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Montreal record stores are banding together in their bid to get Quebec’s bylaw on store hours changed to allow them to stay open later.

Last week, four Mile End record shops — Phonopolis, Sonorama, La Rama and La fin du vinyle — went public after three of them received fines of more than $2,000 each for being open past 5 p.m. on the weekend. Mile End clothing shops General 54 and Citizen Vintage received similar fines.

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Monday afternoon, 14 local record stores sent an open letter to Pierre Fitzgibbon, the minister of Economy and Innovation, requesting that record shops be added as an exception to the bylaw, which was tabled in 1970.

The bylaw, which states that retail stores cannot be open past 5 p.m. on weekends, already includes exceptions for pharmacies, grocery stores, bookstores, shops selling artisanal products and businesses in tourist zones, among other things.

Last week, Fitzgibbon’s press representative, Mathieu St-Amand, said the minister was aware of the situation and was open to revising regulations regarding opening hours if it were to receive a formal request from the record shops.