By June, the British-owned Virgin Megastore chain will close its remaining six stores in the United States. During its peak, the chain owned 23 stores and revenue of $280 million annually. The chain could not withstand sliding CD sales, rising digital music purchases and exclusive chain releases.
“I tried my hardest to come up with a new model, and we were making a lot of headway with it before the holidays,” said Virgin Entertainment Group North America CEO Simon Wright. “We have made a great contribution to music retailing, but it’s time to move on.”
I am sure this won’t be the first. I am surprised that we hadn’t seen it earlier. With digital music access (limewire, kazaa and the like) in addition to bootlegging, companies don’t have as much of a fair shake. Everyone is hurting.