*Columbia House is preparing to close another chapter in its long history, with the iconic mail-order club set to stop accepting new orders next month.
A message posted on the company’s website reads, “After 9/15/26, The Columbia House will no longer be accepting new orders.” The service isn’t disappearing completely on that date, however. Existing customers can still purchase books using a credit card or available credits.
The announcement marks a major change for a company that once played a significant role in how Americans bought music and other forms of entertainment. Columbia House launched in 1955 as part of Columbia Records, which CBS owned. As Cord Cutters reports, the mail-order model was particularly useful for people living in rural and suburban communities who didn’t have the same access to records and films as consumers in more densely populated areas. Instead of traveling to a store, customers could order media and have it delivered directly to their homes.
The company eventually grew into a massive operation. At its peak, Columbia House reportedly had 16 million members and generated approximately $1.4 billion in annual revenue, making it a major force in the home entertainment market.
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But the way consumers accessed entertainment eventually changed. The growth of streaming services made it increasingly easy for people to access music and other media without purchasing physical copies through a mail-order club, contributing to Columbia House’s decline.
The brand has also gone through several ownership changes over the decades. Today, Sony Music Entertainment owns the Columbia House trademark, while Edge Line Ventures licenses the name.
For longtime customers, the Sept. 15 deadline represents more than the end of new orders. It signals the closing of a service that helped define how an earlier generation discovered and purchased entertainment.
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