For those who have never walked down Yonge St (or been almost anywhere else in Canada), Sam’s was an iconic record store, and later a national chain. Sam and the stores are gone, but I just found this article in the TO Star that includes a 45 minute film about Sam and the stores. (Keith even makes a fleeting appearance around 35:30.) True nostalgia for any Canuck and /or music fan. Great memories of that flagship store.

[www.thestar.com]

Hello TorontoGirl, thanks for the article,

When i went to 2005 show in Toronto, the manager gift to me some posters of that time promoting Cds with canadian Tongue and all discography discount because the abbigerbang stop there.

as you say, great Memories!

Never went to Sam's in Toronto but often to Sam's in Vancouver. Back in the day, along a one block stretch of Seymour Street there was A&A Records, A&B Sound, Sam The Record Man as well as a couple small import shops. One block over on Granville Strip there was Kellys and Millers record/stereo stores.
A&B was the biggest in Vancouver with a few locations in town and a few out in the suburbs and their Boxing Day sales were legendary.

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DGA35
…A&B was the biggest in Vancouver with a few locations in town and a few out in the suburbs and their Boxing Day sales were legendary.

I used to love going into the A&B downtown store when I visited Vancouver. Is it still there? I thought I noticed it gone a few years ago.

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SomeTorontoGirl

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DGA35
…A&B was the biggest in Vancouver with a few locations in town and a few out in the suburbs and their Boxing Day sales were legendary.

I used to love going into the A&B downtown store when I visited Vancouver. Is it still there? I thought I noticed it gone a few years ago.

Sadly everything is gone...I think DGA35 and my paths must have crossed on Seymour more than once. I have so much vinyl I collected during that time, fabulous. I'm getting reacquainted with everything again as I create an inventory of the stuff on DISCOGs.

Visited Sam's a few times when in Toronto through the years, great store.

ALSO, visited Tower Records in West Hollywood, and picked up a vinyl copy of Bridges to Babylon. I was there in 97 to see one of the two Stones shows.

Couldn't find any vinyl for new releases at that time in Vancouver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-11 21:48 by treaclefingers.

Yes, everything is gone now. I'm sure the rent is so high in those areas they wouldn't be able to afford it even if they wanted to be open. I think the last couple major record stores downtown were HMV and Virgin records a few blocks away from the others. Only a few small independent shops now spread out around the city.

Agreed DGA35 Lined up boxing day many times at A&B sound, it was epic back in the day !

I miss record stores so much. Only one left around here is Sunrise in Brampton.

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umakmehrd
Agreed DGA35 Lined up boxing day many times at A&B sound, it was epic back in the day !

I remember they would usually have the back page of the Sun and Province listing all their albums on sale. Bought my first CD player there Boxing Day 85, a Sony at the cheap price of $399! Not a huge selection of CD's there yet. Bought Highway To Hell, Born In The USA and Scarecrow.
I'm sure Sam's in Toronto was very similar!

Great memories - I bought all my car stereo stuff there also Alpine cassette deck and Jensen 6X9 triaxle speakers if I remember correctly, and of course lots of vinly and blank Maxell tapes... Haha loved that place !

When I first started regularly visiting TO in the late 90s, CDs were soooo much cheaper in North America than the UK. Used to stock up at Sams and take a case full of CDs home.

I bought Love You Live at Sam The Record Man on Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal in + or - 1978.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-12 22:01 by daniel t.

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daniel t
I bought Love You Live at Sam The Record Man on Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal in + or - 1978.

Last thing I remember buying there was the CD singles box set, 65-67 I think.

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umakmehrd
Great memories - I bought all my car stereo stuff there also Alpine cassette deck and Jensen 6X9 triaxle speakers if I remember correctly, and of course lots of vinly and blank Maxell tapes... Haha loved that place !

I think everyone back then had an Alpine deck with Jensen Triax speakers. I remember Craig speakers (I think) with the huge magnets. I would get either Maxell or TDK SA cassettes, whichever were on sale! I remember around 84 buying TDK VHS tapes at A&B for the cheap price of around $14 each!

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DGA35

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umakmehrd
Great memories - I bought all my car stereo stuff there also Alpine cassette deck and Jensen 6X9 triaxle speakers if I remember correctly, and of course lots of vinly and blank Maxell tapes... Haha loved that place !

I think everyone back then had an Alpine deck with Jensen Triax speakers. I remember Craig speakers (I think) with the huge magnets. I would get either Maxell or TDK SA cassettes, whichever were on sale! I remember around 84 buying TDK VHS tapes at A&B for the cheap price of around $14 each!

I remember around 1982, not at A&B, buying chrome tapes, 2 for $10, and Metal Cassettes were $20.

TWENTY BUX for a blank tape, in 1982!

I used to drive up from Buffalo to buy imports at Sam’s I always loved the place along with The Worlds Largest Book Store which is also gone