oldskool2
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Post by oldskool2 on Jun 8, 2009 12:08:12 GMT -5
still too expensive. their dvds are like $16...can get the same dvd for $10 or less @ best buy
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 17:42:04 GMT -5
Now it's 70% off CD's & DVD's with 5 days left.
They had display posters for their storefront marked for $25, and the iPod poster they had draping their windows was offered for $35 by an associate.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 11, 2009 18:28:34 GMT -5
You beat me to it. Unlike at Times Square, not all of the best $#!+ is gone, but it is damned hard to find. Too much overstock on DVDs no one wants. I wouldn't be surprised if they go for 80% off on Saturday. Times Square never cut the CD/DVD prices by more than 50%.
The VirginMega.com site is down. They claim to be out for a "tune-up", but in reality the site is finished. Hollywood is about to close (or has already closed; someone in L.A. might be able to verify this), and there are few Virgin Megastores remaining worldwide. To reboot the site is meaningless, because this is a retail empire that started in the U.K., and the U.K. Virgin stores, which became Zavvi, all closed last year.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 14, 2009 20:32:23 GMT -5
Virgin Megastore at Union Square is now closed, for good. They emptied whatever they could (at 90% off) and closed while it was still broad daylight. The only people who were still in the store were those who wanted to buy fixtures. Other than that, the floor was pretty much empty. The neon Virgin Megastore logos outside were off.
What remains to be seen is if the rumors of HMV coming back to the U.S. are true, and they decide to choose Virgin Union Square's site as the place to start, as far as New York City is concerned.
If the industry was worried about sales dropping back to early-to-mid-1990s levels before the shutdown of the major megastores (and even back then, there were albums capable of reaching 5 million copies, as opposed to today and the last 3 years), they'll be in for a rude awakening now that the music/video superstore is on its way to becoming a thing of the past.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 25, 2009 4:41:48 GMT -5
The VirginMega.com site is down. They claim to be out for a "tune-up", but in reality the site is finished. Hollywood is about to close (or has already closed; someone in L.A. might be able to verify this), and there are few Virgin Megastores remaining worldwide. To reboot the site is meaningless, because this is a retail empire that started in the U.K., and the U.K. Virgin stores, which became Zavvi, all closed last year. Vindication is a 8!+¢#, ain't it? new.virginmega.com/maintenance.htmlMaintenance my @$$! I knew it all along. There you have it, boys and girls. With both Union Square NYC and Hollywood closed on Sunday, June 14, and gone with it the era of the major music and video superstore, it was no surprise that the Web site would post a farewell message. The Web sites will rule from this time forth. It could be a very long time before we see an album go diamond.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 28, 2009 0:57:21 GMT -5
Fine time for Virgin to close. At one point in the winter and spring, both Times Square and Union Square had an absolutely enormous overstock of Michael Jackson CDs. Unfortunate as the circumstances are, the fans would have emptied the racks in one or two days, and they wouldn't have had to ship the whole thing to some bargain-bin retailer in the city or on the Web.
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superbu
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Post by superbu on Jul 5, 2009 10:41:42 GMT -5
What remains to be seen is if the rumors of HMV coming back to the U.S. are true, and they decide to choose Virgin Union Square's site as the place to start, as far as New York City is concerned. I had not heard that rumor. Hmm... They did take over Virgin Megastore in Vancouver, B.C., a few years ago...
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starr
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Post by starr on Jul 9, 2009 12:50:06 GMT -5
MJ signing at Virgin Megastore
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jomide33
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Post by jomide33 on Jul 17, 2009 12:54:30 GMT -5
Here's something amazing. I had two Virgin Megastore giftcards that I never got to use before I moved to Ireland a couple years back. I couldn't use them at the European Megastores. When I heard they were going under, I tried to go to the website to possibly buy something but the website had already gone to its "Maintenance Mode". I threw a hail mary email to customer service at virgin to see what I could do. I assumed I was screwed like my Tower gift certificate that I had. Well, Virgin emailed me back and requested the codes on the gift cards and my address. They sent me a check in the mail for 92 dollars! Virgin was always my favorite (though I've worked in an HMV) and always will.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Nov 14, 2009 3:01:31 GMT -5
I assume everyone on this board who is from NYC knows that Forever 21 will take over the space that was occupied by Virgin Times Square and the Bar Code.
What you might not know is that the Union Square space will be occupied by Best Buy. I punched up Metro Area locations at the Best Buy site, and 52 East 14th Street (former location of Virgin Union Square), which is now boarded up, is among them.
Assuming the address does not correspond to the former Circuit City space next door, we'll at least be spared the thought of watching another oversized clothing store or (gasp!) another bank opening up at a once-popular retail store, because there are way too many of them in Manhattan right now.
If HMV were planning a U.S. comeback, I would have preferred that they took over the Union Square space. It looks like that rumor was simply that, a rumor.
