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The chain—having shed most of their unprofitable stores—emerged from bankruptcy under the ownership of
Lincoln Capital Corporation. However, the corporation again filed for bankruptcy later in 1993, and was dissolved when its assets were sold piecemeal. Its remaining retail outlets were absorbed by
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In 1981 CBS sold its retail and wholesale pre-recorded music business to some of its former executives - Terry Lynd, Fred Rich and Dick Moody, who took over the company as
Chairman, President and Executive Vice-President respectively and collectively held majority ownership. The corporate name under
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By the end of 1974, the company decided to close its book business that was located in the basement floor of its flagship store at 351 Yonge Street, Toronto. The senior management consisted of general manager Rick McGraw and vice-president of marketing R. Bruce Wilson. Its offices were located above
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In 1987 the company reported its best financial results - sales of $ 134 million and net income of over $ 7 million. That same year, Sound
Insight was purchased by a group of Canadian and US investors and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vector No. Acquisition Corporation. The company's
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During peak
Christmas season in 1990, company's sales were $ 400,000 to $ 600,000 below breakeven. Senior management discussed several options to stabilize the business. After staggering through two further unprofitable years, it was decided that CCAA filing was the only viable option.
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which were gaining in popularity among young people. Within a few years, record sales became the dominant portion of the store's business. In 1960, A&A Books & Records
Company of Canada licensed several franchises across Canada and in 1971, the Kenners sold the business to
221:, and had a presence in every province. The company's sudden expansion, however, proved to be its undoing: many of the new locations were opened with no cohesive marketing strategy, and almost all of the new locations proved to be unprofitable and unsustainable.
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the retail store at 351 Yonge Street, in a small portion of the second and third floor. The second floor was classical department and the third floor was being used as the warehouse. The company itself was a wholly owned subsidiary of
Columbia Records Canada.
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operations had previously been confined to fewer than forty stores, but during this period the company went through a period of rapid expansion, opening almost 100 new retail stores during 1989 alone.
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in a building that had been purchased by Kenner and her husband, Mac. The family also founded the A&A Lunchroom in the same building. In the early 1950s, the store added a record section to sell
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the new ownership was Sound
Insight Limited, while retail stores kept the trade name A&A Records and Tapes, and later A&A Music & Entertainment.
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by Alice Kenner, her husband Mac, with the assistance of her brother, Aaron as A&A Bookstore after Alice and Aaron's first initials, at 351
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In the spring of 1975, the accounting office was relocated to 75 The Donway West, while the management offices remained at 351 Yonge Street.
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Between 1981 and 1987, the company made several acquisitions including the purchase of
Flipside retail chain from Polydor Records.
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The A&A flagship store in the early 1990s; A&A's main rival's flagship store can be seen right next door.
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In 1974, its operations consisted of the main store at 351 Yonge Street in
Toronto, another flagship store on
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investment group in 1981. After an ill-advised attempt to rapidly expand their scope of operations i
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The corporation filed for protection under the
Company Creditors Arrangement Act in January 1993.
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By 1990, A&A had 260 retail stores across Canada, twice as many as their chief competitor
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after it lost the dominant market position to the Sam's chain, but was reacquired by a
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other retailers, with many of the remaining A&A stores being absorbed into the
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Ryerson Polytechnic University (now Toronto Metropolitan University)
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in the early 1960s, A&A was the dominant record store chain in
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was a Canadian record store chain. Prior to the expansion of
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In December 1993, the flagship Yonge Street store became a
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A&A Records at 351 Yonge Street in Toronto, circa 1975
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