Iconic Auckland music store Real Groovy Records has closed its 438 Queen St store after 25 years.

The new store (pictured right) opened its doors on January 7 diagonally across the road from the old shop which shut yesterday (January 17) after a closing down sale. The new address is 369 Queen St.

The new store takes up two levels in what used to be the Salvation Army auditorium.

“The auditorium on the ground floor is a massive space,” said Real Groovy on its website. “It’s the same kind of scale as the old store, but way groovier, absolutely perfect for Real Groovy.

“And there’s a huge basement where we’ll be putting our vinyl department, giving it the room to grow that it needs”.

Real Groovy owner Chris Hart told Newstalk ZB yesterday the staff are not sad to be leaving the old building, which is scheduled for demolition.

“The old store is an old building, it’s crumbling, it’s not that great a place, the air conditioning doesn’t work. We’re moving to an amazing space which is going to be cool and clean and tidy with much better facilities – it won’t have sewage bubbling up from the kitchen floor.”

Real Groovy started life as a second hand music store but has expanded into New Zealand’s best known retailer of new music, CDs, vinyl, music memorabilia and associated merchandise – both new and traded.

The old store, with more of a “grunge feel” than the new one with its glass bricks and parquet floors, is pictured below.