Steve Giardina has been selling records since 1986 and that’s expertise you don’t take lightly. A decade of his career was spent working at Rhythm & Soul. When that business came to an end in 2008, he took over the space and turned it into Profile Music.
The slick, mosaic-tiled shop evokes the famous Paradise Garage nightclub in New York, blaring disco through suspended Tannoy speakers. Technics 1200 turntables line the listening station, accompanied by records Giardina will pick for you to try. Elsewhere there’s label merchandise and music-related books.
Against the walls you’ll find new and second-hand pressings of soul, funk, boogie, disco, techno, Balearic and Chicago house. Some nights Giardina stays up until 4am, digging online to ensure he has the rarest and most limited records in Melbourne.
Profile Music has built up a special community of vinyl lovers, with regulars greeting each other with coded handshakes. But that sort of camaraderie can fall by the wayside on Tuesdays, when 3-400 new records arrive.
