The truth is out there… or, more specifically, it's in this Parkdale store dedicated to bringing out your inner skeptic.
Undoubtedly, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 resulted in widespread feelings of distrust and skepticism towards those in a position of power. In the case of Patrick Whyte and Kadina Yu, it started them on a path through conspiracy culture that eventually led to them opening a namesake store. “For us, it was essentially 9/11 that really changed the way we looked at the world and the way things operated,” says Whyte. Conspiracy Culture opened its doors in Parkdale on Aug. 26, 2006, a date that, according to Whyte, equates to 888 in numerology, “which usually lends itself to prosperity and good fortune.”
“When we’re asked, we’ll say that we focus on suppressed and controversial information,” says Yu, which can take the form of film, books, magazines, newspapers and the in-store events they host.
“We try to break the mould and provide people with the alternative perspectives that aren’t being presented through the mainstream,” says Whyte. “We don’t tell them what to think, we just provide the material and say it’s here for you to broaden your perspective.”
Just don’t describe their interests as “conspiracy theories.”
“There’s a very distinct difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory,” Whyte explains. “If you go into a courthouse on any given day, there’s definitely people being charged with conspiracy to undermine a consumer or whatever. They’re not being charged with a conspiracy theory. It’s just when you add the suffix of ‘theory’ that all of a sudden it gets into the realm of supposition. Just to make that distinction, a lot of our material is without a shadow of a doubt very factual and real.”
To that end, Whyte and Yu must take on a curatorial role with the information they provide—the amount of material available on the subject is daunting. “People are very eager to share the information; whether or not they check the validity of it is a completely different ball game,” says Whtye. “Once you familiarize yourself with the material, it’s like anything: You can kind of see misinformation from information from disinformation. [What we do is] not so much censorship as it is selective editing with the material in the shop. Every day is also a learning curve for me, so I bring in material that I might not necessarily agree with, just to broaden my own perspective as well.”
As Yu puts it: “We do try to stay unbiased.”
An important part of the research process comes in the form of interacting with their customer base, which Whyte and Yu were surprised to find is composed of a very far-reaching demographic. “We figured that there would have been a stereotypical persona that would come in,” says Whyte, “but it really has proven over the past six years to be right across the spectrum in terms of age, gender and background.”
Yu sees the broad appeal as a relatively nascent phenomenon, however, pointing out that “in the early ’90s, if you wanted to talk about this stuff to someone, they would for sure think you were crazy, whereas now, almost everyone has kind of heard of it.”
Whyte attributes some of this acceptance to pop culture. “If you look at how the ‘conspiracy’ angle has permeated into a lot of Hollywood and television these days,” he says, “people will come in one day and say, ‘Hey, I was watching a television show or movie last night and they mentioned this theme or this idea… it really intrigued me, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard this—is this legit or is this just mythology or folklore?”
Recent examples of this came in the form of the Grammys and the Super Bowl halftime show. “You need a discerning eye and you need to be symbol-literate,” Whyte explains, “but they were just rife with esoteric and occult symbols, and that week we had a lot of people coming in and asking for books that deal with symbols, just to make sense of what they’re watching and what they’re looking at.”
However, despite any trends that may have come and gone, there has been a clear bestseller right from day one at the shop and it shows no sign of losing its top shelf status anytime soon. “The Creature from Jekyll Island, written by G. Edward Griffin, which is sort of the be all end all on the federal reserve, fiat currency, fractional reserve lending—anything and everything to do with banking and commerce,” says Whyte. “It’s easily our bestselling book and I’m almost certain that we’re the only store in Toronto that carries it.”
As the interest in the kind of information they deal in grows, so too does the attendance at the events they hold. “In the five-plus years that we’ve been open we’ve done over 70 events,” says Whyte. And they’re on the cusp of hosting their biggest one yet. “We’re bringing down George Noory, who’s the host of Coast to Coast, along with two special guests,” says Whyte. The event is June 23 at the 1,300 capacity Queen Elizabeth Theatre, but tickets go on sale March 3 and are expected to sell out quickly. “We’ve already got people from out of town asking, ‘What time should I be outside your door on that morning?’” says Whyte, with Yu adding, “we do anticipate a lineup.”
Despite the seriousness of the subject matter they peddle, Conspiracy Culture is nonetheless an enjoyable and certainly entertaining affair for its owners. “Here, we eat, sleep, breathe and shit conspiracy,” says Whtye. “There’s days I don’t get a lick of work done because it’s just conversation, conversation, conversation. If you think about what a bartender will experience sitting at the bar washing glasses, imagine what I hear sitting behind the cash in a conspiracy store.”
