Via Facebook

Melody Records, the music shop that has stood on the north side of Dupont Circle since the late 1970s, announced yesterday that it is closing some time later this winter.

The store, located at 1623 Connecticut Ave NW, wrote yesterday on its Facebook page that “technology, the Internet and the economy has taken its [toll], and we have concluded, unfortunately, it is not possible to survive in this environment.”

The loss of Melody, which has been operated by the Menase family for more than three decades, is the latest blow to D.C.’s dwindling number of independent record shops. The local chain Olsson’s went bankrupt in 2008, closing its doors in Dupont and at stores in Northern Virginia, while DJ Hut shuttered in 2009. (It existed briefly as an online business, but that too has since dried up.)

On its Twitter account, Melody Records has tried to soften the blow to its longtime customers, but the shop will leave a big hole for music fans seeking out that hard-to-find LP. (In October 2010, DCist’s Pat Padua advised anyone seeking out a copy of an obscure funk record, for example, to drop by Melody.)

We also like to thank everyone who has supported us during these 34 years. This is a family business & you all have been apart of the family

— Melody Records Inc. (@MelodyRecords) January 2, 2012

UPDATE: “It’s really the Internet,” Melody Records owner Jack Menase said in an interview. “And the economy hasn’t helped. This is it.”

Menase, who opened Melody’s original location on E Street NW in 1977 before moving it to Dupont Circle two years later, said that he does not yet have a specific closing date, but that he’ll know “closer to the end of January.”

The 60-year-old Menase, pinned his decision to close on being outpaced by the changing technology of the music industry. “We started with vinyl, then 8-tracks, then cassettes, then CDs,” he said. (It’s worth noting that Crooked Beat Records in Adams Morgan has gone in the opposite trend, ditching CDs last year for an exclusively vinyl catalogue.)

I mentioned to Menase that a few of the replies to an earlier version this post remembered Melody’s commendable selection of rare pressings and obscure imports.

“We worked very hard to find things for our customers,” Menase said in response. “We enjoyed doing that and it was one of our top goals.”

Along with Menase; his wife, Suzy; and his father-in-law, who oversaw the store’s classical selection, Melody Records will let go of seven other employees when it closes.

Still, the decision to end the shop’s 34-year run was not sudden.

“Closing is something we knew was written, seeing all the other stores [that closed],” Menase said. “We wanted to leave on a good note [and] our customers to remember it was a good store for them.”