Virgin Megastore leaving Times Square
The Virgin Megastore will be gone by next year. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)
Updated story here: Virgin Megastore's fate: Little guy cackles with glee
The Virgin Megastore in Times Square, that behemoth depository of all things entertainment at the crossroads of the world, will be shuttered in the first quarter of 2009, according to reports.
Vornado, the company that owns the property, is forcing out the struggling chain so that it can up the rents on a new tenant, according to Reuters.
Virgin pays $54 a square foot in an area where rents can easily fetch $700, an executive vice president at Vornado told Reuters.
The chain's Union Square location should also vanish early next year, a victim in part of escalating rents.
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Comments (33)
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Is there anything that can be done about it? God damnit, that's the only store I actually CARE about.
BUY CDS!!
tokio hotel was there!!!! :(
Yep...keep downloading all of that music "for free" people...
Food Bar in Chelsea... Now Virgin in Times Square... The city of New York is about to be 100% different from what we fell in love with for the last 10 years...
I hope the city will hold on to some of it's charm!
so we are clear, how is Tokio Hotel relevant to this topic?
Yeah...that's what I thought
lets do something!!
I always liked visiting the Virgin megastore as a tourist in New York City and I will miss it.
Victim of escalating rents??? More like victim of the Internet, and namely iTunes. I can't even remember the last time I purchased a CD. If anything, this serves the consumers b/w we end up paying 9.99 an album, instead of the ridiculous prices that Virgin's gotten away with.
DUDE!
Not right; this is ridiculous!
like someone else said; "GO BUY RECORDS!"
ugggh; i'm sad :/
First of all. Did any of you read the article above? It has nothing to do with people buying CD's or not. It has to do with some greedy, money hungry mother's that want to make more money and don't care what gets sacrificed.
Damn that sux I live in Chicago and I was so bummed when they got rid of our Virgin Records now the one in NYC that blows.
NOOOOO.
NYC will never be the same without it's Virgin megastore. Where are all the artists going to sign autographs on their new CD's?
I know there's a billion other places, but none like Virgin.
this is a triumph, a time for celebration not for mourning.
we need to keep forcing the closure of record stores in an attempt to change the machinations of a broken business. Only then will the record companies understand they cannot control us, they cannot control artists, and that we must value quality over manufactured product.
tokio hotel ?? backstreet boys had there first real official gig at the virgin megastore with an autograph session.....after that gig they were so big in the usa......
im live in germany but till now i was happy to see the virgin megsatore sometime when i have the chance to be in new york...but now :( its sad
It was a matter of time. Record stores across the country have been shutting down (Tower Records.) Blame the winds of change not itunes or Limewire. The way we play and buy music has changed.
Hahaha... Tokio Hotel... ick
I'm so sad to see the Virgin Megastores dying out...I hope atleast the one in Orlando stays, because I met one of my favorite musicians there.
I don't understand, that store is always overflowing with people, almost all of them buy alot of stuff (mostly CDs or apparel), and it's still not enough to keep this place afloat? :(
you're joking right mzero?
If all the record stores close and we switch to an entirely digital format from which to purchase music, we will have lost ALL control. As it is, iTunes sells downloads at 128kbps, less than HALF of the sound quality of a CD copy (which encode sound at 320kbps). iTunes downloads are even less kbps than copying music from a cd onto your hard drive. Online labels and sales keep peddling us music in lossy formats and we are the ones paying for it. You think 9.99 is a deal for an album? How good is the deal when they are shitting us out of sound quality (even a CD is a far cry from the actual master tapes). Bottom line, if you aren't listening to (at least) CD quality audio, you aren't listening to music, you're basically listening to static and low frequencies that resemble songs.
HIS
MATERS
VOICE
People !!!! buy cds and dvd's
HIS
MASTERS
VOICE
screw the CDs! What will I do without that ginormous DVD section!?! Major suckage.
You have to be kidding me! Mourning the "loss" of the Virgin Megastore? If you insist on buying CD based music, just Amazon it. Or, better yet, go to an indie record store where the employees know their music, care about their customers, and actually give a damn about more than merchandising and record sales.
Times Square is better off without this overpriced store that hasn't sold relevant music since 1995.
Good riddance!
shit, i do download music and i also buy cd's wtf is going on?!?!
if it continues nobody is gonna buy a fucking cd!!!!
it's so sad...
I agree with Isabel!
Tokio Hotel was there!
=[
They made AWESOME success there!
We had like 500 people there buy the CD and everything!
How could they be behind?!
It's an awesome store that I go to a lot!
No honestly, it was like my music center.
I only get CDs from there. =/
This sucks.
I'm buying a CD this week.... or two.
WHAT? This is just so random and sad.
buy cd's people... that store is a NYC icon
AHHH....ITS A AWESOME STORE... HOW COME? !!!! CHECK MY SPACE:
WWW.SPICEMADONNA.SKYROCK.COM
ok but what i don't get is that rent is per sq ft? so if they can fetch 700 bones a foot, that's like $10 million a month (pretending it is a 15000 sq ft space)! what business could possibly afford $120mil rent annually and still profit? i don't get it....
Two big problems here:
1. Times Square needs something in that spot, something tourists can go into late at night when they're done looking at all of the bright lights and ads outside. If not a record store, what othe retail options are there for the space? They will be empty for a loooooong time. And the vide of the neighborhood will suffer.
2. Note to everybody who thinks CDs should make way for downloads. Downloads are a nice supplement, but if you take away CDs, you'll lose the concept of an "album" altogether. What's left of the music industry will focus on singles. The artist isn't becoming more empowered--he's becoming more disposable.
It is an icon, and I will miss it. My first and only trip there was this last Spring Break, and I'm glad I can say I visited it before the company was kicked out.
I agree with everyone that mentioned that TOKIO HOTEL was there and their succes in the US!!!! I went to that cd signing wit mi friends at 4AM in the morning and we had the GREATEST time the entire day!!!
I HAVE SOOOOOO MANY MEMORIES FROM THAT DAY AT THE VIRGIN MEGASTORE AND I CANT BELIEVE ITS GONNA BE GONE SOON!
LoooL
TOKIO HOTEL!
the 4 guys are the best;
they are sooo hot,
and they are from germany,
wuhau my home town.
Are nice to them;
at monday and tuesday they are at trl live ;)
Come on and made some support for that guys.
They have to be famous in the us ;)
Love;
greets from germany.
back to topic: i will miss that store