With “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix playing in the background, Anthony Wells of Peters perused the vinyl albums at Dave’s Music Mine on the South Side on Wednesday.

“Every time I come in this store, I find something I like,” said Wells, who was on break from West Virginia University where he is studying biology. “So when you hear that a store like this is closing, it is so sad.”

After 20 years at its current location, the shop is closing. It opened as Jerry’s Music Market in 1996 in Oakland and later expanded to five locations.

A specific closing date hasn’t been set, said manager Dave Whaley. The lease is up in May and store owner Dave Panasiuk told Whaley there would be no renewal. More and more people are shopping online, which has affected sales, Whaley said.

“So, like you have a soft opening, this is like a soft landing,” said Whaley, whose last day is Thursday. “Customers have been stopping by telling me they are sad we are closing.”

The shop will be closed during the week after Friday and open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays for the next few months.

“It is so much more fun to shop for records in store because you can flip through them,” Wells said. “You also have access to the expertise of the people who work here. They know about all of the music.”

Whaley said he can’t put a number on how much inventory there is in the store.

He has enjoyed working in this business, where he also gets to choose the music customers listen to while they shop.

“I pick it based on what I am in the mood for,” he said. “That’s part of the fun of working here. I get to talk about and hear music all day.”

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