Media Play closing its doors in January
12-09-05 | 05:44 PM
#1
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From: Alotoffuffin
Media Play closing its doors in January
friend of mine who manages a store in Ohio was told at 10 a.m. the entire chain is folding come the new year. A Merry Christmas, eh? sucks...
12-09-05 | 08:56 PM
#3
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From: Minneapolis
Yes... We haven't had them around here for about 9 years... I worked at one back then, and I still remember hearing that I was out of a job by waching the evening news. I have a little grudge against them....
But, it is a great store. I actually still miss it! (not the whole working there experience, but being a shopper).
But, it is a great store. I actually still miss it! (not the whole working there experience, but being a shopper).
12-09-05 | 10:16 PM
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From: Minneapolis
Musicland owns Media Play. The also own Sam Goody's, Suncoast and On-Cue (but I'm not sure if those are still around anymore...) I'm sure their other divisions will stay open (I'd be VERY surprised if they closed any of those for good).
12-10-05 | 12:09 AM
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From: Red Wing, MN USA
Sam Goody and Suncoast are still quite active. On-Cue stores were a small town version of Sam Goody, but a few years ago Musicland changed the name to Sam Goody also. The Twin Cities area had a few Media Play stores but they all closed within a year of opening - one closed within a month of opening. I think severance pay amounted to a pizza, small.
12-10-05 | 09:55 AM
#9
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Article in today's Columbus Dispatch:
Personally, I didn't shop there that often as their prices are a bit on the high side (for DVDs or CDs, at least), although some of their sale prices lately weren't bad - $9 for new CDs and such. I did buy some Family Guy and Simpsons ornaments there last week.
Media Play chain to close
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
200 to lose jobs at four central Ohio stores
Media Play, one of the first superstores for records and books, will close all 61 of its stores, including four in Columbus.
The aaction will leave 2,000 employees in 18 states - including 120 full- and part-time workers in central Ohio — without jobs when the stores close in mid- to late-January, spokeswoman Laurie Bauer said yesterday. Managers will receive severance pay.
Employees were notified yesterday afternoon. One seasonal worker at the New Market Mall
Media Play, one of the first superstores for records and books, will close all 61 of its stores, including four in Columbus.
The action will leave 2,000 employees in 18 states — includstore on the Northwest Side, who asked not to be named, said people were surprised.
"None of us saw this coming," he said.
Liquidation sales will begin this weekend, Bauer said, although she said details weren’t final. The stores will close after the liquidation is complete.
Media Play, which sells CDs, DVDs, video games, books, electronics and musical instruments, was founded in 1992 and is a division of Musicland Group of Minnetonka, Minn.
Musicland also owns Sam Goody and Suncoast Motion Picture Co. stores. Sam Goody sells music CDs, tapes and some elec- tronics, while Suncoast sells movies and movie memorabilia, including apparel, books and posters. Those chains will remain in business, Bauer said. Both have stores in Polaris Fashion Place.
Music merchants have been hit hard as consumers download and share music over the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America said music-product shipments to retail outlets fell almost 10 percent in the first six months of this year.
"We have been trying for a number of years to turn Media Play around and have been unsuccessful," Bauer said.
In addition to the New Market Mall store, near Sawmill Road and I-270, the central Ohio Media Play stores being closed are at 2261 S. Hamilton Rd., 2296 Morse Rd., and 4328 W. Broad St.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
200 to lose jobs at four central Ohio stores
Media Play, one of the first superstores for records and books, will close all 61 of its stores, including four in Columbus.
The aaction will leave 2,000 employees in 18 states - including 120 full- and part-time workers in central Ohio — without jobs when the stores close in mid- to late-January, spokeswoman Laurie Bauer said yesterday. Managers will receive severance pay.
Employees were notified yesterday afternoon. One seasonal worker at the New Market Mall
Media Play, one of the first superstores for records and books, will close all 61 of its stores, including four in Columbus.
The action will leave 2,000 employees in 18 states — includstore on the Northwest Side, who asked not to be named, said people were surprised.
"None of us saw this coming," he said.
Liquidation sales will begin this weekend, Bauer said, although she said details weren’t final. The stores will close after the liquidation is complete.
Media Play, which sells CDs, DVDs, video games, books, electronics and musical instruments, was founded in 1992 and is a division of Musicland Group of Minnetonka, Minn.
Musicland also owns Sam Goody and Suncoast Motion Picture Co. stores. Sam Goody sells music CDs, tapes and some elec- tronics, while Suncoast sells movies and movie memorabilia, including apparel, books and posters. Those chains will remain in business, Bauer said. Both have stores in Polaris Fashion Place.
