Virgin Superstores

[retailfan]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6641381.html?nid=2705









Virgin to close by summer
New York stores to shutter in April, rest later
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 3/3/2009
MARCH 3 | Virgin Megastores will shutter its entire chain by this summer, confirmed a spokeswoman for the retailer.

As disclosed earlier this year, the chain's flagship Times Square store is slated to wind down business in April. The San Francisco location is slated also to close in April.

The remaining outlets will shut down in staggered fashion, with Virgin's Union Square, New York, spot closing in late May/early June, and the remaining three Orlando, Denver and Hollywood locations targeted for summer exits.

Unlike the bankrupt Circuit City, it's understood that many Virgin Megastore outposts were relatively financially stable. For some time, Virgin had been positioning itself as an overall entertainment lifestyle retailer, distancing itself from its history as a pure music seller.

However, last year, Virgin's owners, real estate-companies Vornado Realty Trust and Related Cos., said they were seeking new tenants for the chain's largest Time Square location in order to move away from the generally slumping CD retail business.

Teen apparel chain Forever 21 is expected to move into the Times Square location. It's unclear whether new tenants have been confirmed for the other five closing Virgin locations

[kendra]

Not really surprising, as the UK Virgin Megastores (most recently Zavvi) have already closed down (and of course, the UK is where the Virgin company originated in the 1970s). I used to really enjoy visiting the Megastore in Times Square, but on my last few visits I've found that the diverse (and often hard-to-find) imports that they used to stock were dwindling in numbers to the point that the Virgin store was hardly discernible from a Borders or something. So, while a bit disappointing, this is hardly a shocker...they'd really lost what it was that made them unique, and given the real estate that they occupy, those stores must cost a fortune in overhead.

[CTAmeshopper]

Wow, say goodbye to the big Virgin sign in Times Square, I thought it would stay around a lot longer.

[EddieJ1984]

Borat must be sad.