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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...
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sucks indeed! I haven't been to a media play in about 10 years....but always like it.
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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). |
didn't media play own a few other chain stores? are they done for too or is it just acutal media play stores?
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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).
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DFW has the Suncoast and Sam Goody stores in several malls as well as a separate Wherehouse. I don't know if we have any Media Play's.
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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.
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sam goody and suncoast are not closing. All media play stores start liquidation sales today.
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Article in today's Columbus Dispatch:
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. |
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? |
Their prices were almost always substantially higher than most other stores I visited. I don't like to see stores go under, but I can't say I'm really that surprised.
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Originally Posted by Bill Geiger
sucks indeed! I haven't been to a media play in about 10 years....but always like it.
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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.
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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.
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Anyone have details about the liquidation sale? How much % off and so forth?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The one at Morse Rd. in Columbus said they might start the liquidation sales tomorrow and it would start at 10-20% off.
+Danny |
:(
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. |
The only thing they did right in recent memory was the trade-ins for new releases. This worked nicely for dumping crappy titles for TV sets.
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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. |
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. |
This blows major chunks. Now there will be NO store in Utah that carries a decent selection of DVD's. Everything will have to be mail order. I hate you all. :(
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Originally Posted by auto
I think we've found our problem.
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This doesn't surprise me in the least. I've been very skeptical through the past couple years of renewing my Replay card as Media Play is really the only one I went to. Their prices as well as no price match have kept me away for the past year in general. It's sad to see them go on the one hand, as they had a decent selection, but on the other, prices sucked, and the management was pretty unfriendly at the one by me.
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Good riddance. I wish all places like this (Sam Goody, Suncoast, other chains) would go toes up. Their prices always suck on movies and music. Maybe if they would lower their prices to a reasonable amount then they might have a business. Charging $18.99 for a new cd year round with the "sale price" of $16.99 once a year is crap.
The only deals I ever found at Media Play & its sister stores are clearance prices on action/movie figures and novelty items. |
We've had one around here for the last 10 years. I remember going to the Grand Opening and getting The Smashing Pumpkins' <i>Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness</i> for about $15. :)
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they were always over pirced on DVD's
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Making friends with a couple of the employees over the years, I've had good experiences with my local Media Play. They would price match CC or BB when I brought in their ads, except when they would look up the price and see that doing so would go below their cost. (They'd even let me look at the computer screen to see for myself.) I tried to give them my business when I could, but many times they wouldn't get all of their new Tuesday releases shipped in time to have them displayed Tuesday morning. So, I'd have to pick them up elsewhere. I'm sure inventory problems like that cuased many lost sales on new releases. Still, I did like their deep inventory, even if the prices weren't great. Flexible exchange policy was a big plus, too...hmmm, maybe that is what did them in.
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I have a Media Play and a Circuit City in the same shopping center near me. why would I want to pay 19.99 for a DVD at MP when I could spend an extra 10sec. in the car to drive over to CC and pay 13.99? they were just way too expensive to shop at. hell, most of their used discs only sold for like 1.00 to 2.00 lower than new here. why pay 14.99 for a used DVD that looks like it barely survived the war when you could get a nice minty new disc for 15.99?
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I never went to Media Play that much, for the same reason every one else has pointed out - their prices were too high compared to BB, CC and WM. About the only stores they were in-line with were the likes of FYE and Suncoast, which are also, obviously, way too high.
I would occassionally check it out, however, and did find a couple good deals there, picking up Lawnmower man for under $5 and that deal that happened a few months ago with the original Highlander movie. Aside from that, I'd usually leave there with nothing. Outside of DVDs, I did pick up a couple original Battlestar Galactica things there I didn't see anywhere else. I also bought a nice DVD stand that matches my entertainment center - and it was a good deal - Big Lots also had it, and for the exact same price, believe it or not. |
Ever since discovering Deep Discount DVD, I've rarely gone into a B&M store for DVD's. When I do, I go on release day to BB or CC just to get the deals. Media Play's prices were always just too high.
No tears will be shed by me when they close their doors for good. |
When they first opened up they were pretty cool stores to go into. But their prices were such that I never bought there. Over the years, they've gotten pretty run down and disorganized...but the prices remained high.
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I thought Media Play was a gift from above when they first arrived in Columbus. I even worked part-time briefly at one store just for the discount! But they failed to compete. Still, it was nice to have one stop media shopping - a revolutionary concept not too long ago.
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Definately a place to shop for selection, not for prices. I know my in-laws would shop there because they knew they would find the title in stock and people would help them find it. I liked their liberal return policies. Easy to exchange bad gifts.
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Originally Posted by ChrisHicks
I have a Media Play and a Circuit City in the same shopping center near me. why would I want to pay 19.99 for a DVD at MP when I could spend an extra 10sec. in the car to drive over to CC and pay 13.99? they were just way too expensive to shop at. hell, most of their used discs only sold for like 1.00 to 2.00 lower than new here. why pay 14.99 for a used DVD that looks like it barely survived the war when you could get a nice minty new disc for 15.99?
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Originally Posted by dvd-4-life
Is that the one on Eureka in Taylor?
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Originally Posted by ChrisHicks
I have a Media Play and a Circuit City in the same shopping center near me. why would I want to pay 19.99 for a DVD at MP when I could spend an extra 10sec. in the car to drive over to CC and pay 13.99? they were just way too expensive to shop at. hell, most of their used discs only sold for like 1.00 to 2.00 lower than new here. why pay 14.99 for a used DVD that looks like it barely survived the war when you could get a nice minty new disc for 15.99?
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Stopped in today to see what could be had and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see all new DVDs and CDs with their MSRP on them. Things are going for 20 percent off, but with these prices worse than the mall, there's no real deal to be made. Funny how even when going out of business, the couldn't bend a bit the customer's way.
The only bargains I found were with the used stuff. The DVDs were more or less cleaned out, but there were some great finds to be had in the CDs. I didn't have a lot of time to browse, so I'll stop in again tomorrow and check out other areas of the store. |
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