11/02/2025
After 33+ years of doing business in the Town Centre 2 in East Peoria, it is with a heavy heart we, at The CO-OP Shop, must announce our closing of this location. October 31st, 2025 was our final day of business in East Peoria.
We made it through the "CD pricing wars" with the BigBox retailers in the 1990's... survived the departure of a certain BigBox retailer who left the Town Centre 2 plaza back in 1998 to go down to the riverfront... successfully evolved into a "counter-culture and lifestyle products" retailer amid the eventual demise of selling music, altogether, in the 20-teens... pulled through the shutdowns of 2020 when so many other small businesses sadly had to close their doors for good... managed to keep our heads above water these last few years in the midst of troves of competitors popping up all over the Peoria-Area... but due to a recent "policy change" in the city of East Peoria, itself, this is a completely unexpected turn of events we cannot get past.
Closing up shop in my beloved East Peoria is one of the most heartbreaking decisions I have ever had to make 💔 As an 18-year-old back in 1992... the year CO-OP Records launched in East Peoria... I never could have fathomed the pillar in the local business community CO-OP would become, and 33 years later... through the "roller-coaster ride" of it all... I will ALWAYS consider East Peoria to be my second "hometown" whether CO-OP, in its various inceptions, is a part of it or not. Much in the same way I had to make the heartbreaking decision to rebrand "CO-OP Records" into "The CO-OP Shop" as a result of digital downloading and streaming music a decade ago... closing of business in EP, altogether, is an unavoidable outcome for which I have no choice if this business is to survive. (I know some would still argue for the resurgence of vinyl sales in the 20-teens... an overall upwards trend nationwide, to which, I would absolutely agree. However, there were not enough folks in the Peoria-Area buying vinyl records to bring in the necessary revenue to cover our ever-increasing fixed expenses and the wages of a staff of a dozen or so employees at the time. Likewise, I am now faced with a similarly devastating decision... The CO-OP Shop, simply, cannot operate in the midst of this unexpected "policy change" in the city of East Peoria.)
That said... our operation will continue at our second location, so please come visit our sister store at 3125 N. University St. in Peoria. (It is a quick 10 minute trek using I-74, and we can be found near the intersection of University and Forest Hill in the University Plaza between AutoZone and BurgerKing.)
I thank You ALL sooo very much for Your support and patronage over the years and decades... God Bless 🙏
CO-OP has been a staple in the area since the early 1970's, and this particular store was established in 1992.
