Virgin Megastore in Times Square to close

[sidewinder]

Not the Gladys Pringle?

Does knitwear that hurts the eyes in her spare time.

[BillF]

Not the Gladys Pringle?

Does knitwear that hurts the eyes in her spare time.

Believe me, she doesn't have much spare time

[Elissa]

That Virgin may have the city's best Criterion collection, though.

[catesta]

And if a megastore located in the area with perhaps the heaviest foot traffic in the United States can't survive, can the specialty stores like the Jazz Record Center, Academy and Downtown Music Gallery continue to exist?

The price of real estate in NYC has been out of control for a while.

Yeah, I think the new owners made it pretty clear what their plans for the stores were. They never intended to be on the retail record business. Plus, didn't it say sales at this location were up 12%? So it wasn't about making it work.

[kh1958]

And if a megastore located in the area with perhaps the heaviest foot traffic in the United States can't survive, can the specialty stores like the Jazz Record Center, Academy and Downtown Music Gallery continue to exist?

The price of real estate in NYC has been out of control for a while.

Yeah, I think the new owners made it pretty clear what their plans for the stores were. They never intended to be on the retail record business. Plus, didn't it say sales at this location were up 12%? So it wasn't about making it work.

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

[7/4]

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

The subway gives you almost door to door service. Take the N/R trane...

.

[Aggie87]

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

The subway gives you almost door to door service. Take the N/R trane...

It might give YOU door to door service, but not me (or kh1958 I suspect!)

[7/4]

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

The subway gives you almost door to door service. Take the N/R trane...

It might give YOU door to door service, but not me (or kh1958 I suspect!)

I know...get off the subway and you're in Pismo Beach.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And if a megastore located in the area with perhaps the heaviest foot traffic in the United States can't survive, can the specialty stores like the Jazz Record Center, Academy and Downtown Music Gallery continue to exist?

The price of real estate in NYC has been out of control for a while.

Yeah, I think the new owners made it pretty clear what their plans for the stores were. They never intended to be on the retail record business. Plus, didn't it say sales at this location were up 12%? So it wasn't about making it work.

Looks like it - from the original article -

He said that Virgin pays only a $54 per square-foot when the market rent in the area is about $700.

Looks like the buyers got some kind of real-estate bargain and a record shop isn't going to help them cash in on it.

MG

[kh1958]

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

The subway gives you almost door to door service. Take the N/R trane...

It might give YOU door to door service, but not me (or kh1958 I suspect!)

I will have to fly there first, of course. But thanks for the tip. Nothing smells quite like the New York Subway system in the summer.

[7/4]

At least J&R, which is better than Virgin anyway, is still open. It's a long haul downtown though.

The subway gives you almost door to door service. Take the N/R trane...

It might give YOU door to door service, but not me (or kh1958 I suspect!)

I will have to fly there first, of course. But thanks for the tip. Nothing smells quite like the New York Subway system in the summer.

Chinatown is even better!

[AndrewHill]

On the plus side though - at least they did the 'Virgin Venture' label with Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Ichy Fingers and a few other jazz groups, for which is due.

Virgin Venture also released Last Exit's 'Iron Path.'

[A Lark Ascending]

I spent the first half-century of my life browsing in record shops. I kicked the habit two or three years back (thank you, internet!).

A couple of weeks back I was in London and spent a couple of hours around Oxford Street - I popped into Rays, HMV and Zavvi (formerly Virgin). In each case I got bored after 15 minutes and gave up looking (not because of the stock...still seemed plenty there...but the whole process tired me!

I am a reformed man! [Now where's that amazon bill?]

Edited June 18, 2008 by Bev Stapleton

[Ted O'Reilly]

I was in the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees in Paris a couple of weeks back -- it seemed busy enough. Jazz section was extensive, and not TOO expensive, but that may be because of the relative value of the Canadian dollar. Found a few things that I bought.

Also visited a little Paris shop called Croco Jazz, and one value of the megastore was appreciated: SPACE! A cramped, dusty, curiously-laid-out shelf system made the usual search less than an enjoyable adventure.

[Jazzjet]

I spent the first half-century of my life browsing in record shops. I kicked the habit two or three years back (thank you, internet!).

A couple of weeks back I was in London and spent a couple of hours around Oxford Street - I popped into Rays, HMV and Zavvi (formerly Virgin). In each case I got bored after 15 minutes and gave up looking (not because of the stock...still seemed plenty there...but the whole process tired me!

I am a reformed man! [Now where's that amazon bill?]

I know what you mean - up to a point - but I would like to have the choice. I still recall a few occasions when I heard an album being played over the shop's P.A and was so impressed that I had to buy it there and then. One was Don Ellis's Live At Monterey ( at Collets, later to become Ray's ) and another was Forest Flower by Charles Lloyd. You can't do that on Amazon!

[jon abbey]

That Virgin may have the city's best Criterion collection, though.

all for way more than you can buy them for online.

I used to work near the Times Square Virgin and stopped in there occasionally at lunch, no loss IMO.

[gmonahan]

I was in the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees in Paris a couple of weeks back -- it seemed busy enough. Jazz section was extensive, and not TOO expensive, but that may be because of the relative value of the Canadian dollar. Found a few things that I bought.

Also visited a little Paris shop called Croco Jazz, and one value of the megastore was appreciated: SPACE! A cramped, dusty, curiously-laid-out shelf system made the usual search less than an enjoyable adventure.

I've been to both. Always sort of liked Croco because it's a bit like mining! I also like browsing in FNAC when I'm in Paris. They occasionally license stuff that doesn't seem to be available anywhere else, though, with the present dollar/euro exchange rate, I won't be wandering around Paris anytime soon!

