After 71 years in operation, a mail-order club that used to entice new members with a dozen CDs for a penny has declared its closure. Columbia House, which ended music sales and Canadian operations in 2010, recently took down the closure announcement from its website.
Music enthusiasts first noticed the closure notice over the weekend, indicating that new orders would not be accepted after 9/15/26. The company, initially established by Columbia Records in 1955 as Columbia Record Club, aimed to boost music sales in areas lacking access to record stores. The mail-order business expanded over the years, incorporating new technologies such as cassettes, CDs, and eventually DVDs of movies and TV shows.
Early customers were drawn in by magazine and newspaper ads promising multiple music items for a penny, with an agreement to purchase a minimum number of releases monthly. This model proved successful, with Columbia House shipping over a billion records and contributing to 15% of CD sales by 1994.
As online music options grew, revenue declined, leading to the cessation of music sales in 2010 when the company, then under Direct Brands ownership, shifted focus to DVD sales and ceased operations in Canada. Despite a 2015 bankruptcy filing by its parent company, Columbia House continued to operate on DVD sales until the recent closure announcement.
The news of Columbia House’s closure coincides with a resurgence in physical media enthusiasm. According to Music Canada’s data on global music trends, vinyl sales saw a significant increase in 2025, with record stores also experiencing a rise in business.
While many bid farewell to Columbia House’s nostalgic music collection model during its previous bankruptcy filing, the recent closure news has sparked a wave of social media tributes from music lovers reminiscing about building their music libraries through the club’s offerings — and joking about unpaid fees.
CBC News has attempted to reach out to Columbia House for further details following the removal of the closure notice from its website, but no response has been received as of yet.
