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PAWTUCKET - Luke's record store on Broadway and its owner have seen it all in the store's three decades, surviving a series of changes in music taste and format.

But after just under 30 years in business, Luke Renchan is closing shop this coming weekend. Digital music has finally done him in.

"The Internet and technology are changing the way everyone shops," Renchan said.

The record store, which boasts about 1 million items - mostly albums and singles of different musical genres, but also compact discs, cassette tapes, posters and even those long discontinued eight-track tapes, has been a landmark in the region. Most of the items are used, but some are new.

Walking into the store at 393 Broadway (Route 1) is like a step back into time. Rock T-shirts hang from the ceiling. Bins overflow with merchandise. Many enjoyed heading down narrow stairs to the cramped basement to search through thousands and thousands of albums. It was here you had the best shot around of getting the thrill of tracking down an elusive record long out of print, and often for a couple of dollars or less.

"We had quite a few," Renchan said of customers from the Attleboro area.

Renchan, 55, who grew up in Pawtucket and now lives in North Providence, was a pioneer in the record store business, opening one of the first and what became easily the largest used record store in the region back in 1979.

Renchan seriously began collecting records following Elvis's death in 1977 when he saw the King's records skyrocket in value. He recalls starting out selling records at flea markets. "I took the flea market concept to a store," he explained.

That sales pitch is now even used by chain music stores such as FYE - the former Strawberries, and Newbury's Comics, which both sell used CDs.

Besides selling, Renchan bought and exchanged items with customers. He once bought 28,000 singles from a jukebox company and filled his van a few times with thousands of albums.

Business at Luke's was steady, but not spectacular, for the first several months until John Lennon was shot in December 1980.

A big Beatles fan, Renchan had plenty of the group's records in the store. "I had a line going partly around the block," Renchan recalled of the day after the shooting.

"From that day on, sales exploded," Renchan said, mentioning he had come close to shutting down in the early months.

Tours of older acts such as The Rolling Stones and other "bubbles" such as the death of Roy Orbison continued to keep the store business brisk. "I went through all the trends, heavy metal..." Renchan said. "Every 20 or 30 years, there is a recycling of music" of yesterday.

The talkative businessman was able to deliver the personal touch to customers that isn't found with the Big Box retailers. Eventually, the store had eight employees - all passionate music fans, Renchan boasted.

Several famous musicians, including the Ramones, a singer for the Buckinghams and Bowzer from Sha Na Na fame visited the store to browse for records. And radio station djs as well.

Of course there has been heartache, too. A fire destroyed his store and inventory in 1986, and he relocated across the street to larger quarters. Renchan had seriously considered giving up, but a benefit concert at Lupo's put on by several popular local bands helped bail him out. "I bounced back pretty quickly," he said.

He had thought of opening a store on Thayer Street in Providence before the fire hit. Thayer Street at one time had several record stores catering to the college crowd, but the last one, Tom's Tracks, unfortunately shut down the end of this past calendar year. Downtown Attleboro lost its music/record store a few years ago.

With the help of his son, Renchan even opened a second store, on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence in 1995 for a few years.

But around 2000, Napster and the sharing of downloaded music for free, became the rage among youth. "That was huge," Renchan said, adding business at his store dropped off nearly in half.

With iPods and digital music more common than ever, the store never has recovered the youth market.

"Djs kept me alive through all the 90s" and early 2000s, Renchan said, adding many of them used to come in to play records on the store's turntables. However, even those last frequent users of records are now using digital music instead of carting albums and CDs to the dance floor.

It was always more a love for music and hobby than a business, says Renchan, who for years has played keyboard in bands and been a dj.

As business slowed, employees left and weren't replaced, and he and his wife pretty much became the only ones serving customers.

Renchan has been downsizing the past three years when he first seriously contemplated closing.

"I own my own building and I can't still make it," he said regretfully. "Each year sales were less and less."

Business had slowed to the point he had only been open weekends until keeping his doors open Tuesday through Saturday for the going-out-of-business sale, where his merchandise has been sharply marked down.

Renchan plans to continue selling records on his Web site, www.lukesmusic.com, eBay, and at flea markets. He also intends to keep active with his lucrative dj business. May kicking off the wedding season played a key role in the store's closing date, he explains.

And he doesn't rule out the possibility of reopening the store down the road.

His wife and he have been overwhelmed by the number of customers who have been visiting the store in recent weeks. It has been an emotional time as longtime customers have been dropping in from out-of-state even, saying their goodbyes. Some insist on Renchan ringing up their sales for memory's sake.

"I don't think he should go out of business. People are looking all over the place for ma and pa record stores," said David Flynn, 46, of Pawtucket, who has been a steady customer of Luke's for years and in later years has brought his children along.

A senior citizen, Alfred Denis of Taunton, purchased replacements for his scratched Elvis records. "I think it is a shame," Denis said of Luke's closing.

STEPHEN PETERSON (speterson@thesunchronicle.com) is a Sun Chronicle staff writer.