'It's been the greatest job in the world:' Treehouse Records closes for good at midnight
New Year's Eve marks the final night of music at Treehouse Records in Minneapolis. The legendary record store in Uptown closes its doors for good at midnight.
Owner Mark Trehus has spent half his life working in the store in a small brick building at 26th Street and Lyndale Avenue. He started at age 31 when it was called Oar Folkjokeopus. In the early 2000s, he purchased the building and renamed the shop Treehouse Records.
"It's been the greatest job in the world but I just want to move on and do other things with the rest of my life," said Trehus as he stood surrounded by walls covered in posters and lined with endless bins of records.
On its final day, customers like Andy Heater filled the small aisles.
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"I love this store, shopped here for years pretty much since I moved to Minnesota," said Heater as he clutched his latest finds.
Trehus said closing the store represents a sort of New Year's resolution, to focus more time and energy on his life.
"I just got married two years ago at the age of 60 for the first time and that's been an adventure," explained Trehus. "I just reached a point in my life where I want to do other things."
Trehus said the neighborhood is also changing and modernizing in a way he fears may etch away at a sentimental business like his.
"If I had it my way it would look different than what makes sense to the neighborhood," he said.
Trehus owns the building. He said he's looking to rent the record shop space to another type of business, but he doesn't yet know what that could be.