The two Saskatchewan outlets for A&B Sound closed in August, with nary a whimper.
In my teens, I used to catch the bus to downtown Vancouver with my friends, so we could check out A&B, A&A and Kelly's, to see who had the best deals. It was rare that the competition could beat A&B. I got Dark Side of the Moon for $2.99, and came back later to buy my stereo.
So when I drove past the store and saw the Closed sign, it felt just like the day the Bluebird grocery on Marine Drive got supplanted by a Mac's Milk store. Something basic and good had passed from this world.
The fact A&B chose to open in the Warehouse District instead of on the east end of Regina, where the shopping nexus has shifted, probably explains why they have shut the doors. It's possible to do well in the Warehouse District, but the traffic doesn't even come close to what's happening in the east, or on Rochdale Boulevard in the north of town. Music and electronics is a volume business. You can't depend on those people who seek you out on a side street. You have to be where people are shopping, unless you're an institution.
And in Saskatchewan, A&B was never the institution it is in Vancouver.
A&B is consolidating in B.C. and Alberta, where they can hold their own against the big box stores.
Pardon me while I nip down to the basement and thumb through some of my old vinyl, in a fit of nostalgia...
(Speaking of nostalgia, check out the A&B Sound website, where they haven't updated things since closing several stores.)
Tags: vancouver, a&bsound, retail, music, stores, closed, saskatchewan, regina
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