Virgin Megastore (and other slightly smaller stores), RIP

RIP puns on women-only halls at universities, etc.

oh yeah.

Isn't this a logical consequense of Branson quitting music by selling his record label several years ago.

That was way worse, as it killed off Virgin's as a major player in the grey area between art and commercialism.

Hmm, nowadays you get more 'radical' books/music/whatever in HMV.

Piccadilly VM used to have (up until two or three years ago) a HUGE section devoted to 'experimental' or 'alternative' music; some really obscure, awesome-looking stuff there. That went.

TS - the fact that Virgin Megastores were always appalling even in the days when people still bought CDs vs the fact that 'Zavvi' is the worst name ever.

Yeah, what the heck is a Zavvi?

Chavvi?

media-zavvi

TS: Zavvi vs Sanity

Joe Zavvinul RIP

Zavvi Alonso.

Someone's zavvin a laugh.

Piccadilly VM used to have (up until two or three years ago) a HUGE section devoted to 'experimental' or 'alternative' music; some really obscure, awesome-looking stuff there. That went.

Why do they state "his UK chain"? Are the US stores a seperate entity in some way?

I would actually rather the Union Square store not disappear, as there's almost nowhere to buy new classical CDs in NYC at this point...

ah, yeah, as in "he sold his US chain already".

So, I guess if it's still there, it's not going anywhere.

he has flushed his chain

re Zavvi :

The sale is essentially a management buyout, Zavvi being a company led by
Virgin Retail's MD and FD - Simon Douglas and Steve Peckham respectively.
The sale means the UK and Ireland wide retail chain will now rebrand as
Zavvi.

there's almost nowhere to buy new classical CDs in NYC at this point

This strikes me as absolutely insane! I'd have thought classical music was one area where CD sales would be relatively stable.

yeah, as in "not many"

i can't imagine union square going anywhere anytime soon

there's almost nowhere to buy new classical CDs in NYC at this point...

J&R, no?

xpost Mark DC-- Julliard Bookstore has a good, smart selection for a shop its size. But deep-selection classical was really the province of the two Tower outlets, esp. the Lincoln Center one. Virgin Union Square's section is better than B & N, though nowhere close to the dead Towers.

I'm sure classical geeks are still buying plenty of new discs, but online. No one wants to fill Tower's shoes in a physical store, because the baseline for a decent section involves SO MUCH inventory. Imagine if you needed to stock fifteen different editions of Hex Enduction Hour just to have a passible Fall section.

xpost Gabbnebb-- you know, I always forget about J & R because it's so far from my usual routes. I need to go take a look at them sometime.

Lincoln Center Tower was deeper-selection than any store in the city for everything other than rock, and is unlikely to be repeated.

zavvi? fuck off.

Shitty name. Will still probably be a shitty store.

UK AND Ireland? I thought they disappeared from Ireland years ago -- the Dublin Megastore closed at least five years ago, anyway.

No big loss to me, although I do remember the Dublin Megastore for its once-impressive RPG/gaming section, and its jars full of dice. First place I ever saw a 100-sided die.

that brings a whole new meaning to losing one's virginity, I s'pose

I thought they disappeared from Ireland years ago -- the Dublin Megastore closed at least five years ago, anyway.

Think there's one or two in some of those Mall-things that now ring the city; Dublin's a (half-)donut city these days

I can't see much of a future for ZAVVI without Branson's money to bail them out each year. Virgin Megastores (UK) hadn't been profitable for over a decade and they had a strong brand name to assist them. But without Zavvi the High Street would only have a competition-free HMV and that would be no good for any of us who still like browsing for cds. HMV has gone way downhill over the past 18 months, with cds making way for more and more dvd campaigns. There's no point in going in HMV to browse anymore as all they have is mountains of Kooks cds at a 'bargain' 7 quid. It's easy to take the piss out of Zavvi and its name but I want some kind of cd store to browse in!

Zavvi is apparently aiming to fill the gap left by FOPP's collapse last year, with banks of well-priced 'classic' or 'cult' cds to tempt passing browsers. That sounds like a sensible policy, and with MVC and Music Zone also gone from the High Street, they could yet pull it off. It would be tragic if only big cities had any alternative to HMV when it came to buying cds.

All we need is for people to start buying albums again. The majors sure have the answer if they only think it over. But to the labels: forget about the kids, they will never ever again buy CDs!

erm

Zavvi is apparently aiming to fill the gap left by FOPP's collapse last year, with banks of well-priced 'classic' or 'cult' cds to tempt passing browsers. That sounds like a sensible policy

Can you spot the potential logical flaw in this argument?

