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Sam The Record Man sign to light up Yonge-Dundas Square by summer’s end

Composite image of the Sam The Record Man sign atop 277 Victoria Street in downtown Toronto.
Composite image of the Sam The Record Man sign atop 277 Victoria Street in downtown Toronto. Ryerson University

Toronto’s iconic Sam The Record Man sign will be revived and placed atop Yonge-Dundas Square by the end of the summer.

Ryerson University announced on Wednesday it has selected signage contractor Sunset Neon to restore, install and relight the heritage piece.

The spinning neon discs have been in storage since the downtown Toronto record store went out of business in 2007.

School officials said the restoration project will begin in the spring with the sign remounted atop a city-owned building at 277 Victoria Street.

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A statement released by Sam Sniderman’s family, the Canadian businessman who founded the chain of record stores, said the sign’s relocation to Yonge-Dundas Square couldn’t be a more perfect spot.

READ MORE: What is part of Toronto’s heritage?

“It should be known that our first record store in downtown Toronto opened on the east side of Yonge Street just south of Dundas; so our signs will now be mounted above and shining down on the original location,” the statement read.

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Ryerson had originally agreed to re-install the sign at the original location (347 and 349 Yonge Street) or at the university library.

But after buying the site, the university decided the sign might clash with their new building.

Consultations and a city council vote in 2014 managed to settle the sign’s new home.

“We are certain that our father would be so pleased with the work that has and will be done and that these iconic symbols of our store and the music industry will be a lasting legacy…which we will share with him and the community…forever,” the Sniderman family said.

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