The Americana and roots music authority

Virgin Megastores to close

The hits just keep on coming. Virgin Megastores will all be closed by summer. I'm not normally inclined to sweat the fate of big record retailers. But as a harbinger of where, well, everything is heading these days -- musical and otherwise -- this is spooky.

Full story at this link to The Wrap.

http://www.thewrap.com/article/1648

Tags: alternative, americana, country, forum, megastores, music, record, stores, virgin

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Permalink Reply by David Shaw on March 15, 2009 at 2:07pm

In Toronto in recent years we lost first A&A and then Sam's ... both were excellent sources of off the beaten path music (in addition to the usual mainstream offerings) ... somewhere in there we lost Tower Records too ... so now we have HMV ... okay, I guess, but when you're the only one in town you can do what you bloody well want to do. Which is why I get the majority of my music from a mail order store in Kansas with occasional forays to iTunes or eMusic to see what's available. Yes ... spooky.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Cantin on March 15, 2009 at 3:03pm

In Toronto, there was a time in the 80s when there was some fierce competition between record stores. Cheapies, A&A, Sam's -- they went at it hammer and tongs to lure customers. I seem to recall a newspaper story that determined Toronto had the cheapest music prices of any major city in North America and Europe. Nowadays, with HMV and electronics-retailers-turned-music-sellers dominating the landscape, Sunrise Records makes a noble effort in the face of chain-dom. At one point, Virgin was eying the new development at Yonge & Dundas as their Toronto flagship, but plans obviously went sideways.

Soundscapes is the best music store in town, period.

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Permalink Reply by William 'Sandy' Wallace on March 15, 2009 at 6:14pm

The retailing of music is in a frightening state... As David Shaw pointed out, Toronto has been decimated, and pretty soon you'll have to deal with the paltry selection at your Walmarts and Costcos... I don't shop at either because I don't believe it's the right kind of retail-if that makes any sense. But it is because those kinds of retail exist that music retail is suffering-that and online. So, don't shop Walmart and Costco, because pretty soon you won't have a choice... My $.02 worth...