http://www.breitbart.com/..._article=1

LOS ANGELES (AP) - After nearly two decades of rocking the music world with a mix of brash stunts and splashy CD releases, the remaining six Virgin Megastores in the United States will shut their doors this summer in another blow to recorded music.

The hipster shops received their branding from billionaire founder Sir Richard Branson and remained profitable, but the real estate firms that own the U.S. chain determined they could command higher rent from new tenants.

"I've been pushing back a little bit on the notion that this is just another casualty of the music industry," said Simon Wright, the chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group Inc.

A slowing economy took its toll. To buck declining music sales, the chain broadened its offerings in the last few years to apparel, books and electronics. The six remaining stores took in about $170 million in revenue a year, down from the $230 million from 23 stores at its peak in 2002.

The lack of expansion plans and a recent decision to close the Times Square location in New York, which had been on track to make $56 million last year until the financial collapse began in September, made supporting the rest of the chain untenable, Wright said.

"Our six best stores from a retail point of view are also our six best stores from a real estate point of view," Wright said.

The joint venture of Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust bought the U.S. chain in 2007, and with sales slowing, the companies figured they can make more money by simply turning the properties over to new tenants, who will likely pay much higher rents than the level locked in for many of the stores in multiyear leases.

The 52,000-square-foot Times Square flagship closes in mid-April, to be followed by another New York store and outlets in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Fla., and Denver, all by June, Wright said. About 1,000 staff and 60 at the corporate level will be laid off.

The first American store opened its doors on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in December 1992, but it closed early last year when its lease expired.

Music sales have declined nationwide in seven of the last eight years, largely because of illegal file-sharing over the Internet and the tendency to buy individual songs rather than full albums through Apple Inc.'s iTunes and other stores.

The Virgin Megastores had often opened with the kind of stunts that made Branson famous.

Parachutists descended on a Salt Lake City store opening in 1992. Branson came dressed as the Mad Hatter of Boston when that branch debuted in 2002. And he arrived looking like Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose for the megastore that splashed into Hollywood in 2005.

The stores also served as a way to break new artists or relaunch established ones. Mariah Carey walked the platinum carpet in Hollywood for the 2005 rerelease of "The Emancipation of Mimi" and singers from Avril Lavigne, Clay Aiken, and Faith Hill have launched albums with signings at various locations with fans sometimes lining up overnight.

"People can go online to buy music, but there won't be any replacement for the events that we held," Wright said. "Times Square was particularly famous for that."

There remain about 150 Virgin Megastores in the rest of the world, in France, Australia, Japan, and the Middle East. All are owned by local companies with licensing agreements that lead back to Branson.

The company is planning a Times Square send-off in the last week of March.

sad

though i've been used to doing without virgin megastores for a while, ever since the chicago location closed. still, it'll be sad to visit new york and not have it as an option when i wanna blow money on new music. they had a great imports section.

That is sad! I hate to hear about all these music place closing

I've only been to a Virgin Megastore twice, but I really thought it was a cool place

thekidsgirl said:

its not a surprise, though, Virgin in reality only had 10 stores left anyway at this point, i think everyone thinks of them bigging supreme because of the Times Square location here in NYC. Its going to leave a HUGE hole here in NYC on 14th street, Union Square, mainly because Circuit City and Virgin occupy a block, plus a movie theater, which will most likely stay open, however i have heard the theater is going to close also. I know people are still "dreaming" that the local shops will survive, but, this depression/recession is bigger than "local shops", so, i suggest if you want selection, try amazon for used stuff.

But in reality this whole Music Retail collapse is not an economy related shut down, this was all hatched about a decade ago, when labels cut retailers out by refusing to lower cd prices to stores, now there are no stores, so guess who won?

I posted an article on another thread about the San Francisco location closing in April last week. It's up to the mom and pop music stores to hang on.

Well it's sad on the one hand but on the other there are going to be some good close out deals going on.

Never been to this place,but it's really sad when any record store closes It's truly the end of an era.

funkyslsistah said:

Thank God we still have Rasputin,huh? If they closed,I would go insane!

That truly is sad.

SoulAlive said:

And Amoeba, which you still need to check out.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Rasputin's. I've walked out disappointed a few times. There has to be a major sale for me to go in there.

funkyslsistah said:

i liked both amoeba and rasputin's when i visited san fran, though i think if i lived there i'd be more of an amoeba regular...though i was very impressed with rasputin's stock of imports and weirdo obscure-o music.

meh im used to doing shit online now.before i was kinda bummed out virgin mega was closing cuz i loved going there but now its like whatever.i can find anything online.

Christopher said:

then I'm glad I visited them

funkyslsistah said:

seriously? I love Rasputins The one in my area has a massive vinyl collection so I spend alot of time there.In fact,I went there yesterday!