A popular destination for local music lovers is closing its doors after more than two decades.
Sunrise Records, located inside Bayfield Mall in Barrie’s north end, is scheduled to pull the metal security gate closed for good at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, store manager Earl Young said.
The store, which sells a wide variety of vinyl records, games and other pop-culture paraphernalia, was previously a Sam the Record Man before being taken over by Sunrise Records, noted Young.
While the outside of the store boasted a 50 per cent off sale on apparel today, Young said there weren’t really any big sales on vinyl.
“Everyone wants everything to be on sale now that we are closing … if the whole company was closing that would be different, but it’s just our location,” he said, noting Sunrise Records has more than 80 stores across Canada.
Although there may be a few “mom-and-pop stores” around, the store closing is definitely serving as an end of an era, Young said.
“I used to buy concert tickets here. My kid likes coming here. I have a kid who is heavily invested in LPs and music … so he is going to be very disappointed to hear about this later today,” he added.
News of the store's closure was officially announced Thursday, including on the store's Sunrise Records (Bayfield Mall) Facebook page.
Reaction to the news has been overwhelming.
“Everyone in our community is pretty devastated. We are getting a big outpouring of support and well wishes and we appreciate it,” Young said. “This store does business — people like coming here. This is a weekly spot for a lot of people.
"It’s going to be tough.”
Eric Weiss, who started collecting records last Christmas with his dad, told BarrieToday they’ve been coming to shop regularly over the last several months.
News of the closure was "disappointing," he admitted.
“There aren’t many stores in the area, so it’s always disappointing to hear another one is closing,” he said, while perusing the bins for some jazz records to add to his growing collection. “It’s a spot my dad and I regularly come to, so it’s kind of a closed opportunity for us and other record buyers, too.”
The reason for the closure is due to changes being made by the mall ownership, which has been speculated to include an indoor storage facility.
There is also still hope for a new Barrie location.
“This mall is turning into something else on the main floor, so we need a new place to go. We don’t quite have a new home for all of our stuff yet. Until we have that spot, we have to close," said Young.
Young says he and his staff are keeping their fingers crossed that the company will reopen a new location in the not too distant future.
“We are all really pulling for it, but it’s something that is so far outside of our control that we don’t really know," he said.