"Another one bites the dust," was how Queenstown entrepreneur Kath Evans described the closure of her company, Play it Again Records.
Play it Again has traded in the same premises within O'Connell's Pavilion since the Queenstown shopping mall opened in April 1988.
The record, CD, DVD and ticket retailer was the last original tenant to remain in the pavilion and would shut its doors for the final time next Wednesday, she said.
One full-time job and one part-time job would go.
Play it Again in Queenstown was the final shop to close in a company which employed up to 16 staff in stores in Wanaka, Timaru, Oamaru, Gore and Invercargill at its peak in the 1980s.
"It's the end of an era; I'll be sad [when it closes]," Ms Evans said.
"It's a part of me. I went into labour working at Play it Again [in Invercargill] and 10 days later he was in a bassinet under the counter.
"It's the high rent - I cannot afford the high rent. Unless you are part of a chain that's going to subsidise your Queenstown shop, forget about opening a business in Queenstown.
"If there had been a spot with cheaper rent in Queenstown, I would have moved in, but it would have to be a quarter of what I'm paying Skyline [Enterprises] to be viable.
"Technology's changed, people are downloading [music].
"Major record companies that had 30 staff are down to two. CD orders have to be rung through to Australia.
"A CD is still the same price, but the profit margin has decreased because of higher wages and higher rents."
When asked to respond to Ms Evans' comments, Skyline Enterprises chief executive Jeff Staniland said yesterday: "Rents are all consistent, so I guess it's high depending on your revenue."
Skyline had more than 70 tenants in Queenstown and rent was determined by the market and property valuations, he said.
Telecommunication and computer retailers Big Bear were expected to move premises in mid-August.
Ms Evans said she launched Play it Again Records in 1972.
"I started a secondhand music store in the old Catholic bookshop down an alley in Invercargill, which I rented from the Hall-Jones family for $10 a week.
"I went into new records and then into video and I had one of the first six video-rental shops in New Zealand, which went on to become Video Ezy.
"Our busiest Christmas was when everyone in Southland and Otago bought Grease and Saturday Night Fever on LP.
That would be the peak of the music industry."
Ms Evans said she was concentrating on her new business, a home staging and interior design shop called First Impressions, at the Gorge Rd Retail Centre, which she enjoyed more than music these days.
"After 38 years, I'm looking forward to a business not open seven days a week.
"I don't know what a weekend free of work is."
