The demolition of Sam the Record Man continues on, and it appears that soon even the shell of the former Toronto icon will be a thing of the past. Despite the fact that the wonderful sign was taken down over a year ago, I still get nostalgic whenever I pass by Yonge and Gould. Sam's was both a favourite record store and photographic subject for me, so seeing it all in ruins just hurts a little bit, even if its replacement is a worthy project.

But, after snapping a few shitty photos of the demolition yesterday, I realized that I'd rather look at photos that depict the store as it used to be. It really was one of those locations that photographers flocked to, so there's tons of great stuff out there.

Here's a couple of photos taken during the store's heyday in the 1970s and 80s, when the area around the store was particularly vibrant (note that the two records are not a part of the signage in the first photo).

And a look at the a part of the interior just prior to the beginning of the demolition process.

What's left of Sam's as of yesterday.

And a collection of photos of Sam's from the blogTO Flickr pool.

So long, Sam's!

A hat tip should go to Urban Toronto forum member androiduk, who also said goodbye to Sam's yesterday. Photo of Sam's interior by aswilliamson.