Virgin Megastore

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Virgin Megastores is a chain of record shops scattered throughout the world, established by Richard Branson. The first Virgin record store opened in London's Oxford Street in 1971. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. There are now over 120 stores throughout the UK (including Virgin xs and Virgin Xpress) and many more stores around the world, with an online store and a digital download service. In 2001 the Virgin Megastores worldwide were split between the Virgin Group and the Lagardere group.The Virgin Group owns the UK, Ireland, USA and Japan stores while The Lagardere group owns the stores in France, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Egypt and Lebanon.

Contents

[edit] Virgin XS

Virgin XS is the clearance arm of Virgin Megastores. There are approximately 30 Virgin XS stores and they are generally located in small units within outlet centres throughout the UK.

Virgin XS stores stock the same charts as normal Virgin Megastores but they also sell through all Virgin Megastores sleeveless stock (Stock without their original packaging) at reduced prices as well as having various multibuy offers on back catalogue stock.

Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly Circus
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Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly Circus

[edit] Product selection

Virgin has one of the biggest collections of Music, Film and Games available on the high street. Products sold here are not just Virgin branded items. Stores have a wide selection of CD's, Games, Books, DVD's, vinyl LPs, mp3 players, Magazines, Accessories and additional products such as Calenders and Board Games. Virgin Mobile products can also be found in separately run Virgin Mobile Concessions within most Virgin Megastores. Some stores also house cafes/coffee shops run by external companies.

[edit] Customer service

All employees of the U.S. Virgin Megastores can be identified by their trademark red t-shirts which have the Virgin logo on the front, and the word STAFF on the back. As well, they are all required to wear, lanyards with their first name printed on them. Employees of Virgin Megastores and Virgin XS/Xpress in the UK and EIRE wear Virgin branded black T-Shirts with "Need Help? Just Ask" written on the front and "The V Team" on the back. Senior members of staff wear a MOD (Manager On Duty)lanyard. Only the Assistant Manager and Store Manager wear name badges, also stating their position.

An Employee Lanyard
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An Employee Lanyard

[edit] Virgin vs. the Competition

As more and more high street stores venture into the media sales market keeping up with competition is proving to be a hard fought battle for the UK Megastores. Big name supermarket chains in particular have adopted stocking popular music and DVD titles at increasingly low prices. For example the DVD Wedding Crashers, released 28th Dec 2005 retailed at Tesco for £15.97 compared to a Virgin price of £19.99. The popularity of Video games has also seen cheaper competition keeping the customers away from the Megastores. A report published in August 2005 stated that Virgin Megastores have lost £260m in the past two years, according to accounts recently filed with Companies House, and remains solvent only with the help of hefty loans from other companies in Sir Richard's empire (Branson is passionate about his music shops, as it was the foundation he bulit his business on). The retail chain has borrowed £287m from related companies in the Virgin group, a debt that grew by £117m in the financial year to March 2004. Chairman John Jackson, a long-standing Branson lieutenant, said that since then the retailer has borrowed more from the parent company. However Virgin Megastores plans to break even in the 2006-2007 financial year. "A lot of hard work has been done to get the business into good shape," he said. Jackson said the first 18 weeks of this financial year had shown like-for-like sales similar to the year before, which was better than in the overall entertainment market.

The lenders in Sir Richard's empire are charging the retail chain an interest rate of 14% on the debt. A Virgin Group source said the company charges the rates that a venture capital firm would expect as a return.

The accounts stated that the music and video retailing business was still a "going concern" because the parent company had formally said it would provide enough funding for it to trade for at least 12 months. According to the accounts filed in Companies House, the Virgin Megastores group made an operating loss of £112m in the 14 months to the end of March 2004 due to escalating costs at the retail chain and the cost of re-organisation. A contributing factor was the inclusion in the accounts of the loss-making smaller stores, which were closed last year. Mr Jackson said this should also lead to a loss for the next financial year. The year before, the operating loss had been £146m due to a writedown of the Our Price chain, which was bought from WH Smith in the late 1990s but struggled and was turned into V Shops in 2001. Turnover increased in the 14 months to the end of March, compared with the 12-month period previously, because the smaller stores were included.

