Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983.
Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. Tower Records was purchased by a separate entity and was not affected by the retail store closings.
Suncoast Motion Picture Company (Suncoast) is an American chain of retail stores specializing in new and used physical media, primarily CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and vinyl records, as well as collectibles.
Media Play was a chain of retail stores founded in 1992 by Musicland that sold VHS, DVDs, laserdiscs, music, electronics, toys, video games, anime, books, and board games similar to Hastings Entertainment, 2nd and Charles, and Half Price Books. Each store contained full book, movie, music, and video game sections under one roof. At their height, they operated 72 stores in 19 states with 2,000 employees. The first store opened in Rockford, Illinois, in 1992. Hundreds of stores were slated to be opened, but only 89 ever were. Media Play opened stores from 1992 to 2000.
Sam Goody is a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, operated by The Musicland Group, Inc. It was purchased by Best Buy in 2000, was sold to Sun Capital Partners in 2003, and filed for bankruptcy in 2006, closing most of its stores. The remaining stores were purchased by Trans World Entertainment, which also runs FYE, Saturday Matinee, and Suncoast Motion Picture Company.
The Musicland Group, Inc. was an entertainment company that ran Musicland, Sam Goody, Discount Records, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, On Cue, and the Media Play Superstore Chains. The Musicland Group was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 at the height of Musicland's success, which ultimately led to its demise. Jack Eugster was the CEO of The Musicland Group, from 1980, until February 2001. Its headquarters were in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in standalone locations. The corporate office was located in Houston, Texas.
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were developed, such as eight track tapes, compact cassettes and compact discs (CDs). Today, in the 21st century, record stores mainly sell CDs, vinyl records and, in some cases, DVDs of movies, TV shows, cartoons and concerts. Some record stores also sell music-related items such as posters of bands or singers, related clothing items and even merchandise such as bags and coffee mugs.
Camelot Music was a mall-based American retailer of prerecorded music and accessories and was one of the largest music retailers in the United States based on store count. Camelot specialized in the sales of prerecorded music, especially vinyl LP, 45-rpm records, cassette tapes, CDs, and video/music accessories.
The Record Bar is a former U.S. retail music/entertainment store chain founded in Durham, North Carolina. The company eventually grew from a single location to 180 stores. One of the largest music retailing chains, it was located primarily in the southeastern United States. From 1960 until the late 1980s, the owners were the (Barrie) Bergman family of Durham. In the mid-to-late 1980s, Record Bar began opening large new stores and remodeled Record Bar stores under the Tracks name, to better reflect the changes taking place in retail music merchandising.
Trumbull Mall is a shopping mall located in Trumbull, Connecticut. It was the first enclosed shopping mall in Connecticut upon opening in 1964. The mall was developed by the Frogue Corporation, and was the first U.S. acquisition by Australian mall operator Westfield Group in 1977. Ownership and management were transferred to the Westfield Corporation in 2014, and to Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in 2018. It has 1,130,690 square feet (105,045 m2) of gross leasable area. In early 2023, it was sold to Namdar Realty Group. The mall features the traditional retailers Macy's, JCPenney, and Target.
The Rogue Valley Mall, a regional shopping mall located in Medford, Oregon, is the largest indoor shopping complex between Eugene, Oregon, and Sacramento, California. It is named for Rogue Valley in southwestern Oregon, where it is located adjacent to a Target store and Interstate 5.
Spec's Music was a South Florida-based retail music and video rental chain headquartered in Miami. At its height of popularity, Spec's Music operated 80 stores, including 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) "superstores" in Miami Beach, West Palm Beach, and Sunrise. The company's stores were located in malls, strip centers, and free-standing locations throughout Florida. Four of the company's stores were located in malls in Puerto Rico. As of 2021, the last location closed. It was located in the Plaza Las Americas mall in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
2428392, Inc., doing business as FYE, is an American chain of entertainment retail stores headquartered in Albany, New York. Formerly owned by Trans World Entertainment, it began in 1993 and was expanded in 2001, 2006, and again in 2009 after buying out and rebranding mall-based stores Camelot, Sam Goody, Spec's Music, Strawberries, Record Town, Coconuts Music & Movies, DiscJockey, Saturday Matinee, The Wall, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, Musicland, Media Play, and HMV stores. There are 206 locations as of May 2019. As of 2023, FYE is a unit of 2428392, Inc. and retained its headquarters.
Harmony House was an American music retailer founded in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, Michigan in 1947. The chain once operated 38 stores, primarily within the Metro Detroit area, and employed more than 400 people. Although most of the stores ceased operations in 2002, a location in Berkley remained until 2004 when it was converted to an f.y.e. music store.
National Record Mart, known as NRM for short, was an American music store chain. The first music store chain in the United States, it was founded in 1937 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated more than 130 locations at its peak. Other stores under its ownership included Oasis, Music X, Waves Music, and Vibes. The chain filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and closed the last of its stores in 2002.
Sunrise Records and Entertainment Ltd. is a Canadian record store chain based in Hamilton, Ontario. Currently owned by Doug Putman, it currently operates in nine Canadian provinces. Originally operating with only 9 locations in Ontario, the chain announced a major expansion in February 2017, under which it purchased leases for 70 locations formerly occupied by HMV Canada. The chain runs approximately 85 locations across Canada.
Douglas Robert Putman is a billionaire Canadian businessman, predominately trading in the retail sector across North America and Europe. Through his firm, Putman Investments, he owns numerous retail chains involving music, entertainment, toys and home goods.
Wherehouse Entertainment, Inc., formerly Integrity Entertainment Corp., also known as Wherehouse Music and The Wherehouse, was an American retail music franchise.
