Canada is losing what’s believed to be its oldest independent record store.
After 46 years, Moondance at 425 George St. in downtown Peterborough will shutter for good Saturday, April 28.
Asked what he’ll miss the most, owner Mike Taveroff, 68, says: “Probably the people that come in here and talk music.”
And talk those customers have for 46 years. But 2018 is much different than 1972, and Taveroff says he’s ready to retire.
“Times have changed with the internet and that’s part of the reason stores like this are ceasing to exist,” said Taveroff, a native of Montreal.
Taveroff was living in Vancouver when he decided to move east to feed his passion for music.
So he tossed a dart at a map of Ontario and it landed close to Lindsay, about 25 minutes east of Peterborough.
He decided with a population of around 17,000 it was too small, so he brought his idea to the Electric City.
Moondance has always specialized in offering products rarely available anywhere else. And that’s been a big draw for the thousands of loyal customers over the years.
“It’s sad because now, where do you go? I don’t want to shop online. I’ve liked the personal service that they’ve offered all these decades,” one customer said.
Right back at you, said Taveroff, a recently widowed father of two adult daughters.
“Peterborough’s great. They’ve been really good to me and the store’s only as good as the people who shop in it.”
As for his future plans, what does come next after working 10 to 14 hours a day for close to half a century? Taveroff says it’s not much more than relaxing and putting his feet up at his East City home on the water.