The other day I witnessed the demise of an old retail friend - the venerable Virgin Megastore. Virgin and Sir Richard Branson did it better than any other store achieving what all good brands do: create an emotional connection with their buyers. This is what sets Target with its catchy ascetics apart from the bland Wal Mart. Virgin is the hip, urban version of Barns & Nobles, where instead of classical music they have an actual on site DJ booth spinning jams.
Going to Virgin Megastore was for some strange reason an exciting experience - especially the imports section, where for $30 you could buy a rare version of - say - the new Avril Lavigne album from Japan with 3 extra tracks on it. And that’s why you felt cool shopping there - instead of having to run around between little record shops looking for something, or hoping they’d have it at the mall or Best Buy - Virgin always had it.
Then a little thing called the internet came around. Virgin Megastores I learned actually were still profitable - why are they shutting down? Well the holding companies that run them - Related Properties and Vornado Realty Trust are real estate companies - they think the space is worth more leased out. They may be right with Virgin Megastores sitting mostly in prime real estate - Times Square and Union Square in New York, Downtown Disney is Orlando, and the Sunset Strip in LA. Other locations in malls I learn were shut down even sooner.
The last holdout to my knowledge is Union Square in New York City - the whole South East corner of the square will be a row of broken retail dreams. While I doubt Union Square will reach the apocalyptic-like images found over at deadmalls.com - with Circuit City and Virgin gone - Barns and Nobles across the park will be the only game in town (save for a few Best Buys not that far and Strand Books).
The scene at Union Square was depressing - and strange - inside Virgin Megastore it was as crowded as it has ever been, everything is 50% the already higher than Best Buy sticker price (MSRP), the books are all gone - and its strange actually buying a CD. I haven’t done so thanks to iTunes. Instant gratification takes the fun out of delayed gratification I guess - there was a time when you’d have to get in the car and drive to a store on Tuesday to buy a new CD. Now you can download it that morning from iTunes at a lower price.
Virgin still had a great selection of DVDs and some books, the books were more limited, you felt that Virgin handpicked what was cool and fresh to sell. That’s what I liked it was like getting a recommendation - here’s the new Sarah Vowel book - because we’re the anti-Barns and Nobel, we’re younger, fresher, we’re not your parents record store.
But then a funny thing happened - our parents still go to record stores. Virgin and others (like FYE) sell MP 3 players and video games. The company that was built on Rock and Roll now cannot sell it in a retail format. There are already iTunes only releases, and other digital, online platforms. The next frontier is filmed entertainment and sites, applications and delivery methods are improving.
Perhaps the thing I’m most sad over when considering the death of the Virgin Megastore is the death of an era before iTunes and the iPod. I love these tools, in fact one can explore - you can pick and choose, even buy more guilty pleasure music. Shopping became a personal experience in that you were almost concerned that upon check out the clerk would make fun of your music tastes, I always had that fear - so I stopped buying CDs that would prompt that, as a result my taste in music got better.
Then college and iTunes happened it all went out the window. Virgin sold everything, it was a vibe, a scene - it was everything other entertainment retailers weren’t - it was kind of a tourist destination just by the simple fact most were located in major tourist hubs (aside from Union Square which survived as the hipster alternative to Times Square). And so is the end of an era.
Some retails are good at creating energy that leads to an emotional connection with one’s brand. I think Urban Outfitters is good at doing that with indie rock music, the rough brick and wood finish of their stores that look industrial, almost like something you’d find in your garage or your school’s art studio, and other branding features.
It’s my hope a theater chain will some day do this - I think if say, AMC took the Virgin Megastore approach, in that they channeled some of the energy of a good rock station into retailing - they’d have success. The example would be that the theater chain would have to transfer the energy of a film festival - the lines, the buzz, the programers and their wackiness. It wouldn’t take much to make going to the movies fun, but there are examples to be learned here in the wake of greats that came before. Good branding can convince you to purchase anything just for the experience.
** The Virgin Megastore at Union Square will close for business on Sunday
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