Sunrise Records to close both Toronto downtown locations

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by eddiel, Sep 12, 2014.

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  1. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Not quite "giving them away", but I know what you mean.

    When the 'entire store - everything on sale' was advertised, it was disappointing to find that part of the store I was interested in had disappeared overnight.
     
  2. I imagine both the Bloor & Dundas location were pretty busy today with folks coming in to offer condolences and looking for deals. I was tempted to head down there myself. Maybe during the week.
     
  3. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    Frankly, I'm surprised that the downtown location here has remained open as long
    as it has.......I always enjoyed going into the Yonge/Dundas store. It had a fantastic
    film selection.
     
  4. Muddy Holly

    Muddy Holly Senior Member

    Both Kingston locations are gone already.
     
  5. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Yeah, their DVD selection was pretty good, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said about their CDs... pretty lousy music section. I basically thought of them as a movie store more than anything else. I was in there about a month ago and they were doing the 40% off sale, so I came home with quite a few DVDs that day. :)
     
  6. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    It was busier than usual. Of course, bargain hunters were out in full force. On Friday, they put out a good stash of DVDs for cheap or decent sale price (in addition to what was already there). I got a Michel Gondry video compilation for $5, a Chris Isaak Live video for $2, and I also saw the Wizard of Oz box set for $40.
     
  7. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I was in there briefly on Friday but I didn't have time to do much browsing or to search for any bargains. (The fact that Sunrise and HMV both close at 9:00pm has always been a problem for me... I never have enough time!) :p I'll definitely have to try and make at least one more trip downtown before November.
     
  8. I'm going to head there at some point this week and see what's happening.
     
  9. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    With the closure of the Sheppard store back in May, and now the 2 downtown locations closing in November, there won't be any Sunrise stores left near me.... all the remaining locations are too far away for casual shopping. (This will make it especially hard to track down the recent Guess Who reissue of Power in the Music... Sunrise was the only store that ever seemed to carry those GW titles). :(
     

  10. No kidding!
    I need that one too....
     
  11. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian

    Location:
    .
    Under $16 at Amazon Canada currently.
     
  12. Thanks I may have to go that route.

    I will see if either of the downtown Sunrise stores have it first but I'm not expecting them to.
    I don't think they carried all of the previous Guess Who remasters so kinda doubt they would have ordered one as relatively obscure as Power In The Music.

    But who knows, maybe I'll get lucky.
     
  13. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Going out of business signs are up - it's 25% off everything in the store (lowest ticket price - discount card not valid).
     
  14. Sunrise tweeted the link to this story today: http://freshindependence.com/toronto-record-store-set-to-close-doors/

    “It is a very sad time, having to close the stores on Yonge,” says owner and co-founder Malcolm Perlman. “Unfortunately, rent on Yonge Street has become too prohibitive to be able to profitably operate stores there.”

    Rent?????
     
  15. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    So they were leasing all along. I thought that they owned the buildings based on the blogto link I posted (first post in thread). Maybe they got it wrong??
     
  16. You are right, the original owner of the company (quoted in the article) does own the buildings.

    The comment about rent being too high is not true.
     
  17. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I have some details about this sale now. I spoke with a friend in the industry who knows both players.

    The owners of the building and Sunrise Records sold the business only but kept the buildings. Sunrise Records was bought by their employee who was effectively the buyer and manager of the business. There was never any plans to keep the Toronto locations open after the sale. Neither location was really profitable (my guess is the fact the original owners owned the building meant they could survive due to no rent) so both were going to close after the sale, especially since rent would now be charged to the new owner.

    The owners plans was to keep 4 (or 5) locations and possibly open up a new one but definitely no Toronto locations. They were going to concentrate on their non-Toronto stores which are more profitable.

    The new owner could definitely have run a better PR campaign about this.
     
  18. This is all 100% true.

    Also shows that the comment from the original owner saying the stores were closing because rent it too high was not true.
    Unless he means that he would be charging enormous rent to the new owner!
     
  19. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    What a shame the 2 Yonge Street stores are closing. I really like the staff at the Yonge/Bloor location. The manager Steve is one helluva nice guy despite what has been inferred here earlier.
    Not only did I like all the staff at both stores but it was nice to have them on the strip. Now HMV will be all that's left and quite frankly, that place kinda sucks overall...

    25% off everything in the store right now. I've scored some great deals there in the last week.

    Try to get out and support them and I hope a few of the staff there open their own store soon.
     
  20. Stephen is a good guy.
    I didn't see where he was being talked about previously but maybe I missed it.
     
  21. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I'm not in town for another week so can't pop in till then. I hope there's some stuff left. I do feel bad about the staff that are losing their jobs.
     
  22. I thought I could make it down on Friday but my day got away from me.
    Might try again tomorrow.
     
  23. +1
     
  24. Going to head down to the Bloor location tomorrow afternoon and see how everyone is doing.

    Hopefully I can grab a few blu-rays while I'm there. If they don't have the titles I'm looking for, I'll be heading down to the Dundas shop.
     
  25. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Are the HMV stores in Toronto still open? I was there in May of 2013 and was amazed to find there were still three or four stores downtown, and that the Sunrise stores were still going. In downtown Vancouver we don't have a major record store at all, though I hear they are opening a small HMV outlet again.
     
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