Play Entertainment Music Store - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Drury18 · 10-25-2009, 10:39 PM

Anyone know what happened to this place?

I know they closed up the Market Mall store in July but still had a store in TD Square open. I was at TD Square last week and just looked on their website and couldn't find anything saying the store was even there anymore.

It was one of the few places in Calgary I could find Vinyl and CD's of some of the more obscure bands I like and that carried some decent stitched patches in a variety of lesser known bands.

I-Hate-Hulse · 10-25-2009, 10:43 PM

I saw a bankruptcy notice on their doors at TD. It's a sad truth than the independent faces an uphill battle in today's dying retail music/movie scene.

TurnedTheCorner · 10-25-2009, 10:44 PM

Play seemed OK, but the prices were nothing special and I could never figure what differentiated them from an HMV, for example. Mind you, I pretty much just buy music on iTunes these days anyway.

Drury18 · 10-25-2009, 10:48 PM

Dang. I wish I knew that and could have gotten to their out of business sale (if there was one).

And I don't mind HMV, but found they weren't as good for the lesser known Canadian Alternative bands. I spent a couple months looking for the Sick City CD and only found it at Play. Also found a few movies at Play that I haven't seen anywhere else.

TurnedTheCorner · 10-25-2009, 11:05 PM

That was something they should have tried to promote more, I guess. You couldn't find the CD to purchase online anywhere?

DownInFlames · 10-25-2009, 11:38 PM

It's available here:

http://www.zunior.com/product_info.p...805e67dd2bb5cf

I avoid malls so I've never shopped at Play. If you're looking for a good independent music store try Sloth or Megatunes.

Redliner · 10-25-2009, 11:53 PM

Play used to be Sam The Record Man. I used to work at Sam "back in the day", and they were the only major record store chain that would actually make an effort to bring in obscure and hard-to-find titles. We used to have a pretty decent clientele because we could bring in stuff nobody else would bother trying to get. Unfortunately, the parent company (Roblan Distributors) got into trouble in late 1997 and closed about 60% of their stores. Many of the remaining ones were re-branded as Play.

Too bad they have finally reached the end of the line. Truth is, with the advent of internet music downloads and Itunes, the retail music industry has changed dramatically and record stores as we know them are a dying breed.

swo2k1 · 10-26-2009, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drury18

Dang. I wish I knew that and could have gotten to their out of business sale (if there was one).

There was no sale. Just a notice posted on the locked up entrance saying it was unlawful to remove anything from the store.

troutman · 10-26-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redliner

Play used to be Sam The Record Man. I used to work at Sam "back in the day", and they were the only major record store chain that would actually make an effort to bring in obscure and hard-to-find titles. We used to have a pretty decent clientele because we could bring in stuff nobody else would bother trying to get. Unfortunately, the parent company (Roblan Distributors) got into trouble in late 1997 and closed about 60% of their stores. Many of the remaining ones were re-branded as Play.

What ever happened to Mike Bezzeg?

Play had good discounts in the weeks before closing.

Ozy_Flame · 10-26-2009, 08:45 AM

I don't know if indie is going under. I imagine Megatunes and Sloth Records are still open, are they not? It's not like they're really competing with HMV; any major franchise music store is obviously going to have to stand up to the HMV behemoth.

troutman · 10-26-2009, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I don't know if indie is going under. I imagine Megatunes and Sloth Records are still open, are they not? It's not like they're really competing with HMV; any major franchise music store is obviously going to have to stand up to the HMV behemoth.

There is also Melodiya on 17th, west of Crowchild.

Byrns · 10-26-2009, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swo2k1

There was no sale. Just a notice posted on the locked up entrance saying it was unlawful to remove anything from the store.

There was a closing "sale" at the Market Mall store, but it was pretty poor which is the norm these days for closeout sales.