"During the year, the group encountered a difficult trading environment with significant price competition being experienced, in particular from supermarkets, that affected sales and margins," the company said in a review of the business in its accounts.

It said this prompted a "strategic review", which led to a £31m charge to cover leases and other restructuring costs. Despite massive amounts of money being spent on re-fits over the last few years and more focus being spend on their bigger stores the company as a whole struggles to break even. No profit being made during the period 2002 - 2006. This is a hard blow to the company who blame downloading and illegal copying as some of the major factors affecting their lack of sales. Sales in HMV Europe however, Virgin's biggest competetor for the full year ended April 2005 grew to £986.0 million and operating profit was £96.8 million.

In recognition of the increased choice the customer is now offered when it comes to purchasing media, the Virgin chain has employed several strategies to secure customer loyalty as well as focus on higher standards of customer service. The 'Addict card' introduced in 2005 was brought in offering customers a stamp for every £10 spent in store. The idea being that once the customer has collected 10 stamps, they are awarded with a discount of £10 off their next purchase. Also introduced was the 'Mega-sharp' approach to customer service - a feature which is now integral to the 'Virgin Megastores Experience'. Staff are encouraged to ensure customers found everything they were looking for each and every time a customer walks through the door.

The ongoing discounted sales within stores remain competitive with top CD/DVD/Games titles retailing for astonishingly low prices.

Competition against independent retailers mainly in the music sector doesn't pose a major threat for big companies such as the Megastores, however customers with a specialist taste usually find the independent stores more appealing offering more of a variety of 'hard to find' and 'rarer' titles.

Virgin also has an online service - www.virginmegastores.co.uk - which stocks the same entertainment product that can be found in the high street store, and has 48hr delivery guarantee and gift wrapping.

This same service is used in store for those customers who's item is currently out of stock. The system is called 'web enabled store' (WES) for short and guarantees the customer the item within 48 hrs and home delivery.

In 2005, Virgin Digital was launched to cater for those that bought their music digitally or wanted to rip and burn their current music collection. This is designed to add to the services provided by Virgin, rather than replace the Megastores. The download service has faced some criticism from consumer groups due to its in-compatibility with the highly popular iTunes program.

[edit] Technology

[edit] ELVIS

The computer system at the heart of the UK Virgin Megastores is ELVIS - EPOS Linked Virgin Information System - designed for the Virgin chain in 1991. ELVIS collects data from the store's point-of-sale terminals for stock and sales reporting; provides instant information for customers on all the store's product lines, holds play list information for Virgin Megastore Radio (accessible by all stores simultaneously); and allows for electronic re-ordering from suppliers. As of September 2006 ELVIS was updated to utilise RealTime Polling. This means that now all inventory updates every 15 minutes, giving an accurate representation of on hand stockholding as well as being a useful tool for producing Best-Seller reports.

[edit] GSA

While the UK Stores use the ELVIS system, the Virgin Megastore chain in the United States has an entirely different GSA look-up system. This is a private network that links to all of the North American stores, and updates each store's product inventory every 24 to 48 hours. The GSA is accessible from the internet if one can obtain the exact internet address.

[edit] HAL

Named after the evil computer in the Stanley Kubrick film, "2001", HAL is the name of the inventory replenishment system used through-out the American chain of Virgin Megastores. It got its name from many of the Virgin Staff who were tired of the way the program works. [citation needed]