Regardless, a media retailer will be taking Virgin's place, even though they sell more electronics than media. Best Buy will have 6 stores in Manhattan when this one opens.
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Crushcrushchris
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Post by Crushcrushchris on Nov 14, 2009 10:11:51 GMT -5
I assume everyone on this board who is from NYC knows that Forever 21 will take over the space that was occupied by Virgin Times Square and the Bar Code. What you might not know is that the Union Square space will be occupied by Best Buy. I punched up Metro Area locations at the Best Buy site, and 52 East 14th Street (former location of Virgin Union Square), which is now boarded up, is among them. Assuming the address does not correspond to the former Circuit City space next door, we'll at least be spared the thought of watching another oversized clothing store or (gasp!) another bank opening up at a once-popular retail store, because there are way too many of them in Manhattan right now. I know there's a Best Buy sign @ Union Square, but it's where the Circuit City used to be. I haven't even bothered to go near Times Square since Virgin closed.
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HolidayGuy
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Post by HolidayGuy on Nov 14, 2009 11:28:35 GMT -5
At least one outlet will sell music- so, that's a positive, to a small degree.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Nov 14, 2009 15:44:40 GMT -5
I assume everyone on this board who is from NYC knows that Forever 21 will take over the space that was occupied by Virgin Times Square and the Bar Code. What you might not know is that the Union Square space will be occupied by Best Buy. I punched up Metro Area locations at the Best Buy site, and 52 East 14th Street (former location of Virgin Union Square), which is now boarded up, is among them. Assuming the address does not correspond to the former Circuit City space next door, we'll at least be spared the thought of watching another oversized clothing store or (gasp!) another bank opening up at a once-popular retail store, because there are way too many of them in Manhattan right now. I know there's a Best Buy sign @ Union Square, but it's where the Circuit City used to be. I haven't even bothered to go near Times Square since Virgin closed. So it is true, that they're going to take over the old Circuit City space. That won't be the only Circuit City space they've moved into. Two months ago, at Brooklyn's Gateway Mall (along the Belt Parkway, near the Queens border), they opened up a new store in Circuit City's old space. I'll bet they're taking over Circuit City spots all over the country. With Best Buy opening up at Circuit City's Union Square space (30,000 square feet, last I heard), it remains to be seen what will open at the Virgin location. Perhaps Best Buy will have bought up that space as well (45,000-58,000 square feet, depending on the source), which would make it one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Best Buy in the city.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Nov 14, 2009 15:53:58 GMT -5
Here's a final look at Virgin Union Sqaure, the day after they closed to the public. It starts in the basement, where they kept all the jazz, classical, electronic dance, electronic items and accessories, cameras, books, comic books, movies and video games. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrmb9zkkd0
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Nov 15, 2009 22:16:14 GMT -5
My bad. Best Buy at Union Square is already open! Two weeks ago, when I went down there, I still saw the Circuit City sign there.
Obviously I was caught completely off-guard since my last visit to that area. But it looks so much bigger inside (they built a stairway at the entrance), and it looks so much better than what Circuit City left behind.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to say the same for what will become of the Virgin Megastore space. One part of the billboard, next to Best Buy, indicates that Virgin's 50,000 square feet of space is going to NORDSTROM.
Yup. Another oversized clothing retailer, to go with the 100,000 square feet of Forever 21 in Virgin's Times Square space and the adjacent space formerly occupied by the Bar Code.
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ZAYN
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Post by ZAYN on Nov 30, 2009 15:44:14 GMT -5
Aww sad to see the empty store...I was a frequenter of the LA location, they had my Cash Cash cd when no other stores did :( great memory that day
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Dec 5, 2009 15:58:26 GMT -5
Apparently, Virgin's Union Square space is being broken up into pieces. Nordstrom's space is right next door to Best Buy, and its ground floor doesn't look that big, maybe 3,000 square feet at most. There's an escalator going down. No telling how big its basement will be.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on May 7, 2010 0:47:27 GMT -5
The Virgin sign at Times Square has finally gone dark. I just went there last night, and a sidewalk shed is going up, while the theater canopy is almost completely taken down. My guess is, they turned off the sign sometime over the weekend.
I imagine that, once they're done putting up the shed, they'll take the Virgin sign down in pieces, and that will be the last we'll see of the Virgin logo in the U.S., unless you have cell phones that use Virgin Mobile, or Virgin Megastore shopping bags as souvenirs, or Virgin T-shirts.
Meanwhile, the clock is still ticking as to how long before all of FYE bites the dust. The only FYE in Brooklyn bought the farm late in January. There used to be at least 3 in Manhattan; now there are none.
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Honeymoon
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Post by Honeymoon on May 7, 2010 6:35:40 GMT -5
FYE seems to want to really hang in there, over the last few months when I've gone in there (a few different locations) they are selling every CD in the store at $9.99 or less, which is a good offer, I wonder how or if it is working for them.
