Sunrise Records (retailer)

Sunrise Records Ltd.

Type	Private
Industry	Retail
Predecessor	HMV Canada
Founded	1977; 40 years ago (1977) (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Headquarters	Ancaster, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Number of locations	59
Area served	Canada
Products	Books Film Television Music Technology Merchandise Cinema
Owner	Doug Putman
Website	www.sunriserecords.com

Sunrise Records is a Canadian record store chain based in Ancaster, Ontario. Currently owned by Douglas Putman (whose family also runs Everest Toys), it operates 59 locations in 7 Canadian provinces. After starting small, with only 9 locations in Ontario, in February 2017, the chain announced a major expansion under which it purchased leases for 70 locations occupied by the bankrupt HMV Canada. Almost all of these are now open.

The company was founded in Toronto in 1977, with a location on Yonge Street. It was bought in 1978 by Malcolm and Roy Perlman. For a period, Sunrise was considered one of the five major record store chains in Canada, alongside HMV Canada, Music World, Sam the Record Man, and A&A Records. However, by the 2000s, with the shift towards online music stores and other factors (including the dominance of HMV), most of these smaller chains downsized or shut down. In 2014. Sunrise closed its flagship store in Toronto.

In October 2014, the chain was acquired by Douglas Putman; under Putman, the chain opened new locations, expanding to 9 within Ontario. In January 2017, HMV Canada entered receivership, and announced that it intended to close all stores by the end of April. On February 26, 2017, Sunrise Records announced that it had negotiated to purchase the leases for 70 of HMV's locations from landlords to convert them to Sunrise stores, including major locations such as the Square One Shopping Centre, Promenades Saint-Bruno. Polo Park, West Edmonton Mall, and Metropolis at Metrotown, and that it would try to retain as many former HMV employees as possible. Putman felt that the bankruptcy of the chain was a major opportunity to expand the regional Sunrise chain into a national brand. He noted that record labels had become concerned by the closure of HMV because they would not have a prominent location to stock their physical product; the company's announcement quoted Universal Music Canada president Jeffrey Remedios, who felt that record stores were still important to fans and artists, and that they were "a community hub where passions are shared, art is explored, and lasting journeys begin." Putman added that "it is really sad to see HMV go. They were a great retailer and they really helped the physical business in Canada."