Ghostface180

I was at the Virgin Megastore on Newbury Street in Boston today. There are signs all over stating that the store will be closing on November 4th. The discounts are as followed:

All music and movies: 30% off
All clothing: 50% off
All video games and accessories: 25% off

I'll wait a couple of weeks until the sales get better. As of right now, the discounts aren't that great due to Virgin's high prices.

Alan Smithee

Those bastards- they don't want to have stores anywhere except New York and Los Angeles now. They closed the one in Sacramento last year, I went the last day they were open and got a couple DVDs at 50% off. They deserved to go out of business though because they did such a bad job running the store in its final years; they even closed off the second floor and crammed everything into just the ground floor the last 2 years they were open!

marty888

Damn them for wanting to operate stores that actually make a profit! That's what happens in a free economy.
They do a terrific business in NYC (particularly the Times Square location) and a lot of that business is from international tourists who find the prices, even for products at MSRP, to be a lot less than they pay back home.

I'm sure that if Boston and Sacramento were money-makers, they'd stay in business.

JesseCuster8

With Newbury Comics less than a block away I'm amazed they stayed in business as long as they did. But if 50% is the maximum discount, I may not even bother. Virgin is as expensive as they come.

Jah-Wren Ryel

Topless or bottomless? And are they wearing pasties?

As for profitability, chances are the problem is with bloated and ineffective management, not location. As others have mentioned, Newbury Comics is practically right next door and they are doing fine.

If you have to sell at MSRP to stay alive in this business, you are headed for a fall - look at Blockbuster and TWEC for just two examples of high-pricing and high-revenues hiding huge inefficiencies that have since been exposed by competition.

zombeaner

The Virgin here in Dallas closed and I picked up a couple things, but even at 50% off they are still overpriced in most cases.

InfiniteLoop

I'll check it out today at lunch.

lordwow

Thank God, this store was ridiculously overpriced. I've never bought anything there, even their "sales" just bring them in line with normal BB prices.

BJ

I haven't been to the Boston store. Are you implying their regular prices exceed SRP? 30% off SRP on all dvds doesn't sound too shabby for a B&M. Except for featured dvds, Newbury Comics almost always sells for SRP (at least for the ones I want).

Classic Films

I think with a store like Virgin you are talking about the depth of the merchandise rather then price. They have a lot of CD imports and other items that you just don't see at Best Buy or Circuit City. Of course with the internet many of these items are more available then previously. If you are looking for the latest release you will do better at other stores. I like looking in Virgin and I do find things that I think are fairly priced. I don't know why people thank God when a store closes. I ,for one, am still sorry that the HMV stores all closed in the US . I also miss the Wiz in New York City. I don't like going out of business sales . The merchandise is picked over, the stores look dirty, and prices while OK are usually not great especially when they can send merchandise to a location that is still open.

RobLutter

The one in Orlando does an amazing amount of business (again) from international customers. Always packed with long lines.

fliggil

The one in South Miami was going out of business in the beginning of this past summer. Music and Movies were either 25 or 30% off initially, but quickly jumped to 50%. My advice is to find out when they'll be upping the discount, go 2 days before, and put stuff on hold, that's what I did. They won't do any more than 50%, whatever isn't sold will just be redistributed.

bboisvert

???

Some things are priced better than others, but I think you'd have to hunt pretty hard to find much at Newbury Comics that is priced at full retail. Nearly all the DVDs are at least a few bucks off.



As for Virgin closing there, I'm fine with that. The prices were always insane and I never really warmed up to the store itself. I preferred it when Tower was there.

I long for the days when I would go to Tower, Newbury Comics, Victor Hugo books, and Laser Craze all on the same block. Good times. {sniff}

bookcase3

I agree that Tower was a better option in that location than Virgin ever hoped to be. But Newbury Comics is the best, and I have yet to find a CD or DVD priced at full retail. Plus their sale prices generally rock.

ChipHP

Ditto ...

Giles

I find it interesting that a Megastore never ever opened in Washington DC. They can open a small store in Philly's train station, but not one in DC - okaaay... ?

Second to Tower - Virgin was the place I bought import CD singles, if I hadn't already bought them online.

forumsmy

Have to second what alot of people are saying about the depth of Virgin. If you can't get it anywhere else and want it new, then 50% is really great! That's why I looked in mine when it closed.

Pizza

Seems like everything I enjoy is ending. I love browsing (and buying) in B&M record stores. The chains were fine (I especially miss the Virgin store that was 2 hours away in Columbus) but the mom and pops stores were the best. You never knew what you would find. The Best Buys of the world have ruined it. Now that downloading is so popular, even my beloved CD format may vanish.

Lastdaysofrain

The Virgin store in Boston was always good for a few things:

1. If you needed to use a clean public restroom on Newbury St

2. Browsing

3. Cute employees

zombeaner

When Virgin Dallas closed the DVDs I got were:

American Beauty $7.50 (50% off)
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer 2 Disc $12.49 (50% off and a pretty good deal)

db27

Every time I have been in the bathroom was out of order!

hobbes4444

MMMMMM. . . . Laser Craze. God I loved that store. And Sight and Sound in Waltham. I've only recently recovered from all those 20% off storewide LD sales.

So I guess Newbury Comics is going to have a monopoly in Boston for the most part. I don't really take Strawberries seriously, except to pop in for the sales on used dvds. Are there other decent independent cd/dvd/vinyl stores in Boston (I've recently moved back to Beantown after 10 wonderful years away)? Any still in Kenmore Square or in Cambridge?

Lastdaysofrain

Just outside of Kenmore on Comm ave near the Paradise (come to my comedy show there October 8th!) is In Your Ear, great vinyl, CD, used store

Most of the great stores from ten years ago have closed down.

Looney Toons is still near Mass Ave on Boylston St (next to Little Stevie's Pizza)

Harvard Square still has In Your Ear and Looney Tunes as well, as well as Twisted Village, but thats about it

CD Spins in Boston, Somerville and Cambridge is decent as well

We have probably only 10% of the record stores we did ten years ago

Gunshy

Well, let's see if Virgin's move to "another part of town" goes better than Tower Records move when they left that very spot. I will miss going to Beantown and browsing in a big fat comfy CD shop like Tower (still in Harvard Sq. yes?), HMV (gone) or Virgin. Here's hoping the move is to somewhere more convenient and they do really well as I love import CDs

-Gunshy

ctyankee

Well, I was no fan of HMV (overpriced) and the Tower that was on the spot on Newbury Street sucked in comparison to Virgin.

Sorry to see Virgin leave that spot as I firmly believe that it is important to have anchor stores at the end of streets to get people to go past the smaller stores (giving them a chance). Then again, I would rather go in to Newbury Comics, they get much more interesting customers.

Things always change on Newbury Street. Back in the day, there used to be a bar on the Virgin spot called Frankenstein with beer from around the world (at really decent prices). Midweek you could go in and watch them screen two films and have a couple large hot dogs and a couple beers for ... I know, ancient history.

The only store from the south side of the street that hasn't changed in the last 30 years (at least that comes to mind) is the True Value Hardware store.