An Ottawa record store closed its doors for good this past week.
The Record Shaap, located on Gilmour Street, opted to stop business after fellow building tenants Gypsy and Co. decided to move their clothing business online. The record store has been open for almost three years.
In a post on Facebook, owner Matty McGovern delivered the news, and thanked everyone who had supported his business over the two and a half years it had been in the city.
McGovern started The Record Shaap after years of working in record stores since his early teens. He said it was always a dream of his to open one of his own.
“I had tried to do it a few other times, but other things would always come up,” he said. “I knew right then that I had to do it, or I wouldn’t be able to within the next few years. Record stores were all I had ever known.”
The community will miss the record shop as a place to buy vinyl LP’s, CD’s, and concert tickets locally.
“It’s sad to see it go,” said Carleton history student Joe Ryan. “I think [McGovern] put a lot of hard work into it. Whenever I went in, it was always a really pleasant experience. It was the first independent record store that I really spent a lot of time in.”
Despite The Record Shaap’s absence, McGovern still urges music fans to buy local.
“There’s still a lot of great record stores in this city,” he said. “Keep supporting them so we don’t end up with nothing.”