[edit] Virgin XS Locations

[edit] Virgin Megastores in Europe

[edit] UK

Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street
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Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street
  • Chester: On Eastgate Street.
  • Crawley: (County Mall)
  • Derry/Londonderry: (Foyleside Shopping Centre)
  • Dundee: (Wellgate Shopping Centre)
  • Gateshead: (Metro Centre)
  • London: Croydon (Centrale) Shopping Centre
  • London: Oxford Street at St Giles' Circus
  • London: Piccadilly Circus; the branch near Lillywhite's has now been joined by Number 1 Piccadilly, formerly owned by Tower Records)
  • London: King's Road King's Walk shopping centre
  • London: Bishopsgate; The Bishopsgate store is located opposite Liverpool Street Station at 152 Bishopsgate. The store is spread over two floors, the Ground Floor and the Basement. The Ground Floor houses CD, Singles, DVD and Games Chart and New Release Titles while the Basement floor is given over to Back Catalogue CD, DVD and Music DVD as well as the Virgin Mobile concession.
  • Oxford: A two storied store is located on Cornmarket Street. The ground floor houses CD's and various items and offers. The upstairs houses DVD's, a bigger range of CD's and Video Games.
  • Bluewater: A two storied store is located on Thames Walk, opposite the Water Circus. Upstairs houses DVDs, games and other products such as phones by Virgin Mobile. Downstairs houses music exclusively.
  • Glasgow: One store on Buchanan Street, which is the largest record store in Europe, and a smaller store on Argyle Streetthere is also ane recently opened in the glasgow fort shopping center,Easterhouse.
  • Grimsby: One store, located inside Freshney Place Shopping Centre.
  • Hereford: High Town
  • Newcastle Upon Tyne : (Northumberland Street)
  • Leeds, Leeds Shopping Plaza: Large two storied store which opened in 1997 and at the time was claimed to be the largest Virgin Megastore outside of London. Prior to the opening of this store Virgin Megastore was formerly located on Briggate.
  • Liverpool, Clayton Square Shopping Centre: Large two floored store in the city centre with hourly rate Internet access.
  • Manchester: Large three-floored store closed in 2005; leaving only a smaller Express store remaining in the city centre, although there is still a larger store in the Trafford Centre. A new Manchester city centre Virgin Megastore officially opened on November 21st 2006 in the Manchester Arndale Centre (See Video Of The Launch).
  • Milton Keynes: Two storied store located in the recently opened Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes City Centre.
  • Newry: (Buttercrane Shopping Centre)
  • Newtownabbey (Abbey Centre)
  • Nottingham: Virtually in Nottingham's Market Square on a very busy highstreet.
  • Portsmouth: Branson opened his first store here in the (now demolished) (Tricorn Centre), once a major calling for the UK's unsigned music scene. It has since relocated to (Commercial Road)
  • Sheffield, Fargate/Orchard Square: Large two floored store in the city centre refurbished in 2004. The ground floor houses music whilst downstairs houses video and classical music.
  • Sheffield Meadowhall: single-floor megastore.
  • Stevenage: There is a single floored Megastore at the end of the High Street in the new town.
  • There are additional Megastores in such cities as Birmingham, Leicester and Edinburgh.
    • There are also several smaller stores across the UK, some called Virgin Megastores Express and Virgin XS stores which can be found on the high street and at all major UK airports. Many of these stores were previously Our Price, a brand which was bought by the Virgin group in 1999.

[edit] Ireland

[edit] Germany

Virgin Megastore withdrew from the German market in 1994, amid complaints that the country's shop-closing law was too restrictive.

Virgin returned to Germany with a new store (not a "Megastore") that opened in the new central station in Berlin in May 2006.

