Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

Founded in 1971, Streetside Records was, for many years, the record store chain in St. Louis, with dozens of locations scattered throughout Missouri and Illinois. The general downturn of music retail coupled by a pair of buyouts (first by New Jersey-based chain CD World, then by retail giant Trans World Entertainment) whittled the number of Streetside locations down to just a handful, but the company's flagship store at 6314 Delmar in the U. City Loop remained a thriving destination. On December 24th, 2007, the store will be closing its doors for good, with the venerable record store being forced out by their landlord to make way for a pair of chain restaurants.

While the Delmar store is not the last Streetside location (the store at 10865 West Florissant in Ferguson remains, as do the locations in Columbia and Kansas City), it is the original Streetside, located just across the street from where the first store opened its doors 36 years ago. The loss of the flagship Streetside store marks a major change in the musical landscape of St. Louis in general and the Loop in particular