Australia loses its last classical record store

Message from Fish Fine Music in Sydney Town Hall:

It is with much regret that we announce the closure of our store in Town Hall, scheduled for 21st December.

We will still be taking customer orders until 7th December and continue with new releases until 20th November.

It has been a great pleasure to meet and serve so many like-minded, wonderful customers. As this is the end of an era, we look back on so many years of being part of what was such a vibrant industry.

Many will ask why we are closing and it is briefly that record companies continue monthly to delete hundreds of titles in favour of streaming. The difficulty this causes for us in getting regular and consistent supply, along with the vagaries of releases and distribution, have made retail just too difficult. As the last Classical retailer, shoplifting has reached such a level that we are unable to cover the losses on the margins we work under.

While CDs have enjoyed over 30 years of success as the main source of music distribution, streaming has now replaced it and will continue to grow. It too will change, but ‘Will it be here in its current form in years to come?’ is the question.

Collecting albums in physical form still remains the safest bet to me, but the Cloud is shaping up to be a safe storage centre and is set to be the future for collectors.

More to come on that note.

In the meantime…

As the last specialist classical retail store in Australia, we shall have a party on the 21st December at 12pm to celebrate our 50 years as a retailer of music and 35 years as a classical specialist. We hope many of our loyal customers who, along with our staff, have been part of our friendly organisation for so many decades will join us for memories and a drink.

Watch out for lots of sales and deals as we prepare one last hoorah.