Still, I do miss browsing in record stores. Fading memories of my youth, no doubt!

Greg Mo

[Big Beat Steve]

Also visited a little Paris shop called Croco Jazz, and one value of the megastore was appreciated: SPACE! A cramped, dusty, curiously-laid-out shelf system made the usual search less than an enjoyable adventure.

Crocojazz is nice but overpriced (especially for vinyl) IMHO. Paris Jazz Corner has a far wider selection, and Jussieu Jazz (all actually not too far from each other; within walking distance if you can read your map of Paris) ain't too bad either for CD's. And then there is the record/CD branch of Joseph Gibert (good secondhand CD section but a horrible mess of NON-order). If Brownie peeks in here again sometime he might be able to give you leads for your enxt visit to Paris.

I was in the Virgin store on Champs Eleysees once last year but wasn't exactly overwhelmed. But some FNAC branches indeed have a pretty good CD jazz/blues section. But overall things are slowly going downhill there too. Prices keep going up, and more and more collector CD labels just cannot be found anywhere anymore. Seems like the shops just don't bother stocking them anymore if the margins aren't big enough.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Last year I was tremendously pleased to find in the Virgin Barbes a copy of Rhoda Scott's "Very saxy", which is deleted, at a not too bad price. The Barbes branch seemed a good place to go for Antillean music.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

I do believe the record shop has all but disappeared in the UK.

I've not done much city shopping in the last two years, but whilst on holiday some pretty awful weather had me pulling into a number of cities in the south west - Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Truro.

Two big changes I noticed:

a) HMV and Zavvi seem to be all that is left and are more concerned with shifting DVDs. Where you once got separate jazz/folk/blues/classical sections they are now in one section mixed up alphabetically as 'specialist' music.

b) Record stores I recall from three years back have gone (or are going). I recall a small west country chain called Solo (I think) which had a fair selection. The Exeter branch was still there but downstairs was empty of stock and upstairs just had a scattering - looked well on the way to curtains. The Truro shop had vanished completely!

In fact what really struck me was the homogenisation of these small cities. Exactly the same stores - finding a bookstore that had not been taken over by Waterstones was virtually impossible (though they still exist in the smaller towns). Exeter had a mammoth new shopping area that was just being constructed last time I was there - could have been Meadowhall or any of the other out of town places.

They only thing that has improved is the number of places you can get a coffee outside (in the rain!). Must be global warming!

[sidewinder]

I do believe the record shop has all but disappeared in the UK.

Yes Bev - a vastly depleted situation out here in the SW compared to what it was even 3 years ago.

Salisbury used to have a 'Solo' with some interesting jazz CDs usually to be found in the sales rack and a nice Avid Record vinyl shop but both of those bit the dust a few years ago. Avid also closed their Bournmouth store (always worth a look whenever I was in town) and I think the 'flagship' Oxford store has also gone. Real shame.

Exeter used to have a great little jazz vinyl/star wars memorabilia ( ) outlet calls 'Hen's Teeth' on Gandy Street but again - that went belly up several years ago to make way for a 'women's appareil' store after the idiot building owners hit the proprietors with a big rent hike.

Of course there's still the wonderful little jazz CD store in Bath - lots of nice CD selections in there and very friendly and enthusiastic store staff.

As regards the rest of Bath - sadly the Fopp closed over a year ago, the vinyl outlet ('Gnashers') up in Walcot St. is long gone and HMV is a mere shadow of its former self.

Winchester has the World's Most Expensive Oxfam Shop vinyl. Nearly £50 for a beat-up copy of Harold McNair 'The Fence'. Heck - I'll stick with the CD !

Edited August 27, 2008 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

I do believe the record shop has all but disappeared in the UK.

Salisbury used to have a 'Solo' with some interesting jazz CDs usually to be found in the sales rack and a nice Avid Record vinyl shop but both of those bit the dust a few years ago. Avid also closed their Bournmouth store (always worth a look whenever I was in town) and I think the 'flagship' Oxford store has also gone. Real shame.

Help an ailing memory out here, sidewinder.

I seem to recall a very good classical record shop in Salisbury - quite large with a circular or semi-circular room. I asked the whereabouts from a musical instrument shop and they pointed me to a place tucked away upstairs off a sidestreet. I felt like I was looking for dodgy magazines!

That shop was very good for classical and folk music; some jazz but clearly not what the owners major in. But it had a 'just visiting' feel unlike the one a I remember.

Any memories of the one I recall?

[sidewinder]

Hmm - doesn't ring any bells, Bev. Was this place up and running within the last 10 years or so? The only side-street place in Salisbury that I can recall was Avid and that was just off the High Street (LH turnoff) in the direction towards the Cathedral Close. They didn't have much classical though and it was on 2 floors, quite a narrow place.

My all-time bargain there was a copy of Grant Green's 'The Latin Bit' Blue Note NY USA mono original in OK condition (excellent laminated sleeve) for the grand sum of £2 !

Edited August 27, 2008 by sidewinder

[sidewinder]

Any memories of the one I recall?

The description does sound a dead-ringer for the megabucks Oxfam shop in Winchester though - which has lots of classical and English folk !

[Niko]

i went through oxford and cambridge in october and april with lists of record stores i had gathered from the internet, in oxford one was left (but about to close), none in cambridge, so both cities only had hmv and zavvi left plus fopp in cambridge, the only one of the four hv/zavvi that i'd say was half-decent was the oxford hmv (which had a nice sale of jazz in paris discs), high point was fopp in cambridge, where i found a lot at very decent prices (in oxford i didn't have that much time and may have overlooked something, in cambridge i must have checked eight or nine dead addresses - not the worst way to discover a city)