Virgin Megastore Continues Loosing Trends. Deeper Fill Returns As Competittve Advantage.

Digital Music News reports that the Virgin Megastores have "reported a loss of over 68 million pounds ($124.9 million) for 2004, blaming stiff competition from supermarkets for the slide. The losses have had severe and immediate repercussions, including a revamp of some stores, relocation of others, and outright closure of up to 50 locations. Virgin is also moving away from an emphasis on chart-topping albums, increasing the breadth of store inventories in an attempt to sidestep the fiercest competition."

"Virgin’s announcement is further evidence (if any more was needed) of the worsening health of  music retail…"Even independent music stores like California’s Amoeba Record and New England mainstay Newbury Comics, famous for their expert sales staffs and loyal customers, are devoting increasing percentages of precious floor space to higher margin items like DVDs and clothing."

"So what’s an ailing Megastore to do? Relocate to an environment with infinite shelf space and near-nonexistent overhead: the internet. Virgin recently announced that it will launch a U.K. version of its Virgin Digital music download service, to open this year."

– Michael Baker For Digital Music News