Virgin Megastone Closing after 5/12

danzingcutie12

danzingcutie12

Member
Yes tomorrow is the last day of Virgin. I used to work there and one of my good friends still does. She told me last Thursday night that everyone was told that the store would be closing on 5/12. Less than one weeks notice!! I asked about discounts and if they had gone down any since I was in there a month ago and she said Disney wouldn't let them lower the prices or do any bigger of a clearance sale. She did say the remandier of the product will be shipped to other stores!

It's sad to see it go, but IMHO was a horrible place to work!
 
wdwfan22

wdwfan22

Well-Known Member
danzingcutie12 said:
I asked about discounts and if they had gone down any since I was in there a month ago and she said Disney wouldn't let them lower the prices or do any bigger of a clearance sale. She did say the remandier of the product will be shipped to other stores!
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That statement doesn't really make any sense. Why would Disney have any control over the way Virgin prices things in there store? My guess is the lease is up and it's time to get out.
 
M

markc

Active Member
wdwfan22 said:
That statement doesn't really make any sense. Why would Disney have any control over the way Virgin prices things in there store? My guess is the lease is up and it's time to get out.
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Disney does have control of pricing at all of the stores on property. Granted, the inventory is owned by Virgin (and the other 3rd parties stores that operate), however in the agreement they signed with Disney, they allow for Disney's control over pricing. The original mentality behind this was to ensure that 3rd parties were not overtly competing with Disney itself if they were selling similar items as well as stopping any tacky sales turning it into a bargain world versus a higher end resort shopping district. What's odd about this though, is that downtown disney in Anaheim allowed their 3rd party stores to go as high as 50% when they were closing however they did not allow any large "clearance" signs or anything along those lines.

Regardless, it's sad to see Virgin close. With the exception of some merchandise - most of it, from what I understand, is actually being sold off to a local Florida liquidator and not being sent anywhere else. Union Square in NYC still has quite a bit left over from the Times Square store, so they are unable to accept much of anything - and freight costs from Orlando to San Francisco (upwards of $2600 a truck plus an additional $0.20 a mile) make it cost prohibitive for them to send anything up there.
 
GymLeaderPhil

GymLeaderPhil

Well-Known Member
wdwfan22 said:
That statement doesn't really make any sense. Why would Disney have any control over the way Virgin prices things in there store? My guess is the lease is up and it's time to get out.
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Flooding the market tends to erode sales elsewhere and affects the clientele to expect further discounts from others. Most liquidations also tend to result in a heavy amount of haggling.
 
SMRT-1

SMRT-1

Active Member
markc said:
Disney does have control of pricing at all of the stores on property. Granted, the inventory is owned by Virgin (and the other 3rd parties stores that operate), however in the agreement they signed with Disney, they allow for Disney's control over pricing. The original mentality behind this was to ensure that 3rd parties were not overtly competing with Disney itself if they were selling similar items as well as stopping any tacky sales turning it into a bargain world versus a higher end resort shopping district. What's odd about this though, is that downtown disney in Anaheim allowed their 3rd party stores to go as high as 50% when they were closing however they did not allow any large "clearance" signs or anything along those lines.

Regardless, it's sad to see Virgin close. With the exception of some merchandise - most of it, from what I understand, is actually being sold off to a local Florida liquidator and not being sent anywhere else. Union Square in NYC still has quite a bit left over from the Times Square store, so they are unable to accept much of anything - and freight costs from Orlando to San Francisco (upwards of $2600 a truck plus an additional $0.20 a mile) make it cost prohibitive for them to send anything up there.
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Any idea which liquidator?
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
I'm one of those people who will be glad to see it go. First of all, CD's and DVD's are going away fast. Second, anything that resembles a department store should never have been set up in DTD anyway. DTD should be for unique or at least somewhat unique experiences. And yes I think the McD's doesn't belong either.

ESPNZone anyone?
 
Pongo

Pongo

New Member
Captain Hank said:
Could it be that they're sending all of the unsold merch to the other stores (NYC, San Francisco) that presumably would get a little bit higher foot traffic and/or are responding to the "sale" prices better?
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Captain Hank said:
I just got back from Virgin. They are indeed closing as of the end of business tomorrow, and from the attitude of the person that confirmed this, it seems to have been a relatively recent decision. I also confirmed my suspicion that they are sending all of their unsold merchandise to another store (New York, per another employee). As such, don't expect the sale prices to change--they are the same as when the sale started: 30% off magazines, 20% off books, CDs and DVDs, 10% off apparel.

As for the condition of the store, the entire former Classical/Jazz section is blocked off with its windows blacked out. It's possible to see inside the section from the magazine area above it, though, and it's currently filled with boxes and pallets of unsold merch. The upstairs book section is completely empty, with only a small table of books at the top of the escalator, and the children's and Disney books on the first floor remaining. There are lots and lots of CDs and DVDs around, though.
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I was in NYC about a month ago and the Virgin Store in Times Square was completely closed and empty.
 
M

markc

Active Member
Trotsky said:
Got to say... I'm crushed - NOT. Never went there, and I see it as one step closer to Disney BULDOZING the West End of DTD, and doing DTD right. Not "yet another Mall with the added entertaintment of multiple bars and high crime"... REAL DISNEY.
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I'm getting really sick of posts like this that are uninformed. There's actually more crimes committed at the theme parks and at some of the resorts than at Downtown Disney on any given day. Just because you dont like some of the entertainment offerings because they dont cater to you, doesn't mean they aren't appropriate or applicable to Disney.
 
WelshBatman

WelshBatman

Active Member
I don't know if this is worth reporting, but they were having some kind of meeting outside of Virgin this afternoon. Two Disney cast members were talking to a group of people. I didn't catch what they were saying but there were two Disney security guards there as well. It makes me wonder if they were potentially investors for the property, or whether Disney has a plan for the space already.
 
Missing20K

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
I'm one of those people who will be glad to see it go. First of all, CD's and DVD's are going away fast. Second, anything that resembles a department store should never have been set up in DTD anyway. DTD should be for unique or at least somewhat unique experiences. And yes I think the McD's doesn't belong either.

ESPNZone anyone?
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I completely agree on the unique experience comment.

I disagree that ESPN Zone would be the right choice. Not a terrible choice, but it's not terribly unique. There are something like 10 of them around the country. I love the sports bar themed restaurant idea, but TDC would be obligated to brand it with ESPN, for obvious reasons.

I think it would be cool to see an ESPN "Zone" that isn't quite like the rest of them around the country (though I admit I've only been to the one in Denver). They are cool, but WDI could really run with the idea, given the chance.

So when are you sending your resume to WDI, JT?? While I don't agree with all of them, you usually have some great ideas how they could better utilize space, new attractions, etc.
 

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