Steve’s Music Store is clearing out instruments at its famed Toronto location as the company begins a restructuring process aimed at saving its business.
In a statement posted on its website Monday, the Montreal-founded company said, “It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a formal restructuring. … We will be conducting an in-store liquidation sale and, over the coming months, will close certain locations.”
The company did not specify which locations were closing and questions about the future of the Toronto store went unanswered. Mike Kirman, son of the chain’s late founder, did not respond to requests for comment.
The chain had announced a massive liquidation over the weekend that includes its Queen Street West storefront and four other locations in Ottawa and Quebec.
“Everything must go,” the company posted on Instagram, saying that products will be marked down by as much as 50 per cent.
Steve’s Music Store has been staple of the Queen Street stretch for nearly 50 years. The Toronto location opened in October 1977 as Montreal entrepreneur Steve Kirman looked to grow his burgeoning company outside his home province.
Kirman first established his music shop in Old Montreal when he was only 18 years old, and built a reputation as a reliable salesman who recruited his first customers by showing up at band practices and selling them guitar strings, picks and fuses from the trunk of his car.
His success eventually allowed him to expend his first location until it encompassed an entire Montreal city block.
Kirman died in 2012 after a brief illness. He was 65.