Well, Fopp failed after taking on too much debt with their Music Zone takeover, rather than through any major problems with their own product strategy.

All we need is for people to start buying albums again. The majors sure have the answer if they only think it over. But to the labels: forget about the kids, they will never ever again buy CDs!

You weren't kidding when you said you really longed to be frozen in the 70s.

nobody of any age goes back to buying CDs once they meet iTunes et al.

goodbye, old shitty business model

i still buy loads of cds even though i've had iTunes for over 2 years now. a lot of the stuff i want isn't easily available online.

and i love having cds

you're one of the few

frankly i'd be ok with never buying a cd again

Tombot OTM, although I'm an exception.

Stressing word "exception"

Yet I do see myself changing my shopping paradigm in the near future.

See, I still like liner notes, especially on reissues and such.

Once you can buy artwork, liner notes, etc. on iTunes, then yeah, bubye CDs.

I grew up with cds. They're what I like, oh child of the 90s am I. My hard drive and certainly not my ipod are big enough to hold all my music, anyway.

Also, cannot play mp3s on stereo or in car. (Yeah I know, I can burn to cd, but burning music to cd in one of the more frustrating ways I can spend my time.)

I wonder if there will be a long-term niche market for super high quality (maybe Japanese import?) CDs?

I'm not an audio-fidelty buff, but I can hear a massive difference between the Rolling Stones remastered CDs and the iTunes versions.

wait, all of the Rolling Stones catalog is on iTunes? I just did a search and there was one comp, but that's it.

Also, The Rolling Stones are always going to be an exception when trying to describe music market trends, because they're the Fucking Stones. Or more the point, they're the Fucking Klein estate managed Fucking Stones

there will be a long-term niche market for vinyl relases, but I don't think the CD as sold by urban storefront has much going for it.
I'm a little amazed there's a record store still surviving in my neighborhood, except I think they're gradually shifting to more DVD business

fopp is still going where it matters, ie where i live.

i buy more (old) cds than i have for years now; they're really cheap, they sound better, blah blah blah.

I've talked to many music store employees in Seattle, and maybe it's just Seattle, but used CDs are what mainly help the stores break even or make profit. All those cheap ass $3-minus ones.. they really help. Whouda though.

re: fopp is still going where it matters, ie where i live.

Fopp stores remaining are owned by HMV Group plc

nrq, cambridge fopp is a disgrace

Hmm...the RS catalog is on the UK itunes site. Maybe there's some licensing issue for the US site.

Fopp stores remaining are owned by HMV Group plc

-- djmartian, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:15 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

oh noes. they're cheaper than hmv and flog the same old stuff.

i did nicely there the other day.

hmm

maybe they're sorting their shit out, and actually labelling things/putting them in genuine alphabetical order, and maybe their stock's better than it was last time i checked. more and more i'm finding i have to get the stuff i want either from berwick street or amazon

note to all :
Zavvi are not entering into the spirit of things.
their January sale is very poor.
£14 for the latest David Gilmour album is not a clearout price no matter how nice the packaging is.

To me, it seemed that the only proper stores (that is, large back catalogues) in London are the HMV store at Oxford Circus and the Virgin one (not renamed yet, unlike the Tottenham Court Road one) at Piccadilly that used to be Tower in the past.

The rest seemed to have less now than they used to.

One reason why things might seem different now is that, unlike the last time I visited in 2000, there is now a proper record store, with a huge back catalogue selection, in Oslo again. There wasn't one for the last half of the 90s.

Zavvi shuts down Camden store

it went "fopp!"

No one can take on the MVE monopoly and hope to get away with it. Out On The Floor, Resurrection Records - watch your backs!

both NYC outlets done, early '09

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/urbanite/blog/2008/06/virgin_megastore_leaving_times.html

Yeah, I work at the Union Square store, and I've heard rumblings of this... Job sucks anyway.

i am bummed only because i used to like dropping by the times square store after work. but i don't go there much anymore, and the last time i did it was already feeling tenuous. they kept compressing the music into smaller areas, but not necessarily filling up the space with anything else.

When I flew on Virgin America airlines last month, I thought of these stores...I don't think ever visited any of them in the US, though, only in England.

