Virgin Mega Store Time Square to CLOSE

[AudrasBoi]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 8:42pm

Not sure if many of you have read this but, it looks like Virgin is leaving the square....

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

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 8:43pm

Thanks, love.

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

[AudrasBoi]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 8:47pm

my bad....I did a search but alas....still trying to learn the ropes....thanks for the heads up.

[NYCboy2]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 8:50pm

no! my favorite place to hang-out.

[Broadway212]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:00pm

This is the best store to find all the hard to find cds like the imports. I love this store maybe they will still keep the online website.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:03pm

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

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:05pm

They should open a new theatre there.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:10pm

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

[AudrasBoi]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:15pm

HA! well at least we wont have to worry about it being a Disney Store. Thank God

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:22pm

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.

[AudrasBoi]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:43pm

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

[brettystar]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:44pm

That's sad - I love that store.

[AudrasBoi]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:48pm

I really loved it in the past.....ever since The Childrens Place took over a few years back it just has not been the same. :o( what got me the most was the fact that all those animatronic (or however you say it) displays were destroyed. I actually sent a letter to The Childrens Place to try to get the displays from the Local store sent to a local childrens hospital instead of being destroyed....BUT I recieved no response BIG SUPRISE and they were crushed and sent away.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:49pm

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.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 9:51pm

There already is an evil Mickey Mouse in Times Square anyway, so Disney can't have that spot. My experience with Mickey Mouse is that me and my sister saw him in Times Square, just standing around. He didn't look affiliated with any store. Well, a couple of girls wanted to take their pictures with him, and I just wanted to take a random shot of him because it's Manhattan, and odd compared to where I live. Well, he was holding a Christmas stocking, and held it out like he expected people to give him money for photos. So we all just walked away because it was rediculous. So yeah, we don't need anymore of him wandering around.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 10:07pm

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.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 10:27pm

I heard before they go out of business that they will NOT be reporting their weekly grosses and until the 2009 quarter, the employees will have to take a 50% salary cut.

Updated On: 6/7/08 at 10:27 PM

[BWayJunkie]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 12:54am

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

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 1:05am

"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"

That's true. Disney no longer owns and operates the stores. They just leased the naming and merchandising rights. You knew immediately when it happened because the customer service went way down.

"There already is an evil Mickey Mouse in Times Square anyway, so Disney can't have that spot. My experience with Mickey Mouse is that me and my sister saw him in Times Square, just standing around. He didn't look affiliated with any store. Well, a couple of girls wanted to take their pictures with him, and I just wanted to take a random shot of him because it's Manhattan, and odd compared to where I live. Well, he was holding a Christmas stocking, and held it out like he expected people to give him money for photos. So we all just walked away because it was rediculous. So yeah, we don't need anymore of him wandering around."

You realize he's not affiliated with Disney at all, right?

"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."

Disney World is made up of four theme parks, not seven. There are also well more than 5 resorts on their property.

[winston89]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 1:13am

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.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 1:50am

Yeah, I figured that out as soon as he was trying to get money for absolutely no reason. I was kidding about him being affiliated with anything Disney if it went in to the store location.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 2:05am

"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.

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

[EvanK]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 2:42am

Yay for Disney owning the Disney Stores again!

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 2:54am

"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.

[winston89]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 3:18am

I don't think that there is going to be a Disney store in Times Square. Only because Disney has a store on fifth. And having passed there I can say that the look of the store does fit in with the look of fifth avenue and all the high end stores there.

Disney has (or still does. I don't know) advertised the fifth avenue world of Disney as their flagship NYC store. Now, because it is technically called The World of Disney Store and not simply The Disney Store. I wonder if it is totally separated from the rest of the Disney Stores and thus not involved with any of the ones that are closing.


EDIT: After posting I found out that Disney never leased their fifth avenue store and in 2004 converted it into a World of Disney store. Which is operated by the theme parks division of Disney. There are only three World of Disney stores. There is one in NYC, one at Disneyworld and one at Disneyland. I am assuming that the stores are operated by the theme parks division of disney because any stores and whatnot at the Disney parks are operated by the theme park division.

Updated On: 6/7/08 at 03:18 AM