Keep Domain rights when deactivating my store

[roundisland]

Hello,

I am getting ready to deactivate my store, but I do not want my custom domain name to be made available to anyone else.  (I hear gambling and other nefarious sites buy up used domains, and I don't want my old customers' referrals to land there.)  I am not opening another site, so I'm not sure if transferring the domain is the right option.  After I deactivate the store, will the custom domain stay associated with my shopify account as long as I continue to auto-renew?  I think I initially bought it through shopify, (I don't remember it being transferred from another provider).

Thanks for any help.

[Rukhsana]

Hello @roundisland 
Auto-renewal will be activated from your Shopify account even if you close the store. The domain will renew every year, so you only need to pay $15 to $20 annually to keep the domain 🙂