After seven years of live shows, the Pawnshop on Whyte Avenue is closing up shop.

The decision comes just a few months after The Artery, another independent music venue, was shut down — a trend that troubles audio engineer Jason Borys, who worked at the Pawnshop during its existence.

Borys is just one of the Pawnshop staff members who will be moving over to work at Union Hall, which will also be picking up most of the Pawnshop's upcoming shows.

Image | Jason Borys John Kennedy

Caption: Jason Borys (left) and John Kennedy (right) joined Edmonton AM host Mark Connolly in studio Tuesday morning to talk about the closure of the Pawnshop, where both have worked for seven years. (CBC)

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After years of working in bars across the city, Borys said the Pawnshop was always something special.

"This was the first group of people who weren't just bar owners looking to sell some booze … it was really about promoting the Edmonton scene," he said.

"It didn't matter if it was death metal or a Christian rock show, you'd see the same people out enjoying the scene."

And while the music changed nightly, the ticket prices stayed largely the same — which is where the venue got into trouble.

According to Borys, the Pawnshop saw an 18 per cent rise in rent over the past four years, "which has made it next to impossible to maintain a viable source of business without a loss."

John Kennedy, who was the Pawnshop's booking agent for seven years, said rising rent is a common problem faced by art and music venues in the city.

"If you look at most venues, they're located either in or very close to the hub parts of the city, which obviously is prime real estate for any business."

As rents go up, venues that hope to continue are forced out to the city's edges, Kennedy said, which cuts down on the amount of walk-in traffic.

Because of this, Borys worries that the arts scene in Old Strathcona will suffer.

"It's really quite sad because I think at one time, and we're still grasping on to it, Whyte Ave was a cultural hub of our city, especially music and art-wise — and I think all along the Ave people are getting hit with these astronomical rent increases and not seeing increase in the people coming," he said.

"It frightens me that there's going to be a hole where our cultural hub once sat if something doesn't change."

Kennedy, however, is a little more optimistic.

"What I've noticed over the years, and I've talked with other promoters about this, although location does have a lot to do with things, if the event is good — people will go."