Since the 1980s, Don Lambdin has brought classical music to Eugene. In his store at 942 Olive St., Musique Gourmet, Lambdin has collected more than 5,000 hand-picked titles that range across the best recordings in the classical music cannon. The store itself, simply adorned with Oregon Bach Festival posters and neatly stacked and labeled racks, holds a treasure trove of recordings from some of the best labels around, such as Mercury and RCA Living Stereo. Lambdin also keeps budget labels such as Naxos in stock for those unwilling or unable to purchase higher-quality recordings.
One of the last niche music stores in Eugene, Lambdin’s store has managed to stay in business despite declining sales and an increasingly aggressive music retail market. He credits this to the quality of his selection.
“When it comes to classical, most stores just stock whatever is selling and they usually don’t have a staff that is knowledgeable in the area,” Lambdin said.
Lambdin, a former health physicist who spent years investigating ionized and nonionized radiation hazards for the United States Public Health Service, decided to open the store after buying some speakers from Bradford’s Home Entertainment.
“I found out that Bradford’s was looking for someone to sell music in the store so as to attract customers,” Lambdin said. “Since I wasn’t doing anything else at the time I offered to do it, and they gave me free rent in a corner of their store. Things kept growing, and I kept asking them for more space, and soon we were tripping over each other. Eventually I got a small inheritance and was able to move to a location on Fifth Street.”
When the owners of his location on Fifth Avenue decided to let all the leases of their current tenets run out five years ago, Lambdin moved to his current location, in a storefront next to his old friends at Bradford’s.
“I took over the place where their car stereo store used to be,” Lambdin said. “Without them I wouldn’t have gotten any of this going.”
Lambdin credits the initial success of his business to the introduction of the compact disc, since collectors soon began replacing their vinyl records with the more durable CD format.
“That surge topped off around 1995 and it’s been in decline since then,” Lambdin said. “I don’t think any other technology will cause a boost in sales like that. Most people believe that CDs can’t be improved on, so new formats such as Super Audio CDs don’t sell as well.”
Though Musique Gourmet still does well enough to stay in business, Lambdin doesn’t have high hopes for the future of his store.
“I doubt I’ll still have the store five years from now,” he said. “The audience for classical music is graying. Many of my original customers are becoming elderly. So am I. And the younger people aren’t getting as interested in it as they used to. I don’t know if it has something to do with education in the schools or if attention spans are getting shorter and people don’t want to sit and listen to a 40-minute symphony.”
But while he’s still open, Lambdin hopes to provide the best possible service for those looking for classical recordings.
“I’ve spent years researching the best sounding recordings,” he said. “If you buy something here you can be sure that it will be good.”

[email protected]