Iconic Toronto store closes its doors permanently

An iconic Toronto store closed its doors for good this weekend.

Steve’s Music Store, a landmark in Toronto’s Queen and Spadina neighbourhood closed for the last time at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The store sold musical instruments, accessories and studio equipment.

“We opened our Toronto store in the 1970s on Queen St. W. alongside the explosion of Toronto’s music community and rise of the punk movement,” Steve’s Music Store said in a post about the closure on their website.

Steve Kirman founded the first store on Craig Street (Saint Antoine Street) in Montreal in 1965. It was known for its hands-on environment where musicians could test instruments.

The store grew and expanded to a city block, and subsequently moved to its current location on rue Sainte-Catherine. The Toronto store opened at 415 Queen St. W. in October 1977, and Steve’s continued to expand in the 1980s with the opening of a location in Ottawa and then Montreal satellite stores in the 2010s.

“For over six decades, Steve’s Music Store has been a pillar of the music community,” the store wrote on its website. “Passionately serving multiple generations of musicians in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and across the world from our five locations.”

Kirman died at the age of 65 in Montreal in 2012.

Over the past several years, the stores have struggled under a “significant disruption across the sector.”

The changes had an immediate and negative impact and despite various efforts to adapt, Steve’s faced “mounting financial pressure,” and after reviewing all options, they decided to close some stores.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a formal restructuring,” the store wrote.

Steve’s announced liquidation sales in February.

The Ottawa store and the Dollard-des-Ormeaux in Quebec have also closed.

The Montreal store at 150 Ste-Catherine St. E. remains open and customers can also shop online at www.stevesmusic.com.

Lead photo: Anna Shvets