How the loss of one store could transform a city into a cultural wasteland

Negativland. Mono. Thin White Rope. Jacky Terrason. Frank Ocean. Venetian Snares. Squirrel Nut Zippers. Laura Ainsworth. Baboon.

If you haven't heard of any of these musicians before, you could be forgiven for that. But here in Dallas, if you want to find out what these folks are like, you'd better act fast.

There's a CD shop north of downtown Dallas, a short drive away from the SMU campus. It's simply called CD Source, and for the longest time, this has been the place to go if you want to grab some good CDs for your library. CD Source has the same shabby, claustrophilic atmosphere that some of the oldest and best bookstores have - it's a place where you can walk in even if you have no idea what you want, but chances are excellent you'll walk out with something, possibly a musical act that you've never even heard of before.

CD Source carries a little of everything, provided you know where to look. Here, new and used CD's are stocked side by side in alphabetical order by artist. Newly-acquired CDs from private collections are put in their own special space for a while to give attentive fans a chance to scoop them up easily. More new artists to discover. More new horizons to expand.

But soon, CD Source will be no more. The landlord has informed CD Source that they're no longer considered "hip enough" for the neighborhood, where older and more affordable apartments are being torn down to make way for pricier units. The drive to "gentrify" this area by chasing out lower-middle-class workers and replacing them with hipsters already resulted in the restaurant being credited with inventing the frozen margarita being served its walking papers so that a PetSmart could be built on the lot. So while Mariano's first frozen margarita machine now sits in the Smithsonian, the restaurant itself has been banished to a financially-depressed area of town.

This fate does not await CD Source. Faced with looming eviction by the landlord, the owner has instead decided to get out of the business. He's liquidating his massive inventory. 40% off all used vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays. 10% off the new stuff.

The Dallas area used to have a lot of great music shops that weren't simply chain stores. RPM Records and Pagan Rhythms, however, ceased to be a long time ago. Bill's moved south of I-30 and is only a fraction of its former size. HIT Records, if they're still around, sells mostly punk and hardcore. And even the chain stores are long gone, their CEOs apparently convinced that Dallasites only shop from iTunes and Amazon. Once CD Source is gone, easy access to undiscovered music will be reduced even further.

It will be a sad day when CD Source finally shuts its doors for the last time. But what may happen to the cultural scene in Dallas may be sadder still unless someone is able to take up the slack.