It's curtains for Curtain Call. The boutique at 526 Penn Ave., Downtown, associated with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, will close Sunday.

"It was a very hard decision to make," Michele Marion, owner and manager, citing slow retail sales and the poor economy. "Our sales have been on a downward trajectory for a year. Everything I have in here is considered a luxury and when people have to pick and chose where their last dollar goes, it is not going to be here."

When the PSO-owned Curtain Call vacated the corner of Sixth Street and Penn Avenue for Six Penn Kitchen in June 2004, Marion rented the current location and license from the PSO.

"We were set up like a franchise. We pay the symphony for the rights of the Curtain Call name, and they get royalties for some items."

The PSO does not have plans to run Curtain Call or to move it into Heinz Hall proper. "We will sell branded items and CDs during the concerts," said spokesman Jim Barthen. "We have no shop in the plans at the moment."

The shop will hold inventory liquidation sales until the closing date. Curtain Call still exists in Web form, at www.pittsburghsymphony.org/Curtaincall.html.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod,
Post-Gazette classical music critic