Music Retail Going, Going, Just About Gone: Virgin Shutting Two More Music Stores
by Peter Kafka
Posted on February 28, 2009 at 7:54 AM PT
The people who run the Virgin Megastore chain have already announced plans to close their Times Square outpost, which is the highest-volume music store in the U.S. So news that they’re shuttering even more of their stores isn’t shocking. Just telling. Billboard:
The six-unit Virgin Megastore chain will close two more stores, the Union Square location in New York City at the end of May and the Market St. store in San Francisco at the end of April, sources say….
In August 2007, the Virgin Entertainment Group North America was acquired by two real estate companies–the Related Cos. and Vornado. Since then, the chain has been reduced from 11 units–with the industry awaiting word of the fate of the three remaining stores in Denver, Los Angeles, and Orlando, Fla.”
At this point the real news should be when people buy music at brick-and-mortar outlets at all. They still do: CD sales continue account for the majority of big music’s revenues.
But as the handful of remaining music stores vanishes, and the big boxes like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY) keep cutting back the space they allot to discs, that won’t remain true for long.
