We're still sorting out the details, but we tell you that it appears that Hear's Music, the independent music store at 2508 N. Campbell Ave., will be shutting its doors by the end of the month after 16 years in business.

Store owner Britton Dornquast, who has dedicated countless hours to improving the Campbell Avenue shopping district, got his reward on Valentine's Day, when he opened an envelope from the attorney for the strip mall's new owners with a notice that he was to vacate the property by Feb. 28.

"My business is toast," Dornquast says. "This is my life. This is my retirement. This is my kids' college. This is everything I've worked for 16 years. It's gone."

Dornquast's efforts in forming the Campbell Avenue Merchants Association has helped win the corridor more than a million bucks in local and federal grants. That money—much of which has yet to be spent—has helped pay for banners, crosswalks and other efforts to spruce up the street between Grant and Fort Lowell roads, not far from the Weekly's midtown bureau.

Dornquast had been trying to sell Hear's Music for the last year, but says the eviction makes that impossible.

He does, however, plan to throw one hell of a going-out-of-business sale next Saturday, Feb. 25.

"We're going to have live music," Dornquast says. "We're going to have a blow-out sale. There will be a lot people crying on the counter; there'll be a lot of people getting pissed."

Developing …