Reg Gilchrist first started repairing slot machines in 1932 in Toronto. Soon after slots were made illegal during prohibition so Reg started working for Baldwin Distributing repairing and selling phonographs. After about 2 years, Reg ended up buying Baldwin Distributing and changing the name to R.C. Gilchrist Vending.
From this he expanded into other coin operated games and vending machines with several offices across Canada. Many firsts were introduced by Gilchrist Vending in Canada, such as the first parking meters in the 30’s and shoe shine machines in the 40’s.
Vending really started to boom when Reg opened the Wagon Wheel Restaurant at the Canadian National Exhibition, which dispensed sandwiches, hot and cold drinks and ice cream bars. It was here that Reg introduced the first dollar bill changer. In 1948 he got exclusivity for all of Canada for Seeburg Phonographs also known as jukeboxes. Seeburg was the first to introduce the 45 RPM record on these jukeboxes in 1950 and Reg installed hundreds of these in restaurants and diners across the country. In the early 60’s Reg sold his Seeburg distribution rights and route operations to Seeburg in Chicago.
After a couple years of retirement, he got back into the business of manufacturing shuffleboards and operating a route. In the mid 90’s, Reg’s son Tom saw another opportunity to expand by providing ATMs to his restaurant and bar locations.
After almost 40 years in the games business Tom sold the game portion in April 2014 to Cineplex/Starburst. He continues to sell and service ATM machines across Canada as well as collecting, selling and repairing antique coin operated games.
