Scott Kuzma stayed in business for the great vinyl revival but he’s not so sure he wants to stick around until CDs make a comeback. He has thousands of them, if you are in the market and think you might want to open a music shop on Capitol Hill.

“If someone wants to do it they’re more than welcome to do it,” Kuzma said.

There is an opportunity. Come June, Capitol Hill’s Everyday Music will be gone from 10th Ave. The offshoot of Kuzma’s Portland record shops officially announced its closing plans over the weekend as employees began spreading the word to customers last week.

The rumors are true. We are heartbroken to announce that our store is closing permanently in June. With the ongoing pandemic struggles and no rent relief, we can no longer afford to keep our doors open. Your continued support has kept us going and we need it now more than ever- we are forever grateful for you and the past 18 years of memories. In the meantime, we are still open 11-6 everyday and would love to see all of your beautiful, masked faces over the next few months

For Kuzma’s thoughts are with his employees — “I have employees that have been with us for such a long time,” he said, talking with CHS Monday morning. “What happens to them after this thing closes down?”

But for the record shop owner who is a cancer survivor and now in his 50s 60s, it has become time to get smaller. Even before the pandemic, there were plans to shrink down the size of one of the Portland stores. But with the impact of COVID-19 and restrictions on businesses and a summer of challenges for Pike/Pine, the foot traffic into the 10th Ave store had dropped to unsustainable levels.

For Everyday, moving a few blocks at a time around the Hill after its 2003 birth was part of doing business after it was displaced from its original Broadway location by light rail demolition and construction.

It lived for a time at Broadway and Pine in the space that is now Blick Art Supplies.  Everyday then moved to 10th Ave in 2010 to neighbor Elliott Bay Book Company.

The June closure will end a nine-year run for Everyday in its current location on 10th Ave next to Rancho Bravo. It moved into the old auto row building used for parking in 2012 after getting bumped from the more expensive space next to Elliott Bay,

Kuzma says the 10th Ave building was no frills but perfect for the music shop business.

“It was basically a parking lot before,” Kuzma said.

“It had low enough rent to allow us to stay. When the virus hit, that just made it really untenable.”

The exit of Everyday won’t change the near-term future of the retail shop’s block. Property owner and developer Ron Amundson tells CHS plans aren’t moving forward anytime soon for a possible redevelopment at the corner that would replace the Everyday Music building and the old Kentucky Fried Chicken that was reborn as Rancho Bravo. “Who knows?” Amundson said when CHS pressed for a possible timeline for change on the block. 10 years? 20? Right now, Amundson said he is hoping to find a new tenant for the space. Maybe someone new wants to take over Everyday and join Wall of Sound, Zion’s Gate, Spin Cycle, Selector, and the thrift shop bargain bins in the neighborhood’s remaining music retail business.

While Kuzma says he is ready to begin downsize his own record business, there’s a chance a new generation of shops just might be around to be part of the next musical nostalgia revival. He’s got a bunch of CDs for you if have the energy to help make it happen.

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