The Handelman Company, which supplied Wal-Mart and other chains with CDs, is closing up its music-related operations in North America, resulting in 260 job losses in Indianapolis and Troy, Mich. CEO Albert E. Koch chalked the closing up to the ever-softening market for physical music sales, and the fact that the company struggled to reach profitability despite major cost-cutting: “CD music sales have been declining at double-digit rates for several years both industry-wide and at our customers’ stores, resulting in a sharp drop-off in our business.” Handelman will continue to distribute music in the UK. [Freep.com / Hits]
Sad (not that my heart bleeds for a distributor, but still…) - as recently as last week, Billboard retail guru Ed Christman was saying that Handelman might have restructured its way out of this. Guess not.