Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Famed Country Music Store, Is Closing

The business and historic building have been sold due to “changes in circumstances out of our control”

The long-running store on Nashville’s Broadway thoroughfare, announced that it’s closing soon. In a statement posted on Facebook, the store’s owners said that “changes in circumstances out of our control” meant that the business and its historic building had been sold, but did not specify a final day of business.

“We remain committed to preservation work and look forward to new projects that will allow us to continue to protect and nurture the invaluable history and tradition of country music,” the shop’s owners wrote in their statement. The shop was a mainstay for 75 years, a cornerstone of the country music industry from its earliest days in the city. 

Country singer and honky-tonk hitmaker Ernest Tubb founded the shop in 1947, and moved to its current location at 417 Broadway in 1951. Tubb died in 1984 at age 70. The shop has also been the longtime host of the taste-making Midnite Jamboree radio program, which has also operated since 1947.