O'Brien's Music pushed into bankruptcy after 75 years in business

O'Brien's Music Store on Water Street has been a musical institution in St. John's for generations, but the landmark shop has been forced to close its doors for good.

The popular destination, for countless musicians and music lovers alike, closed its doors for the last time on Saturday.

A notice in the store's window says the store was forced to declare bankruptcy. The family-owned business is also being forced to sell the building.

Owner Gord O'Brien said the store has been family-run since his father purchased the building in 1939, but the business has fallen behind on some tax payments.

"There are issues with CRA, and they build up and build up and eventually there's a breaking point. We have reached that," said O'Brien.

O'Brien said the store had fallen behind on payments that had been increasing over the years, including city taxes. However, store revenue hasn't been increasing to match those costs.

"Things are always much slower in the winter and you have to pay a tax man or you have to buy product to bring in and sell because it's a retail store," he said. "So if I don't have accordions on the shelf or guitars on the wall or strings on the shelf, well, then when a customer comes in you have nothing to sell them."

Family business since 1939

O'Brien said the decision to close for good was officially made on Monday morning after a meeting with a trustee.

"We went over the numbers and the figures, and you say, 'Well, your bills outweigh your income or what you have,' and that's the way it goes," he said.

An emotional O'Brien added that he doesn't foresee reopening the store anytime in the future with his son, who worked the store with him, going back to school and his daughter teaching.

"I am extremely [proud]," O'Brien said. "We helped a lot of groups get started simply by helping them out with exposure, or putting them on to different recording companies here in town, or lending them instruments for their recording sessions or supplying them with strings for their recording sessions when they couldn't afford it. We'd front them for it, and then we'd sell their product when it came out."

According to O'Brien, his father bought the building from his aunt's estate after she passed away in 1939 with the goal of opening a music store in mind.

O'Brien worked the store with his father when he was young. After he graduated high school, he worked in the shop full time.