Store clerks ask, "May I help you, sir?" all the time but it's not every day that they get to ask, "May I help you, Sir Elton John?"

That's what happened in downtown Vancouver on Thursday when the British music legend strolled into a record shop and dropped a couple hundred dollars on vinyl.

"I came in from the back and there was Elton John standing there with his two bodyguards, digging through records," said Beat Street Records manager Lindsay Tomchyshen.

The bodyguards weren't the type to get mistaken for tiny dancers.

"They were big guys," Tomchyshen said.

John signed a copy of his 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road before he left the store. (Beat Street Records)

So, what did the artist known for hits like Rocket Man and Bennie and the Jets want to buy?

"He asked my boss if we had any Tech N9ne, like, the gangster rapper and I was not expecting that," Tomchyshen laughed, referring to the Kansas City-based artist.

Unfortunately, Beat Street was sold out of Tech N9ne, so John settled for a stack of albums from the 1980s British pop band Scritti Politti instead.

Tomchyshen said John was polite, posed for some pictures and signed a copy of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Then he was gone, kind of like a candle in the wind.

John, who will be 70 later this month, plays two shows in Victoria this weekend before continuing his world tour, which is set to wrap up in December.