[edit] France

  • Paris Downtown:
  • Paris Metro:
      • CC Belle Epine 94521 Thiais
      • CC Carré Sénart 53 Place Ouest 77566 Lieusaint
      • CC BAY2 51 mail Ouest - Collégien Marne La Vallée 77616 Torcy
      • Orly Airport Aérogare Ouest Hall 1 Central 94547 Orly
      • CC Bercy 24 place de l'Europe 94564 Charenton Le Pont
      • 1 av de la source de Bièvres 78180 Montigny Le Bretonneux
      • Centre Commercial Carrefour RN 3 77410 Claye-Souilly
      • 87, Place des Arbalétriers 93200 Saint Denis
      • Galerie commerciale Gare RER Puteaux 92080 La Défense
  • Archamps Centre Commercial Alliance 74160 Archamps
  • Avignon CC Cap Sud 84000 Avignon
  • Bayonne 27 rue Victor Hugo 64110 Bayonne
  • Bordeaux 15/19, place Gambetta 33000 Bordeaux
  • Bordeaux CC Mérignac Soleil Porte 4 Avenue de la Somme 33700 Bordeaux
  • Dunkerque Pôle Marine Quai des Fusiliers Marins 59140 Dunkerque
  • Lyon, 41/43 rue du Président Edouard Herriot
  • Lyon, Le Patio, 5 Place Charles Beraudier
  • Marseille CC Géant Barnéoud Les Pennes Mirabeau 13170 Plan de Campagne
  • Marseille 75 Rue Saint-Férréol 13251 Marseille
  • Metz 61/63 rue Serpenoise 57000 Metz
  • montpellier Les Halles Castelanne rue de la Loge 34000 Montpellier
  • Nice 15 av. Jean Médecin 06000 Nice
  • Rennes 6/10 rue Lebastard 35000 Rennes
  • Rouen 14 rue Guillaume le Conquérant 76000 Rouen
  • Strasbourg: 30 rue du 22 novembre 67000 Strasbourg
  • Toulon Centre Commercial Grand Ciel 83130 Toulon-La Garde
  • Toulouse 28 rue Alsace Lorraine 31000 Toulouse

[edit] Greece

[edit] Virgin Megastores in North America

[edit] USA

Virgin Megastore in San Francisco
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Virgin Megastore in San Francisco

The biggest music and entertainment store in the world is the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, New York City. The store consists of three floors: the main floor when you enter, which has the primary check-out located on the north wall, the Broadway Musical selections, NYC tourism books, computer and video games, soul and R&B, hip hop music, sale sections for CDs and DVDs, the week's top-40selling albums wall, and a clothing department. One level down on B1 is the electronics department, the dance music and house music department, the rock and pop department, and the jazz and classical department. The next level down is B2, this level houses the books department, world music, and the largest DVD selection in the world.

[edit] Canada (historical)

The only Virgin Megastore in Canada was in Vancouver, on the corner of Robson and Burrard. This location closed in September 2005, and has changed ownership to HMV, which has a similar inventory.

There was a project in Toronto, the Metropolis development, in which Virgin was meant to join. However, due to the dominance of HMV in Canada, Virgin decided to exit the Canadian market entirely.

[edit] Virgin Megastores Worldwide

[edit] Australasia

[edit] Melbourne, Victoria

[edit] North Asia

[edit] North Africa and Middle East

  • Cairo: City Stars
  • Kuwait City: Virgin opened this brand new store mere days before the 2003 Iraq War; it is located in the ultra-popular Marina World complex and is the largest Virgin Megastore in the Middle East
  • Beirut: (Martyrs Square) This Megastore is located in the old Beirut Opera House.
  • U.A.E.: Abu-Dhabi Mall in Abu-Dhabi, there is also a Virgin Megastore in Dubai in the Deira City Centre Mall, Burjuman Mall, Mercato Mall & Mall of The Emirates.

[edit] In Store Audio

Most stores include an in-store radio station. In the USA these are branded Virgin Radio, although are not related to Virgin Radio in London. In the UK, Virgin Music Radio (VMR) has ceased to broadcast from its home in the Oxford Street Megastore to the rest of the estate and now stores are required to play cd's from stock over their own instore stereo systems.

U.S. Virgin Radio is not a broadcast radio station, however, a DJ operated hard-lines system which broadcasts through-out the store, and the complex in which the store is located. For example: in the Times Square store, not only can the DJ's selections be heard from the retail floor, as well the music can be heard in the office areas, processing areas, and even out on the store's Broadway sidewalk.

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[edit] External links


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