The end is near.
City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., will close its doors Jan. 30.
The store -- a State College mainstay since 1985 -- is closing because of increasing financial pressures and the changing music industry, storeowner Greg Gabbard said Wednesday.
"It's just economics," Gabbard said. "If I were a sensible man, I would have closed it maybe a year ago. But I love it so much I just hung on."
City Lights offers a diverse selection that includes new and used vinyl records and CDs, as well as a large used DVD collection.
For Joe Herbstritt (junior-biological engineering), the closing means he'll have to find somewhere else to get his music -- somewhere that won't be as likely to order CDs at his request.
But for Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA) President Danny Michelson (senior-film and video), it means more than just finding another place where students can purchase music.
"This is the one independent music store I've seen. There are none by me at home, it's the only one that I know of, or have ever been to," Michelson said. "It really disappoints me to see where businesses are going, and we're just seeing less and less music stores around."
Gabbard said the changing trends in music acquisition negatively affected the store and are partially to blame for its closing.
"I think technology has turned the tide," Gabbard said. "The burning and the downloading is the chosen way to go for the majority, and with just a brick-and-mortar store, it's hard to make it."
Herbstritt said he sees the appeal of the Internet downloading trend but still prefers the traditional route of buying CDs and records.
"I like that you can get music online for free, where you can hear new artists and things like that," Herbstritt said.
"But it's nice to go to a record store and get something physical to hold on to. If your computer crashes, your music is gone. But if you have a CD, you still have something to listen to."
Indeed, some people are seeing the store closing as another call for those who are left in the local music scene to step up.
"It's just one more musical outlet that we're losing in this town," Michelson said. "For the groups that are left, like SOMA or [the Student Programming Association] or Asylum or the State Theatre, we really need to pick up the slack and just not let the music scene die out and let the cover bands take over the town."
And though he would like to see another record store come into downtown, Michelson said he thinks history isn't on their side.
"I know when I was little, I used to see the indie music stores, but all of them went out of business and none have come back," Michelson said. "We can hope that we'll get another independent music store, but I guess it doesn't look good."
But Herbstritt doesn't see it that way.
"I feel like the next generation of Cherry Darling or City Lights is going to emerge in the next couple of years," Herbstritt said. "That's the way music is -- it's like a grassroots movement."
Though he isn't sure what will take over the lease, Gabbard said he hopes it'll be something good.
The store will have a final sale starting on Monday and running through the store's closing on Jan. 30.
Gabbard will also maintain an "online presence" because of the large inventory remaining in the store.
"I don't want to get too sentimental," Gabbard said. "Change is sometimes, if not good, right."
