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Virgin Megastore to Close
Iconic record store to become Forever 21
By Evann Gastaldo
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Posted Jan 14, 09 9:37 AM CST
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(Newser)
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New York City’s iconic Virgin Megastore will close in April, Billboard reports. The Times Square fixture is the US’s highest volume music store, but the real estate company that acquired Virgin in 2007 is booting it for a higher-rent tenant. An exec told Reuters last year that Virgin pays $54 per square foot, compared with the market average $700.
Sources say the Megastore is still profitable and does an estimated $55 million in annual volume, but its 180,000 square-foot retail space will rake in more by housing a Forever 21—the next planned tenant. The closure leaves Virgin with only five stores, and bumps the NYC Union Square store to the top spot—but its future, too, is in question.