Virgin Megastore in Times Square closing...

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:17pm

I didn't know

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/urbanite/blog/2008/06/virgin_megastore_leaving_times.html


I always get a headache in there. But still kind of sad.

[harris007]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:19pm

wow

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:21pm

F**K! Where am I going to get my $10 DVDs???

[Calvin]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:23pm

Half price on the subway!

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:29pm

OMG--it says that BOTH stores are closing!! I love these stores!

[jessica0414]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:30pm

That sucks! I remember when the one in Chicago closed, too now there isn't really anywhere to buy DVDs/CDs for a reasonable price, at least not near downtown. (B&N/Borders---$20+? Srsly?)

Updated On: 6/5/08 at 12:30 PM

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:32pm

I work near the old Chicago store. It sucks that it closed. Now there's a HUGE Forever 21 in its place...ugh.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:32pm

Wow, that's so shocking. I love that store. I went in there back in February and was in heaven. I have never been in a better store to buy music and movies.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:35pm

It's not too surprising since they have been shuttering everywhere else. I loved that store when it was new, but it was going downhill. The last time I was there, it was just an awful experience and I swore I wouldn't set foot in the store again. The Virgin Megastore in Chicago is now a Forever 21, which was pretty much the last thing we needed at that location. There is one located just a couple of blocks away and another within one mile. I was hoping for a Best Buy, Circuit City or CompUSA, since there is nothing located in the Loop or Magnificent Mile except a couple of Radio Shacks.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:38pm

I'm not surprised, and also never enjoyed shopping there. They were always blasting music that I didn't particularly care for, so I never spent too much time looking.

My favorite was Tower Records on the Upper West Side. I used to spend hours in there when I lived in NYC.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:38pm

What's more disturbing is that rents are getting so high in New York, even corporate behemoths can't afford it....the Chelsea Barnes & Noble closed down not that long ago for the exact same reason.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:40pm

Wow, that sucks. It gives me a headache, too, but it's one of my go-to places to kill time in midtown. And ten dollar DVD's! Count me in as one of the surprised.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:40pm

Wow, that sucks. It gives me a headache, too, but it's one of my go-to places to kill time in midtown. And ten dollar DVD's! Count me in as one of the surprised.

[DG]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:46pm

We lost the one here on Sunset - which was the first US location - earlier this year. There's still the one at Hollywood & Highland, but I don't see it lasting there much longer.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:47pm

Wow, I had no idea the Chelsea Barnes and Noble closed.

[wexy]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:48pm

That is lousy news.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:49pm

As far as CDs go, I found Virgin to be overpriced unless you were buying Top 40 or old bargain CDs. Cast albums were more expensive at Virgin than Borders and ever since I got the free Borders card, I get coupons every week or two for 20-40% off, plus an additional coupon when I purchase an item. They have lots of the cheap DVDs as well. I see bins of them on two different levels in Chicago.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:51pm

Very bad news. I'd just gotten reconciled to it as a substitute for Tower.

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:52pm

$700 a square foot.

To put that in perspective, The typical Dunkin' Donuts monthly rent would be $46,000 to $111,000 at that rate.

[heathurrr]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:56pm

WHAT? Geez, that's really terrible. I love that place.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 1:06pm

This sucks. I love Virgin. It's always a good place to pick up a cast album of a show you've just seen or just browse through the old cast albums. :-/ Oh well...

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 1:15pm

I love that store, love killing time there (especially when it's incredibly freezing outside and I'm early for a show)
First the one in West Hollywood, now this one? Sucks.

[Harper3]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 1:28pm

Now where am I gonna go to kill time before a show starts?!

This recession blows....

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:12pm

I'll miss this store. When Broadway shows would re-record a star in a musical (i.e. Petula Clark in Sunset Boulevard), they would sell the cd only in the theater. But sometimes the producers would allow those cds to be sold at Virgin Times Square.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:27pm

I figured it was coming soon, and we discussed it when the Sunset store closed out here a few months ago.

Still, it's sad, I agree. A whole way of finding music, exploring it, buying it... is dying.

The digital age!

I think I'll miss the semi-social aspect of getting out and mingling with people who love music in a store that is usually blasting something I can't stand... that's what I'll miss most.

It's odd that in our advancing technological age, these tools we keep inventing to make communication and interaction more convenient are actually isolating people even further. We won't have to ever leave the house again. Progress!

The Age of Technology is actually becoming the Age of Agoraphobia!

Bookstores will suffer eventually too, but not as much and not as quickly. eBooks are popular but nowhere NEAR as popular as good old-fashioned paper. Still, they are forever changing the publishing world.