Well, they're not unlike Tower #2 in this regard. I remember even a decade ago, they had a major clearance sale at most of the stores.. the one in Costa Mesa (O.C., CA) had all these Mute CD issues of early Cabaret Voltaire, and I still have that store to thank for supplying me with all those early Cab V discs.

I don't think this will feel nearly as much as an "end of an era" as the closing of Tower did. At least Tower used to be really great. I don't think Virgin Megastore was ever great, honestly.

When I first visited an HMV, in Vancouver, my first thought was "hmmm, this is kinda like a Virgin Megastore with much better planning" -- which may be saying a lot.

Watch it or you'll get me on a Cabs trip, Mackro! *red lights flashing*

Yeah I don't remember buying much at the store I used to visit in Manchester, either. Maybe a few things but it's kinda hard to recall. I stuck with the independent shops mostly.

The thing about it is that the majority of the people that shop there are incredibly annoying and the majority of the stuff they really push is "bad", but there is actually a great record store hiding in the Union Square location. They stock a lot of back catalogs that no one else does.

Zavvi goes into administration

Yesterday, they were all "Oh our business model is soooo strong!"

Just pray that you don't get Zavvi tokens for Xmas.

118 of 150 shops will stay open.

So, which chains are left? HMV and...

Fopp [now owned by HMV]

I can see a gap in the market opening up for Rough Trade East type stores in some of Britain's largest cities. Ditch the games, dvds etc and just focus on music.

That's what Fopp did and look where it got them.

Good times ahead for HMV then, if they get through this themselves. What's in Rough Trade East? Has any record shop tried the bookshop route, i.e. turning itself into a cafe?

Fopp was considering that, before it was bought over by HMV

re: That's what Fopp did and look where it got them.

Fopp's strategy was working ! what f_cked them up - was acquiring all those Music Zone stores and then been unable to service the debt.

what fucked them up was an ever-diminishing range, to the point where it was indistinguishable from high-street megastores, music for people who don't buy music, save for a couple of albums a year

As an ex employee of Fopp, it was definately Music Zone that killed them. It was a profitable buisness before they took on all their stores.

Rough Trade East has a cafe and free wifi.

The cafe is right at the front of the store and I think it might only be there to stop people nicking CDs and running straight out the door.

i am through with music stores fwiw, save for MVE and maybe Sister Ray if i feel like splashing out

unless anyone has any bright ideas

it's weird to see a thread devoted to my place of employment... i work in union square and apparently it'll be closing in february.. but it was supposed to close in october so whoooo knows. idk about other Virgin megatrons, but ours has a pretty okay vinyl selection and some obscure stuff, still,.... and really cheap.

when the times square store goes, i'm wondering who/what is likely to move into a space that gigantic, given the economy. it's a sizable chunk of times square real estate, and even though i do everything i can to stay out of times square i'd hate it to start sprouting big vacancies.

The Ontario, CA Virgin Megastore is closing in January. I only ever go there for mainstream 12" singles and dance comps, so I can't say for sure if I'll miss it. Even if they go out w/ a massive sale, the disposable income isn't there to take advantage of it (unlike when Tower went).

Virgin Megastores (UK) hadn't been profitable for over a decade
Virgin Megastores (UK) hadn't been profitable for over a decade
Virgin Megastores (UK) hadn't been profitable for over a decade

sick of reading about this as a "credit crunch" story. I was told this was inevitable around this time about six months ago! friend is a HMV manager and has been very aware of how far up sh*t creek they've been since getting all Zavvi.

So the NYC Union Square store has started its going out of business clearance. Went in today and (for music) it's just a straight 25% off everything. OK I guess, but so many albums are priced at $18.99 bullshit.

So let's either commiserate (a store I have been to quite a lot - selection is OK, location is good), or use the thread as a vulture-like rolling-deals thing.

SF one closed a few weeks ago. They went all the way up to 75% off before they finally closed doors (of course by then there wasn't much decent stuff left). I got some good DVD deals though.

yeah, the virgin thing pissed me off. 20% off Virgin-priced Criterions is like Amazon.

yeah I say wait a couple weeks.

25%? It was 20 yesterday. I'm waiting for 40+.

yeah, check out the Zavvi thread for how this will most probably go.

so, J&R closed in lower Manhattan

http://gothamist.com/2014/04/10/jr_music_world_closes_may_reopen_so.php

I am pretty much done buying new music, save 4-5 albums per year, but wish I'd had time to pick over their DVDs. (Maybe THAT store closed months ago.)

:'(