Swansong for Abbey Discs as digital music delivers vinyl nail in coffin

DUBLIN MUSIC-scene institution Abbey Discs sold its last vinyl yesterday after a quarter of a century in business.

Crowds joined owner Billy Murray to say goodbye to the music store on Liffey Street, the destination of choice for the city's DJs.

Its trademark orange walls, normally cluttered with album posters and ads for local gigs, held "massive clearance" signs and a thank you notice to customers.

DJs of all ages called in throughout yesterday to thank Mr Murray for his contribution. They mingled with customers out to find a last-minute bargain among the boxes of vinyls and the stacks of CDs, and to listen to U2 blasting out of the house speakers for the last time.

Mr Murray said the digital explosion was the death knell for his shop. "We knew that five years ago but we tried to keep going," he said.

He said people now download their music or buy mainstream CDs in supermarkets at prices Abbey Discs could not compete with. "I'm sad, but the financial burden was too great, it's been very tough," he said.

"We were trying to trade up to Christmas, but the banks situation means there was a squeeze on our cash flow. We couldn't go on."

He said many more music stores were in his situation and the new year would see more closures.

But he hasn't given up entirely on the music business. He said he was considering a new venture, specialising in rare vinyls only, possibly in the Temple Bar area.

"I'm going to have a rest for a few weeks and then think about it, I'd be going back to selling what I started out selling, music you can't get on the internet," he said.

Colin Furlong, who deejayed "years ago" with the help of Abbey Discs, said the shop would be badly missed. "The music you could get here, you couldn't get anywhere else," he said.