Sunrise Records returning to Pen Centre
Just as HMV closes its doors at The Pen Centre, Sunrise Records will be moving in.
Sunrise announced Thursday that the St. Catharines shopping centre HMV location is one of 70 stores across Canada that it will be taking over this spring.
“Sunrise, under new ownership a few years ago, definitely reinvented themselves,” said Pen Centre manager John Bragagnolo.
“The fact that they’re taking over a lot of the HMV stores across Canada is great news, not only for retail in Canada but specifically for The Pen Centre.” While it’s never easy to see a retailer shutdown, “it’s a great situation” when a new retailer can come in and take the spot without any loss of business.
“I think they’re going to revitalize that store. We’re really excited to have them become part of the retail family at Pen Centre,” Bragagnolo said.
The announcement marks a return to St. Catharines for the retailer that had been a staple at the mall for 25 years before it closed in September 2014, primarily due to competition from online music services such as Apple Music and Spotify.
In October 2014 Sunrise was purchased by Doug Putman of Ancaster, who began the process of rebuilding the company, opening five new stores in Ontario in the years since becoming the company’s president.
Bragagnolo said Sunrise Records’ rebound is being bolstered by an increasing interest in old vinyl records.
“Believe it or not, vinyl is making a huge comeback,” he said.
In its media release, the company confirmed its commitment to vinyl records, with plans to stock more than 2,000 titles at all locations to meet the resurgent consumer demand.
Under the new ownership, Bragagnolo said, Sunrise has “been able to capture the pulse of that shopper and they’ve done a lot of different things.”
“I think having 70-plus additional stores will give them economies of scale and we’re very confident they’ll be able to succeed in this new environment.”
Bragagnolo has yet to learn details about the transition, such as how long it will take before the HMV vacancy reopens as Sunrise Records.
“Those will come to fruition in the next couple of weeks.”
The media release from the company said its new stores would begin opening in various locations starting in early April.
The company plans to hire former HMV employees, who are invited to email resumes to careers@sunriserecords.com and include the location of their HMV location in the subject line of the emails.