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Business News Retail
Zavvi brand to stay online
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 3 March 2009
Following the recent news that the Woolworths brand will live on in the virtual world, news today that so will the Zavvi brand, despite it being a silly name best known for being one of the big victims of the credit crunch.
Zavvi.co.uk has been bought by online retailer The Hut, who will use it as a new front for its existing etail operations, which include selling Zavvi staples like CDs, DVDs and video games, but also other products like perfume and lingerie.
The acquisition of the Zavvi website will mean The Hut will have to hire 100 new people, apparently, most of whom will be based in their premises in lovely Northwich. Which is nice. For the 100 people who get new jobs.
The Hut boss Matthew Moulding says this: “Zavvi is a major player in entertainment retail, both in the UK and Ireland. Our aim is to capitalise on this well recognised high street brand and transform the business into a leading class online retailer, not only in entertainment, but also across lifestyle products”.
“The new discounted price points, supported by significant future investment in customer driven functionality improvements, should enable us to create an exciting online retailer. The team is excited about the opportunities this acquisition presents and the growth plans across The Group will be supported by our continuing drive to add talented new members to the team across most disciplines”.
In sort of related news, the owners of the Virgin Megastore chain in the US, Related Cos, who have been slowly closing the record shops down so they can make more money leasing out their buildings to other retailers, have announced that all remaining Megastores in America will be shut down by the summer.
There are six Megastores still in operation, though the New York Times Square shop is in the process of closing as we speak, and Related announced last week plans to shut the other New York megastore and one in San Francisco in May. That leaves three, which, reports say, will also all go by the summer.
Related Cos bought the Megastores off Richard Branson’s Virgin Group in 2007, around about the same time the UK Megastore chain had the management buyout that created the short lived Zavvi chain.