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johnm1120
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Post by johnm1120 on May 7, 2010 10:27:32 GMT -5
Several FYEs here have gone the 9.99 route. The Specs here went 9.99 late last year and they tend to sell out of new releases because of higher sales.
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Honeymoon
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Post by Honeymoon on May 7, 2010 10:35:55 GMT -5
I think all retailers should price their CDs at $9.99, the $14.99-$18.99 prices that some stores sell them for are just plain stupid. People are much more likely to spend more money when they're getting more for their value.
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JamaicaFunk²
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Post by JamaicaFunk² on May 7, 2010 10:56:50 GMT -5
I don't understand why FYE still pushes pre-ordering. Sometimes they have good cd sales. Movies too. Will & Grace seasons were buy one, get one free recently. You just gotta look for the deals, but I think they're there more often than Best Buy.
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$uperb@tDuDe
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Post by $uperb@tDuDe on May 7, 2010 16:53:52 GMT -5
So sad, I used to live at the Virgin megastore in Burbank Ca. Now they're all gone.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on May 7, 2010 22:14:34 GMT -5
The Virgin sign at Times Square has finally gone dark. I just went there last night, and a sidewalk shed is going up, while the theater canopy is almost completely taken down. My guess is, they turned off the sign sometime over the weekend. I imagine that, once they're done putting up the shed, they'll take the Virgin sign down in pieces, and that will be the last we'll see of the Virgin logo in the U.S., unless you have cell phones that use Virgin Mobile, or Virgin Megastore shopping bags as souvenirs, or Virgin T-shirts. And they're not wasting any time. I went there tonight, and half the sign is already down. You can see the building's windows where that part of the sign used to be. I imagine they'll take the rest of it down by Sunday night. If they plan to put a Forever 21 sign in its place, they'll keep the debris shed up until they're done.
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Kishi KCM
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Post by Kishi KCM on May 8, 2010 9:35:39 GMT -5
FYE seems to want to really hang in there, over the last few months when I've gone in there (a few different locations) they are selling every CD in the store at $9.99 or less, which is a good offer, I wonder how or if it is working for them. It's a great initiative. I LOVE physical albums and DVDs, but I'm not going to spend more than $10 on them. So now I only get new releases at FYE.
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Honeymoon
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Post by Honeymoon on May 8, 2010 9:38:30 GMT -5
Best Buy also has good offer going, every week or so they have two titles going for $7.99 that were marked down from like $13, that's how I bought Rihanna and Robin Thicke's recent albums.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 11, 2010 0:39:42 GMT -5
As if the demise of the Virgin Megastores wasn't enough for the entertainment industry, now comes a wildcat announcement that several ESPNZones will close on Tuesday, June 16, one of which is the Times Square location on Broadway and 42nd Street, about 3½ blocks from where Virgin Times Square used to be.
Not only will New York City's ESPNZone close, so will the locations in D.C., Baltimore, Chicago and Las Vegas. I just found out that Atlanta's ESPNZone closed in late-September. It seems that Los Angeles and Anaheim will stay open, but I'd bet good horse money the clock will be ticking on those 2.
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Honeymoon
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Post by Honeymoon on Jun 15, 2010 15:04:53 GMT -5
Hard Rock Cafe next?
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 29, 2010 2:43:17 GMT -5
That remains to be seen. My city's beloved Virgin in Times Square has now become another Forever 21. By now you already know that a high-tech screen now occupies the spot where the big neon Virgin sign once was. What was once a music/media retailer with 2 sub-levels and 75,000 square feet has now become a fashion retailer with 3 sub-levels and at least 90,000 square feet of space. I assume the 3rd sub-level was once occupied by the Loews State Theater, because I had never seen the theater in all of my Virgin visits. As bad a taste as it leaves in my mouth to have seen the last of the major media entertainment superstore chains go down like this, I must say they did a kick-ass renovation job. The place is much brighter inside than Virgin ever was; but I still wonder what might have been if they had moved Virgin into the smaller (25,000-square-foot) Bar Code space next door, which is now occupied by the cosmetic retailer MAC and the soon-to-open Disney Store. To make it perfectly clear, I don't feel sorry at all for the music industry and the fat cats who run it. I feel sorry for the music retail industry and the people who worked the floors, because within the walls of places like Virgin, HMV and Tower was much more than the usual so-called mainstream material, which is impossible to find in places like Best Buy, Target or Walmart.
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CookyMonzta
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Post by CookyMonzta on Jun 29, 2010 2:45:38 GMT -5
It now remains to be seen what will become of the space that was occupied by Virgin at Union Square. Part of it is now occupied by Nordstrom Rack. And unfortunately another part of it will become another Duane Reade! As if Duane Reade didn't have enough drug stores in the city already! Truly pathetic. What makes it worse is that Walgreen's just bought out the Duane Reade franchise, and there's a Walgreen's across the street from the Union Square South complex where Virgin used to be!
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