EDMOND — After changing with the times for 28 years and supplying Edmond with movies and music and more, Randy’s M&M will be closing because the latest changes are too much for the store to overcome.
"The only people still trying to do bricks-and-mortar video or music stores are people in corporations trying to maintain their jobs with other peoples’ money,” store owner Randy Ruark said.
"We can’t risk our life savings trying to prove we could last a little bit longer,” he said.
When it opened in 1981, the store’s focus was on the music side of the business as it sold vinyl records, 8-tracks and cassette tapes.
About nine months later, Ruark said customers were asking about VHS and Betamax videos so he needed to adapt to supply his customers’ demand. Randy’s M&M eventually branched out to sell TVs, cameras, clothes and posters and at one time had its own photography studio in the late 1980s.
But all that has changed.
Today, technology has altered the direction of how people buy and sell music and buy or rent movies. As more people turn to iTunes and Netflix or big bargain stores like Walmart or Target, Ruark said he simply can’t afford to keep the store open.
"If you can just get (movies or music) with the click of a button in your pajamas at three in the morning, that makes a difference because you don’t have to wait until a store opens to get what you want,” said Kris Abt, a Randy’s employee of 14 years.
Next Story
