CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The Plan 9 Music store on the Corner, adjacent to the University of Virginia campus, will close at the end of May.

Plan 9's 10-year lease in the Anderson Brothers Building ends May 31 and the company decided several months ago that it did not intend to renew, said Jim Bland, who owns the Richmond-based chain.

The music shop has been struggling in recent years, Bland said, as many Corner denizens have eschewed the CD in favor of downloading music online.

Plan 9 will continue to operate its store in Albemarle Square shopping center, and no full-time staffers from the Corner branch will lose their jobs, Bland said.

Plan 9 got its start as a small shop in 1981 in Richmond's Carytown neighborhood and grew to include stores in Charlottesville, Williamsburg and Harrisonburg.

Plan 9 in August 2006 purchased assets of five former Record Exchange stores in Virginia -- Lynchburg and Roanoke -- and North Carolina -- Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem.