started collecting records when she was 10 years old, a hobby she picked up from her father.

"My dad would go around all these garage sales, we've always been a bit of pickers, and he would take these record collections and just buy them right off the bat and you bring him home. I've never really had a huge love for the super old ones that he would bring home. But some, I'd be like, okay, yeah I can get into this."

As soon as she reached 14 she would go by herself to start hunting vinyl to flip. An art she has now turned into a full-time job.

The idea for a store came when she met her boyfriend.

"A year and a half ago I met my boyfriend and he had like a thousand records. He was already on the bandwagon and I was like probably at like maybe 400. So I'd seen his collection and we were like ‘combined, we have enough to start a store. Maybe we should do something with this.'"

She even graduated early from school to make her store, Tipper Records, a reality.

"So I got all the credits that I needed. I worked really hard to get a bunch of work credits and the max amount that I could and I finished! I finished an entire semester early. That was back in January and after that, I had no idea what I was doing but I figured it out along the way and now we're here."

They've been open just a little over a week and have already sold a large portion of their stock. They are always looking for more records to take off residents' hands. Especially one genre in particular.

"What I didn't account for is that Okotoks is into country. It is a very country liking town. Whereas me personally, I'm more into rock and stuff like that. Not country. A lot of the people that come in here are buying country and so we have to get a wider variety of that. Because it seems to be what people like most."

Though she is finding fun and success in Tipper Records her end goal, however, has nothing to do with vinyl.

"I've always known that I was going to open a business. However, what has always been my dream is opening a bakery. So this is the complete opposite way from that obviously, but I do I do still hope that one day I can do that as well."

Tipper Records can be found on Fisher Crescent next to The Hidden Gem in the Stockton business park.