An iconic Toronto music store will be closing its doors for the final time on Sunday as part of a broader restructuring effort.
After six decades in business, Steve’s Music Store is closing its stores across Quebec and Ontario, leaving only its flagship location in downtown Montreal.
The music equipment retailer founded by the late Steve Kirman says the closures are necessary to reposition the business to better compete with online retailers.
“Over the past several years, we have operated in an environment marked by significant disruption across the sector,” read a statement posted on the retailer’s website. “Despite various efforts to adapt, we continue to face mounting financial pressure, which, after reviewing all our options, ultimately led to the current restructuring proceedings.”
The music store has been a staple for performers since 1965, known for its iconic motto: “Try before you buy.” From a single storefront in Montreal, the chain expanded to two more locations in Quebec as well as Ottawa and Toronto.
The Toronto location opened its doors under the black and yellow sign on Queen Street West near Spadina Avenue in 1977, at a time when Toronto’s music scene was exploding alongside the rise of the punk movement.
“It was much more than a store,” said Cam Maclennan, who worked at the store more than 40 years ago.
“The store was just full of people who were just buying a guitar, taking it home and playing on the couch, they were buying a guitar and probably playing that night, or they were just joining a band – the music scene was just so alive.”
Ron Cariglia was among the steady stream of people who wandered in for one last time on Sunday. He’s been coming to the store for more than three decades and calls the closing “bittersweet.”
“It’s sad, but I’m glad that they’re keeping one location open so the legacy lives on,” he said. “There’s been a lot of new stores come and go, but this has been like a staple here that hasn’t really changed much, so it’s kind of that common meeting place.”
“I’m going to miss it because this has been a big part of my working adult life,” said David Matthews, who was working his final shift at the store.
The current owners say that while the brick-and-morter business is shutting down, it plans to continue operating as an online retailer.
The Queen St. West BIA says Steve’s is the latest of about a dozen businesses to close their doors since 2025.
“While we’ve seen pedestrian traffic numbers increase in the area, that hasn’t actually translated into business success along the corridor,” said BIA executive director Simon Wong. “Businesses continue to have challenges, in terms of operating, high rents, business operations, and economic uncertainty. But we’re doing everything we can as a business improvement area to bring people back into the area.”
John Christensen took over the nearby iconic music venue Rivoli during the pandemic in the fall of 2021. He says while it’s sad to see places like Steve’s and other legacy businesses close, Queen Street is not dead by any means.
“These last few years have had some ups and downs for sure, but I’ve noticed a lot of positivity on Queen Street,” he said. “There’s community and culture on Queen, and in the different pockets of the city, and I think it’s just a matter of people wanting to come out.”
“One thing that happened in the 90s and 2000s is people would just come down and walk the street and see who was playing and what was going on, and that stopped for a while, but I’m starting to see it happen again.”
With files from Montreal’s Zachary Cheung and Alessandra Carneiro