Editing Sam the Record Man (section)

{{Short description|Canadian record store chain}}
{{Infobox company |
  name   = Sam the Record Man|
  logo   = [[Image:WikiSam the Record Man.jpg|300px|Sam's flagship store at the corner of Yonge and Gould Streets.]]|
  type   = [[Privately held company|Private]]|
  fate           = Closed |
  foundation     = 1937|
  defunct        = [[2007 in Canada|2007]] (one remaining former franchise store in [[Belleville, Ontario]])|
  location       = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada|
  key_people     = Sidney Sniderman<br>[[Sam Sniderman]]<br>[[Jason Sniderman]]<br>Robert "Bobby" Sniderman<br>Lana Sniderman|
  num_employees  = |
  industry       = [[Record shop|Record store]]|
  products       = [[Music]]|
  revenue        = |
}}

'''Sam the Record Man''' was a Canadian [[Record shop|record store]] chain that, at one time, was [[Canada]]'s largest music recording retailer.  In 1982, its ads proclaimed that it had "140 locations, coast to coast".<ref>
{{cite news
  | title      = Sam The Record Man Advertisement
  | newspaper  = The Toronto Star
  | date       = 1982-08-20
  | page       = B3
}}
</ref>

Its iconic [[flagship]] store was located at 259 Yonge Street in 1959 and moved to 347 Yonge Street two years later, remaining there from 1961 until it closed in 2007. Located at Yonge just north of Dundas, the store became part of a strip of music stores, nightclubs and taverns featuring live performance that produced the "[[Toronto Sound]]" and was the centre of Toronto's music scene in the 1960s.

The Yonge Street store was the best known store in the Sam the Record Man chain of 140 locations across Canada, two blocks away from the [[Eaton Centre]] and [[Dundas Square]]. Sam's became a popular attraction, drawing people into its selection of LP records, and later cassettes and compact discs. It flourished in the [[Downtown Toronto]] area, quickly gaining notoriety and outselling the competition. What started as a single storefront had evolved into an entire block completely dedicated to the Sam the Record Man store. For several years, the store went into head-to-head competition with the popular [[A&A Records]] flagship store, just up the street, before the latter filed for bankruptcy in 1993. The building was demolished over a period of two years, from 2009 until 2011. It is part of the site on which [[Toronto Metropolitan University]]'s (then known as Ryerson University) [[Sheldon & Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre]] was built. The store's iconic neon sign has been restored and installed in a new location overlooking nearby [[Yonge-Dundas Square]].<ref name="urban-toronto-sign">{{cite web|title=Restored 'Sam The Record Man' Sign Disappoints|url=https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/12/restored-sam-record-man-sign-disappoints.30114|publisher=Urban Toronto|date=2017-12-07|accessdate=2023-02-17}}</ref>

The [[Information Age]], competition with the [[HMV Canada|HMV]] chain and other factors, forced Sam the Record Man into bankruptcy in 2001, but its flagship location remained in business until 2007. One independent [[Franchising|franchise]] store, in [[Belleville, Ontario]], continues to bear the Sam the Record Man name.<ref>https://quintemall.com/stores/quinte-quinte-mall-sam-the-record-man</ref><ref name="history"/><ref name="theglobeandmail.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/sams-legacy-still-alive-hundreds-of-kilometres-from-toronto/article18059423/|title=Sam the Record Man is still spinning – far from Toronto}}</ref>