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The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
So much for preserving Toronto's cultural heritage—it looks like pretty much the entire stock of Sam The Record Man's flagship store is going up for auction.
On Wednesday, June 27th at 10:30 a.m., Benaco Sales Ltd. will hold an auction on location inside the flagship, at 347 Yonge Street. Contents include "Outdoor neon records, unique neon signage, Olde English Shoe shine stations, Antique English Pub Bars, Store Fixtures, Marquee Signs, Pos and Security systems, Musical Instruments, Plus much more!" So if you want to put in a bid for cultural artifacts that are a timeless piece of this city's musical history and use them as discussion pieces for your coffee klatch or whatever, get out your chequebooks, people!
Photo by Ian Muttoo from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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Well, I can't believe Sams lasted this long.
A few years ago I had a gift certificate and couldn't find anything to buy. They had no staff picks or anything local or even anything that new. It was a big Q107 playlist. Do I really need another Pink Floyd album?
I bought a thoroughly mediocre Coldplay album just to not waste the gift cert. A bummer experience.
So they're removing the neon sign and putting it on the tower the following day... It's like Toronto's friendly way of saying: 'Don't be sad about the death of the storefront retail music industry... we still got PiZaZz!'
If everyone who joined a Facebook group about how much they love the sign chipped in ten bucks to buy it for a heritage preservation group, that'd come to around $200,000. That'd almost certainly be the high bid. But the question is, do people love our cultural heritage ten whole dollars worth?
Jacob, which Sam's location are you speaking about? A mall store?
I ask because your criticisms definitely do not apply to the Yonge St. flagship, who pretty much carried everything and anything, from new releases prominently featured at the storefront to their massive jazz, blues, folk, soul/R&B and international music sections upstairs. HMV certainly never carried the variety that Sam's did, so I'm not sure why you had a hard time finding anything to use your gift certificate on among their 400,000+ titles.
Furthermore, Sam's has ALWAYS supported local talent - definitely more than HMV, which typically focuses more on flavours of the month (not surprising since it's an international company). If you go to a lot of independent Toronto musician websites, Sam The Record Man and Soundscapes are often the two music stores listed. Sam's will be missed: by music fans and musicians alike.
If it makes you feel better, just keep in mind that the giant noen records are just big outdoor advertisments. Cool, yes. Old, certainly. Ads, nonetheless. If they were built yesterday, we may be reading articles about how they're ruining the city and should be removed. Merely food for thought.
I remember when the Sam's shut down in Bloor West Village when I was (I think?) just about to go into high school. It was a big loss.
Torontoist may have some more news about this soon, though. Stay tuned.