Perhaps visited one night by the grim specter of Tower Records, Richard Branson has finally unloaded the U.K. branches of the Virgin Megastore to a consortium of the company’s upper management who have renamed it…”Zavvi.” This follows the U.S. arm of the chain being perpetually downsized over the last year or two before being purchased by real estate companies looking to squeeze ‘em, Gordon Gekko-style. The new U.K. owners are already putting on the brave face:
“We have a workforce of 2,500 people who are absolutely passionate about the products we sell and we will continue to harness that passion and energy and together with an independent ethos and modern outlook, we will deliver a new brand that lives and breathes entertainment and delivers high quality enthusiastic service to existing and new customers,” said Mr Douglas.
Sir Richard’s exit from the music retail business comes as CD and DVD retailers grapple with cut-price competition from websites and supermarkets and rampant piracy. Mr Douglas admitted the marketplace was “challenging” but insisted there is still a place for specialist shops.
“Despite escalating competition there is still very much a place on an increasingly homogenised high street for an independent entertainment specialist that puts customers, product, service and personality at the top of the agenda,” he said.
It’s weird–and perhaps this is because I only have experience with their unnavigable, sensory-overloading, wallet-busting Manhattan branches–but the last thing I think of when I hear “Virgin Megastore” is “unhomogenised” and full of downright-neighborly personality. No word this soon into the buyout on any future closures and/or changes under the new brand name, but it’s safe to say that fearless leader probably had the right idea to finally and fully bail now.
Branson Sells Virgin Megastores [Guardian]
I work in Union Square, and while I don’t have the same affection for the Virgin megalopolis that I did for the 4th&Bwy Tower, if I’ve got no place to go on Friday evenings to pick up the new Billboard and browse a new-release rack, I’m going to get very lonely.
As someone who frequents the Virgin Megastore in Times Square for their $10 CD’s, I would hate to see it go. However, since the space is worth double what they’re paying for it, I expect it to go the way of the UK branch soon. Shame to see Branson out of the music business, but even Rebel Billionaires know when it is time to cut your losses and move on to bigger and better things. Like space and stuff.
If the Virgin stores here in NYC close, i’ll probably stop buying music altogether. Most of the independent shops are too specialized, and make it difficult to pick up some Zappa with my James Cleveland, unlike at Virgin. Also, the pesky staff doesn’t bug me at Virgin like they do at the indie shops… which is all well and good for the uninformed consumer… but when I walk into Virgin, i’m on a mission to get what it is I came for, and 10 other things that caught my eye while browsing the Jazz racks. *shrugs*
I too shop the 14th street store fairly often..as the special sales are tops, and although the pricing is out of hand on some other items, the good outweighs the bad.
If it closes I still do my shopping at Other Music, which I try to always hit up once every couple weeks, but I’ll have to wait for my Baltimore trips to stock up the catalog selections…best CD store ever is located there.
I will say the Virgin stores in the UK (at least last time I was over there) were much more in the hip, Tower-Records mold rather than the glitzy borderline tourist attraction they are in the US.
they’re talking about the uk and ireland stores so no fear. my only experience of us stores is the one in la and that’s a load of old gash