Sikora’s Classical Records closing shop
Digital revolution, online sales and aging customers spell the end of a city institution since 1979
Sikora’s Classical Records has been a favourite haunt of local music lovers since it opened in 1979.
“It was almost a community drop-in centre for (people with a common) musical interest, with some profit on the side,” laughs Ed Savenye, who started off as a customer and became a co-owner.
“And not so much profit in recent years.”
Against the odds, the specialty store survived while waves of larger record stores closed. But now Sikora’s has announced it will be closing, too, on Feb. 28.
Sikora’s was the last classical record store in Western Canada, and one of only two classical stores in Canada. But Savenye said it was done in by the changing times, and what he calls the “five dirty D’s.”
The big D is digitization, “downloads, MP3s, streaming.”
Another is downsizing — “people are moving into smaller places and are limited by space and can’t collect the way they used to”.
The third D is distribution — “getting hold of good reliable sources for import stock has been challenging”).
Number four is the desertion of some customers to online retailers like Amazon.
Sadly, the last D is “the demise of a generation that supported us for 20-30 years. We’re getting phone calls from their kids saying, ‘My dad died, what do I do with all of his CDs?’”
It was those people with whom Dick and Dorothy Sikora bonded with when they opened the store in a handsome heritage building at 425 West Hastings.
The Sikoras are now 91 and 88 years old, respectively, and no longer work at the store. But they remain partners with Savenye and Roger Scobie, who bought into the business when another partner, Rod Horsley, died in 2001.
While the Sikoras no longer work there, it was their spirit and vision that kept the store going.
“They are what you could call believers, in the sense that they wanted Vancouver to have a place like this,” said Savenye.
“It’s been a great 40 years. There’s a huge extended family that has been part of this place. People have literally been with us for the entire 40 years. It’s more of a friendship and family feel than it is a customer base.”
One of the most loyal customers was Dr. Gabor Mate, who discussed his “classical music shopping addiction” in his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.
“Sikora’s was the scene of the crime,” said Mate.
“I’ll tell you, it was the greatest classical music store in the world. I’ve been all over Europe and North American, and there was nothing like it. The knowledge they have about the music, the selection they have of all the different recordings and works … It’s a real loss.”
Sikora’s does have an extensive selection. Savenye thinks the current inventory is about 15,000 albums and 5,000 CDs. There are 16 bins of Bach CDs, for example, 13 bins of Beethoven CDs, and eight bins of Mozart.
“We’ve never had a digital Excel spreadsheet database,” said Savenye.
“We’ve never had anything other than a manual inventory. Data entry is me entering by hand with a fine-point sharpie the ordering code information on a little plastic slip that fits over a CD in a security box. We are classically old school in that way, and damn proud of it.””
It’s more of a friendship and family feel than it is a customer base.”
Ed Savenye, Sikora’s Classical Records