Sign of the times: Virgin Megastores in NYC, SF to close

One of my favorite pastimes in my San Francisco days was to browse the aisles of the too-cool-for-school Virgin Megastore on Market Street, with its hip DJs and headphone-equipped listening stations. But the times, they are a-changin'.

So comes the news from the (itself endangered) San Francisco Chronicle: Both the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco and the massive Union Square location in New York City will close in April. (The Times Square store is also slated to shut down in April; that news was announced last month.) Expect liquidation sales to begin next month.

After that, only three Virgin Megastore locations—those in Hollywood, Denver, and Orlando—will remain standing, down from (as the Chronicle reports) a total of 23 stores in 2002. Frankly, I'm guessing that those last three stores won't be around much longer, either.

Sad news (especially for those of us who've blown many, many hours in the eye- and ear-popping aisles) but inevitable, what with iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and other online MP3 stores taking the music world by storm. Sure, I still find myself wandering into Virgin whenever I'm in Times Square, but I can't remember the last time I actually bought a CD there.

Then again, it's not like the Virgin Megastores (which are now owned by a pair of real estate companies, not Sir Richard Branson) were losing money. As this Reuters story from January points out, the Virgin Megastore in Times Square is (for now, at least) the "highest volume music store" in the country, and turns a tidy annual profit.

But in the end, it all comes down to real estate, and the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust—the firms that are now the unlikely owners of the Virgin Megastore chain—stand to make more money by closing its Virgin stores, jacking up the rent, and finding new tenants with deeper pockets (again, this according to Reuters).

So, now that we've wiped away our tears, let's get down to business. 

Liquidation sales at the shuttering New York and San Francisco Virgin stores are slated to begin in March, the Chronicle reports. Again, if you're looking for bargains, remember that all sales are final, and keep in mind that true bargains may be hard to come by (especially when it comes to gaming consoles—yes, Virgin sells them—and console games). Make sure to comparison shop first, and since there won't be any returns or refunds, check any CDs, DVDs, or other merchandise for cracks or scratches before you buy.

Related:
Virgin Megastore in S.F. will liquidate [San Francisco Chronicle]