High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Sam the Record Man flagship store was opened in 1961 by Sam Sniderman at 347 Yonge Street, Toronto. It was the second Sam`s store to be on Yonge Street, as its precursor store was at 219 Yonge Street from 1959, until the 347 location opened in late 1961. It was the best known store in the Sam the Record Man chain of 140 locations across Canada, two blocks away from the Eaton Centre and Dundas Square. Sam`s became a popular attraction, drawing people into its selection of records, and later cassettes and CDs. It flourished in the Downtown Toronto area, quickly gaining notoriety and out-selling the competition. What started as a single storefront had evolved into an entire block completely dedicated to the Sam the Record Man store. For several years, the store went into head-to-head competition with the popular A&A Records flagship store, just up the street, before the latter declared bankruptcy in 1993. The building was demolished over a period of two-years, from 2009 until 2011 and is now part of the site that is planned to be Ryerson University`s Student Learning Centre. The fate of its iconic sign is still to be determined. The sign was designated an historical landmark and Ryerson — as of late 2012 — has not made plans to incorporate it into the new student centre building.