Steve’s Music Store in Toronto opens its doors for the last time

The Steve’s Music Store location in the Queen Street W. neighbourhood is shutting its doors after nearly five decades of bringing music lovers in Toronto together.

Salesperson David Matthews said it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that Sunday marks their last day of operations.

“It was kind of a surprise to us,” he told CBC News. “I’ve been mostly postponing me being sad until after I’m gone. So this week after, when I wake up for my regular shift and I don’t have to come in, that’ll probably set in there.”

Matthews says some regulars come from the countryside to visit the store.

“This happened so quickly. There’s a few people that visit me back in acoustics every year that are going to show up and see an empty store,” he said. “I feel kind of sad about that because I won’t be able to say goodbye or wrap up conversations.”

In February, Steve’s Music Store announced plans to downsize operations. The chain retailer posted a statement to its website saying it would be holding in-store liquidation sales and that “certain locations” would close, but it did not specify how many — or which ones — would be shutting down.

Since opening its Toronto location in 1977, the store’s bold yellow signage and vast assortment of instruments have drawn in visitors from across the city and beyond. Among them — Jack White, the frontman for rock band White Stripes, Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis and Zakk Wylde, guitarist for “Prince of Darkness” Ozzy Osbourne, according to the store’s Instagram posts.

Steve’s Music Store first opened in Montreal in 1965. Its founder, Steve Kirman, was just 19 at the time. The store quickly became well known for its collection of instruments and for letting prospective buyers try them out before making a purchase.

Kirman died in 2012 following a brief illness, 47 years after opening his first store.

Flocks of visitors made their way to the Toronto location Sunday in the hopes of getting one last trial run, and one last visit, at the mainstay on Queen Street W.

Singer songwriter Lala Noel said she’s excited to have been able to make it to the store’s final day.

“Steve has really created a culture,” she said. “I remember being in high school and playing guitar and coming to the store.”

Noel added Steve’s Music Store has always created a safe space, where anyone can ask questions and be heard. She recalls one of her best friend’s big sisters working at the location when she was younger.

“She was so badass, she was in a metal band and she just made the idea of women in music really accessible and for Steve to recognize that and put her at the front,” she said. “I think, especially as women in music, to feel welcome and safe in these spaces is a feat. So it will be missed, truly.”

Emerging artist Chiara Urban and her father, Petr Urban, also came out to the store for its last day. Chiara told CBC Toronto it’s bittersweet to relive the memories.

“I remember playing a piano here. I remember seeing cool guitars here. But the feeling of Toronto losing a part of itself is not great,” she said.

Chiara says she likes the idea of being able to hold and feel the instrument ahead of purchasing it. Petr says he brought her here a few times while she was growing up. Before that, in the 1980s, it was he who used to hangout at the store.

“It smells the same,” he said. “It was one of the go-to places when you would hang out on Queen Street.”

According to the Ottawa store’s manager, music lovers hoping to get their hands on some Steve’s Music Store instruments and gear will need to head to the location on rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal from here on out.