Virgin No More

Losing our Virgin-ity: Come June 18, this place is going buh-bye.

On June 18, the Virgin Megastore in Mockingbird Station is closing its big glass doors for good. About 10 minutes ago, I was told this was a mere rumor. Then I found this on the local location’s Web site:

“FOND FAREWELL!!!!!
Thanks to all the loyal Virgin Megastore customers who have shopped this location over the years. We truly appreciate your business and would like you to experience our FOND FAREWELL SALE with storewide savings of 25% OFF everything in the store.
Fashion, Games, Books, Electronics, Music and Movies….everything 25% OFF!!! Be sure to stock up on your favorite titles and items while they last!!!!!!!”

And a salesperson at the store confirmed it. So there ya go: Less than five years after its opening, the self-proclaimed “must visit hot spot in Dallas” is gone, the result of stagnating sales. Can’t say I’ll miss it: Virgin was always overpriced, short-stacked and always a little too gloomy and cavernous for my tastes. For big music stores, I prefer Tower Records; better import selection, if nothing else. Alas, this is really bad news for folks who like to buy overpriced Ben Sherman shirts at record stores; at least that crap’s going cheap for the next few weeks. But it’s swell news for the far superior and locally run music shops such as CD World, CD Source and the transplanted Good Records. “That’s one less corporation for us to deal with,” says Chris Penn of Good Records (which is a known dealer to Virgin employees). No word yet on what’s going to replace Virgin, which is keeping open its Grapevine Mills outlet. Rumor has it, though, the place is gonna turn into a…Pottery Barn? –Robert Wilonsky