Bye bye Sam the Record Man

Sam the Record Man finally signs off:

It was an iconic landmark in Toronto – both culturally and musically. Everybody who was anybody in Toronto went to Sam the Record Man on Yonge St. to get the latest music, hang out and, if you were lucky, maybe catch a glimpse of a burgeoning music star.

I spent many hours and lots of money at Sam's when I was young. It was a destination and it was easy to spend an afternoon checking out the acres of music, much of it unavailable anywhere else. I built up a prodigious collection of rock, blues, folk and country albums. In those days we listened to music with more diligence (I suspect pot may have enhanced the listening experience). Our record collections were important. It was a sign of true commitment when Mr. Nag and I finally got rid of our duplicate records after five years of cohabiting. When we moved to Niagara on the Lake from Toronto we decided we no longer had room for all the albums and sold off 80% of them at a garage sale. That was the end of something. This, too, is the end of something.




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