Edmond music store closes its doors

For decades, Randy's M&M customers left with media, movies and music.

But the buyers once eager to check out vinyl records, 8-track cassettes, VHS tapes and more modern formats like CDs and DVDs proved unwilling to check back in with the Edmond retailer, which closed its last store with a final liquidation sale on July 18.

Store owner Randy Ruark told The Oklahoman he didn't want to risk his life savings trying to prove the value of the brick-and-mortar store in an age dominated by digital downloads.

"Young people are really not buying music anymore; buying CDs is just not their thing," Ruark, 55, told the newspaper's Brian Kimball in a July 17 article. "I'm not complaining, it's just a realization that (the Internet) is where everything is going."

Two other Randy's stores closed in Edmond over the past year. The store at 917 E. Danforth closed in August, and another at 432 S. Santa Fe shuttered in November.

The last remaining store, at 3200 S. Boulevard, held a final auction last week of remaining merchandise and office equipment.

Ruark opened the first store in 1981 when he was 25, never expecting his enterprise to last until the 1990s.

In other depressing news, your dog and grandma will also die.

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