Nashville’s famed Ernest Tubb Record Shop, a country music institution for over 70 years, will permanently shutter its doors this spring.
“It’s with great sadness that we share the news that the Ernest Tubb Record Shop — building and business — will be sold,” the company that runs the store said Friday in a statement.
“Our goal has always been to protect, promote and preserve the great history of the record shop and building. That desire remains as strong today as ever. However, due to changes in circumstances out of our control, it’s now clear the best way forward is to sell the business and the real estate.”
The shop, founded by Grand Ole Opry legend Ernest Tubb in 1947, had been at its 417 Broadway location in Nashville – across from the Ryman Auditorium and where it hosted the Midnite Jamboree radio show – since 1951. In addition to specializing in country music records, the store also hosted countless in-store performances and signings throughout the decades. Following Tubb’s death in 1984, the shop was bought by longtime employee David McCormick.
“We are heartbroken that the store, which has existed in its current location in the heart of lower Broadway since 1951, will close this Spring,” McCormick’s company added. “Preserving the history and tradition of country music remains at the forefront of everything we do. We remain committed to preservation work and look forward to new projects that will allow us to continue to protect and nurture the invaluable history and tradition of country music.”
According to the Nashville Scene, the building that houses the Ernest Tubb Record Shop was sold in 2020 for $4.75 million; McCormick previously bought the building in 1992 for $128,000. The building was purchased by Robert’s Western World venue owner JesseLee Jones, who said of the shop’s fate in 2020, “Ernest Tubb Record Shops will be here for another 52 years, if it’s up to me.” Two years later, the record shop is closing up for good.