Music merchants have been hit hard as consumers download and share music over the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America said music-product shipments to retail outlets fell almost 10 percent in the first six months of this year.
"We have been trying for a number of years to turn Media Play around and have been unsuccessful," Bauer said.
In addition to the New Market Mall store, near Sawmill Road and I-270, the central Ohio Media Play stores being closed are at 2261 S. Hamilton Rd., 2296 Morse Rd., and 4328 W. Broad St.
12-10-05 | 10:06 AM
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From: Chattanooga, TN
There prices are always very bloated from everything I saw. I even broguth in about 8 DVDs for trade-in credit and they offered me $12 or something ridiculously low. I think I bought a set of guitar strings there many months ago on a Sunday when I coudln't find any other place that sold them that day. The GF loves the store and says she finds good prices all of the time. We'll have to check out the clearance specials.
Report here about the clearance specials seen or start a new thread over in the bargains forum?
Report here about the clearance specials seen or start a new thread over in the bargains forum?
12-10-05 | 01:16 PM
#13
When I lived in the Twin Cities, Media Play was pretty prominent for a while. It was a favorite place to shop, and you could actually find good buys there. And (though I didn't have a player) it was one of the few stores I saw that had a lot of titles on laser disc for sale. They closed up before I had moved away, and I had always missed them. I was always jealous of those of you who lived in other states who still had stores to go to.
12-10-05 | 01:58 PM
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From: Right now, my location is DVDTalk, but then again, you should already know that, shouldn't you?
The one in Tulsa, OK closed years ago...I remember it had great home video prices (and a badass selection of LaserDiscs), mediocre book prices and horrific CD prices. The customer service at ours was a whole new stratosphere of pathetic, so that's always been my theory why ours failed.
12-10-05 | 05:17 PM
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I was expecting this closing sooner of later! Everytime I went to Media Play, the entire store (except for the numerous employees) had only just a minimal amount of customers (if any.) All the merchandise (especially their DVDs) are vastly overpriced, and consumers were shopping elsewhere for cheaper, competitive prices, and better deals. Media Play termination of operations were foreseen antecedently.
Last edited by SINGLE104; 12-10-05 at 06:17 PM.
12-10-05 | 05:21 PM
#17
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The prices at Media Play were actually pretty cheap about 10 years ago, but they went up pretty fast. I always liked the DVD selection there better than Best Buy.
12-10-05 | 05:23 PM
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From: Michigan
If this were five or six years ago, it would indeed be sad news. Truth be told, they brought it on themselves. After introducing their rewards program, their prices became awful and subsequently, business dropped off. I'll have to stop in tomorrow, though, since they've got a lot of used stock that I'd imagine would have to be dumped quickly.
12-10-05 | 07:28 PM
#20
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I like Media Play. My favorite store for browsing as they have video games, DVDs and books. But their prices have always been icky. Generally I browse books and buy them on Amazon. If they kept their instore prices at something nearer to new-release sale prices they would do a lot better, but maybe they can't afford to do so.
They tinkered around with their pricing for a while. I used to shop there (and Suncoast) all the time when they had new-release anime at $19.99 and $22.99 (Bandai/Pioneer). And lately they were doing better about that (having good deals on release week like everyone else). Too bad. Now if I want anime I'm stuck with Best Buy - whose prices suck half of the time.
Looks like all my buying will be at Deep Discount.
Last edited by GreenMonkey; 12-10-05 at 07:31 PM.
12-11-05 | 01:42 AM
#22
Originally Posted by Al Padrino
After introducing their rewards program, their prices became awful.
And the odd thing is I noticed that exact same trend with Best Buy, but they seem to be going stronger than ever (I guess...I haven't seen their actual revenue numbers...they are just always busy).
And people browsing just to turn around to shop online and them dumping inventory in their laps that would NEVER sell to get deals on movies they probably took a loss leader on, I am sure none of those things helped them out either. And Blockbuster did that as well, but retooled their trading program to prevent that same thing happening to them.
12-11-05 | 03:56 AM
#23
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Media Play was the only one of their big 3 (Suncoast/Sam Goody/Media Play) that I liked. Their prices were the most decent, and it had a bit of everything. Once I realized that their decent prices were pretty high compared to other places, I stopped going.
I would have thought Suncoast would be the first to go, but I guess I underestimated the publics overpriced buying behavior.
I would have thought Suncoast would be the first to go, but I guess I underestimated the publics overpriced buying behavior.