Moore’s Audio Video was one of a handful of local ‘go to’ stores for the Sault’s audio visual needs, a Queen Street landmark for decades.
The business started off in 1909 as Anderson Music, said John Moore, who co-owned and operated Moore’s with his brother Jim in its latter decades.
John's grandfather, Clarence Moore, started working for Anderson Music in the 1920s, and eventually took over the business, changing the name to Moore’s.
"My dad (Paul Moore) got into the business and started, like myself and my brother, as a delivery boy,” John recalled, speaking to SooToday.
The official name of the business changed over the years.
John, looking through old photos during a phone interview, said “when it first started, it was Moore’s with a big ‘Radio’ sign above it.”
Beginning in the 1950s and continuing to the 70s it was called Moore’s Electric, then in the 70s Paul Moore changed it to Moore’s Audio Video. In the late 90s it became known as Moore’s Audiotronic.
Paul Moore died in 2019.
“He had a great life and no regrets. We had a great relationship. I’ve got a lot to be thankful for,” John said.
Paul Moore became owner/operator of the shop in the 1960s, then, in the late 1980s, John and brother Jim took over.
John thoroughly enjoyed being part of a family business.
“Jim and I complemented each other. We were different,” John said, both brothers bringing their own skills and strengths to the business. “My dad was in the background as a consultant. So, the relationship was great.”
The shop moved over one space to the east in 1996, the old space now home to Scripture Gift & Book Shop.
“My grandfather Clarence was always interested in ‘the latest thing.’ In the 1950s he had a Beatty Automatic Washer Travel Show truck. Basically he was going around showing people why they needed to have an automatic washer that you plugged in, rather than a ringer washer. Whenever something new came out it was always an opportunity to sell people on why you might want to have that item,” John said.
“With my grandfather, it was also refrigerators... a guy would come to your house with ice on a hook and you’d have a big piece of ice and put it in your icebox. It was probably delivered by horse and buggy at one time,” John chuckled.
“With my father, he had good business sense and a fascination for the products. He was great at identifying trends and bringing out the best in the sales people to make that work.”
The business sold musical instruments such as organs and pianos during the 1960s and 70s, later withdrawing from that part of the business, John and Jim reviving Moore’s offering of pianos and keyboards for a while in the 1980s and 90s.
Sometimes, children don’t carry on with a family business or follow in the footsteps of their parents, opting for different career paths.
But, John told us “my brother and I grew up with it.”
“Originally, my dad didn’t want us in the business because owning your own business could be a grind and time consuming. My brother and I both went to school for other things. But when we finished school it was in the mid-1980s and the business was booming, and we were really interested in the trends. The hi-fi stuff and the car stereo stuff was big, so it was pretty exciting back then. We were drawn into it, and dad needed the help too at the time. We both rolled our sleeves up and jumped in.”
“In the 70s the big sellers were colour TVs, along with stereos. If you think of the demographic point of view, there were lots of young men going into Algoma Steel. That’s when Pioneer and Marantz and all the stereo stuff was coming out and becoming big. We jumped into that in a big way,” John said.
“There would be those car stereo competitions. The Alpine stereo car would come into town. It would be a Camaro decked out with $10,000 worth of stereo equipment in it. I was in my late teens and early 20s and seeing that, thinking it was the coolest thing ever. So, we got our own demo car. I had a car decked out with the Alpine and Moore’s logos on it, just to promote it.”
“I was into it huge,” he chuckled.
Recalling the St. Joseph Island Cornfest days, complete with live bands, John said, “I had the car out there sometimes, would open the doors, play the stereo and have my own concert after the show.”
“Then in the 80s there were all sorts of new trends. My brother and I got into all sorts of new things coming out, like digital satellite dishes.”
Moore’s, of course, got in on home video from the beginning.
VCR’s were big in size, sometimes quite heavy, and could cost approximately $1,000, John recalled.
“That was a lot of money but people were buying them,” John said.
Eventually, John and Jim withdrew from movie rentals as the big chains such as Blockbuster became part of the landscape.
“Another big thing was the Walkman. Walkmans were huge. Video cameras were another big item.”
“The original full sized VHS-sized video camera was pretty big. We sold a few of those, then those Sony 8mm cameras came out. They were considered small but they were still the size of a woman’s purse,” John said.
Interestingly, some of the up and coming audio visual devices never took off, neither locally nor around the world, those devices now relegated to the ‘historical curiosity’ category.
Those include vertical turntables, music cassette-sized movies for sale or rental and the laser disc. Those items were surpassed by other audio visual innovations.
Through it all, the Moore family kept up with constantly evolving audio visual trends to stay competitive.
“We read a lot of trade magazines and went to trade shows,” John said.
“The big thing for me was sound.”
“I was always, and still am, a big music fan. For me, hi-fi, good sound, be it through a home stereo system or car stereo was what I was drawn into,” said John, a live music lover who enjoys watching video recordings of concerts on Blu-ray.
Moore’s, which always serviced what they sold, closed in 2004.
It was John and Jim Moore’s decision, one which was taken with foresight and wisdom.
“It was bittersweet. In the late 90s the steel plant was on the verge of bankruptcy. There was more competition for us with the big box stores. We also saw Internet, online sales coming. Even some of our suppliers were selling online.”
“We were all on the same page,” said John, stating the decision to close was unanimous among the Moore family members, all Moore’s staff granted the dignity of being told the doors of the business would close well in advance.
For John, it was an unsettling life changer at the time.
“It was scary. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Not only was it my occupation and my life, it’s who I was. It was my identity. So when it closed, it was like ‘who am I?’ I had to reinvent myself, but I love what I’m doing now.”
When Moore’s closed, John worked in sales elsewhere at first, before becoming a small business advisor at the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation (SSMEDC).
He now works for the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development.
John said he misses the days when buying an LP with liner notes was the norm, being able to hold a physical object as your own, prior to today’s age of downloadable music and compressed audio.
Does John have any advice for young people looking to open their own business?
“A lot of it boils down to finding a niche and providing a service you can’t get online or at a big box,” emphasizing he buys from local merchants as much as he can for all his needs.
As with any life/work experience, John said his time with Moore’s had challenges, but recalled “there were a lot of positives.”
“You remember the relationships. There were great customers, some exciting changes in the industry which sparked you, motivated you to work harder. It was exciting to see those changes in technology."