The giant neon records on Toronto's famed Sam the Record Man sign will soon "spin" again, as the landmark's keeper, Ryerson University, began searching for a company to restore it.
After Sam Sniderman's music empire declared bankruptcy and its flagship Yonge Street shop was demolished to make way for a new Ryerson property, many feared the city would never again see the 15-by-11 metre sign's neon glow. But this week, Ryerson put out a call for companies to bid on installing the sign atop a city-owned building overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square. This is the saga of Sam's sign.
1961
Sam Sniderman opens Sam the Record Man's flagship music shop at 347 Yonge St. in downtown Toronto. As a teenager, Mr. Sniderman began selling records out of his family's business, Sniderman Radio Sales and Service, in 1937. His new downtown store is easily recognizable with its first neon sign that includes a working thermometer and barometer/
It isn't just the store's neon sign or overstocked record displays that make it stand out. Mr. Sniderman also employs some business practices unusual for the time, like keeping the store open until midnight and on Sundays. Annual sales approach $2-million by 1967, which is about $14-million today.
The Globe and Mail
1969
Sam's first neon record sign appears at the Yonge Street location, replacing the old thermometer and barometer. The sign's 120 white neon tubes are animated to give the illusion that the record is spinning. In the middle of the record, "That's Entertainment" is spelled out in neon red tubes.
1980s - 1990s
Sam the Record Man becomes the music industry's retail mecca, with franchise stores popping up across the country. At the same time, the flagship store on Yonge Street gets its second neon record sign, identical to the first, just north at 349 Yonge St. The signs use a total of 1,572 feet of neon tubing, according to a Sam the Record Man online archive created by Ryerson University. If this tubing were to be placed end-to-end, it would run from the store's Yonge and Gould St. intersection to just north of College Street.
PETER TYM/FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
2007
Sam's giant records stop spinning as the store closes its doors for good. The store closed for the first time in October, 2001, when the business filed for bankruptcy protection amid a record industry crisis, owing to the rising popularity of downloaded music and CD superstores like HMV. Mr. Sniderman's sons, Robert and Jason Sniderman, were able to save the store in 2002, but as the industry wound down, so did their hopes of keeping their family business open. The neon records ceased to spin that summer – seemingly forever.
TIBOR KOLLEY/The Globe and Mail
2008
Sam the Record Man's former neighbour, Ryerson University, buys the Yonge Street property with plans to demolish the three-storey building and erect a student learning centre. The school is granted permission to build on the property – a heritage site – on the condition that it take responsibility for Sam's iconic signs. The signs are taken apart and put into storage with the promise they'd glow again one day on the side of the new Ryerson building or on the school's nearby library.
ZEIDLER SNOHETTA/Labtop USA Corp.
2011
The fate of Sam's sign hangs in the balance as Ryerson releases the construction plan for its new student learning centre and the records are not part of it. University officials say they worry the sign's outdated technology will pose a safety risk, as any damage done to the sign could result in mercury spilling onto the sidewalk below. Installing the sign on the side of the student centre would also clash with the new building's modern architecture, they say, and its neon glow could distract the studying students inside.
DEBORAH BAIC/The Globe and Mail
2012
Mr. Sniderman dies in his sleep on Sept. 23, 2012 at age 92. He is remembered not just for creating the music empire that is Sam the Record Man, but also for helping Canadian stars including Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell and the band the Guess Who.
"He went out on a limb and stuck up for us in those early days when we were trying our best to get something to happen," Anne Murray told The Globe and Mail in 2012, after Mr. Sniderman died. "He proved to be quite good for us, and we proved to be quite good for him in the end. But it started with him."
Sam ‘The Record Man’ Sniderman dies
The flagship store in downtown Toronto was a music-retail mecca. Brad Wheeler looks back at the life of an entrepreneur who created a music empire.
Read the article2014
Toronto's city council votes on July 20, 2014 to have Sam's sign reassembled on the roof of the Toronto Public Health building, a city-owned tower at 277 Victoria St., overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square. This would place the sign just a block away from its old home on Yonge Street. Ryerson, still responsible for preserving the sign, is told that it will foot the bill.
City of Toronto
2016
Ryerson begins the process of refurbishing the Sam the Record Man sign by issuing a request on Feb. 9, 2016 for companies to install it. There is no word as of yet of how long the restoration process will take.