CD Plus to close

The longtime, much beloved audio visual entertainment outlet CD Plus (1592 Barrington Street, 422-1559) on Barrington Street is closing on March 30. With staff under strict orders to stay mum on the details around the closing, Shoptalk contacted CD Plus’s head offices in Winnipeg, reaching vice president of sales Dale Bially, but he did not return our request for comment before deadline. We can tell you that starting now, everything in the store is 20 percent off.

“They’re competition, but you never like to see a business close up,” says John Graham of Taz Records (1593 Market Street, 422-5976). “It’s going to be a loss in bringing people downtown, and that’s a loss to everybody.” Taz manager Jim Donnelly says he always enjoyed visiting CD Plus, and remarks that the closing is bad for the music retail industry in general. “It seems that digital media sales are slipping, but vinyl is doing better every year,” which is Taz’s specialty. “We’re fortunate in that regard.”