Virgin Mega Store Time Square to CLOSE

Thanks, love.

Already being discussed on the Broadway and off-Topic boards. :)

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no! my favorite place to hang-out.

I liked going in to browse but if the items are not in the $10 sale then they are SUPER EXPENSIVE!!

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B3TA07 -- SHH!! Mickey Mouse might be reading this!!

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Gurl, please! Disney has seven theme parks, five resorts, a downtown shopping area, and a sports complex all within 15 minutes' driving distance in Orlando.

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That's sad - I love that store.

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SOME were destroyed, but then Disney realized there was money to be made, ordered them all to be sent to California, and then sold them all on eBay.

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This saddens me greatly, not because I was overly fond of Virgin, but it's a further indicator that the retail record store is becoming obsolete. Tower Records (my favorite), now Virgin. There's not much left, is there? Oh, well, Amazon and the Internet, but that's not the same. I always loved being able to go to a book/record store to browse, but it looks like they're going the way of the dinasaurs. Sad, sad, sad.

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From what I know, being a Disney employee, the Disney Store is no longer owned by Disney. Not entirely sure how that works but so be it. And that sux that Virgin may close... Doesn't really seem like that smart of a move. O well

From what I understand a company called HOOP retail either bought or had leased to them all of the Disney images and things like that from Disney. In March HOOP was in talks with Disney to have them buy back their stores. This is the same company that owns The Child's place. A couple of months later HOOP filed for bankruptcy. The only thing not affected by this was Child's Place and the Disney Stores that were associated with them. Some stores will be closed due to HOOP going bankrupt and around 98 or so will be closed due to the transfer from Child's Place to Disney.

That being said, I am sad to see Virgin Times Square go. The prices weren't that different from any other store that sold CDs. This is just more proof that the buying of actual CDs is slowly becoming obsolete now that MP3s and Itunes are taking over.

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"SOME were destroyed, but then Disney realized there was money to be made, ordered them all to be sent to California, and then sold them all on eBay."

They don't get sold on ebay anymore. They get trashed. They're bringing in an outside construction company to remove them and destroy them. I used to work for Warner Brother's store when they closed and the construction company was supposed to destroy the statues but ended up putting them in the dumpsters whole. So if you want to go dumpster diving near a Disney Store that's closing you might get lucky.

"Yes but they actually are downsizing. At least the actual "Disney Store" franchise. Most stores around me are either closed or in the process of closing WOOO HOOOOO"

The company is closing 89 stores nationwide and my store is closing in a week leaving me and many others unemployed. I'm so glad you're celebrating people losing their jobs at a time when the economy sucks. Good for you.

"From what I understand a company called HOOP retail either bought or had leased to them all of the Disney images and things like that from Disney. In March HOOP was in talks with Disney to have them buy back their stores. This is the same company that owns The Child's place. A couple of months later HOOP filed for bankruptcy. The only thing not affected by this was Child's Place and the Disney Stores that were associated with them. Some stores will be closed due to HOOP going bankrupt and around 98 or so will be closed due to the transfer from Child's Place to Disney."

First off it's "Children's Place" and secondly, they're not really bankrupt. A company doesn't have to be bankrupt in order to file. It's often done to make paperwork go through faster. In this case it was the transfer of the Disney Stores back to Disney. As of May 1 all Disney Stores were back under Disney ownership.

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Updated On: 6/7/08 at 02:05 AM

"Yay for Disney owning the Disney Stores again!"

We were all very excited for the transition when we first heard the news. Disney's employee perks are much better than Hoop's. People "poo poo" on Disney a lot but they're pretty good to their employees. Disney Store is an atypical retail store in that it does NOT have a high turnover rate. It's the kind of company you stay with once you start. My store manager and my assistant manager have BOTH been with the company since this particular location opened fifteen years ago. And my store manager is taking a pay cut and a lower position at a different store just to stay with the company. I have other coworkers who have been with the company for 10+ years as well and they want to transfer to other stores as well. But there aren't enough openings at the surrounding stores for all of the employees. So a lot of people are being left without jobs. And this is because good workers rarely leave. They're happy there. Even I was and I swore I'd never work retail again. But the management team had been bugging me for years to work for them. So when my current work situation ended I decided to take them up on their offer. And I'm glad I did.

Our excitement about going back to Disney ended when we got the bad news that we were on the closing list. The transfer became official on May 1, we got the call to let us know we were closing on May 2, we started liquidating on May 5, and we're closing June 14. And our customers are good and steamed too. We're the only store in the entire state that's closing. The mall the store is located in is going under a very large renovation started next month. The rumor is that Disney will be brought back in once the dust has settled from that. It's just that a leasing deal couldn't be struck due to everything being so crazy right now.

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