As you read this, Richard Branson, New Order, The Mighty Boosh and former Corrie stars Nikki Sanderson and Richard Fleeshman will be loitering around Manchester's Arndale Centre where the Virgin Group has just relaunched its Manchester Virgin Megastore. The new shop aims to combine the digital and real world music experience, allowing customers to stock up their MP3 players in store. There's also a 250 capacity gig venue plus plans to stage regular open mic nights to showcase new talent. The new store is, Virgin claim, the future of music retail.
Commenting on the new store, Branson told CMU: "It's important for all specialist music retailers to do something new. There's no point standing still and watching competitors like the supermarkets throw their weight around. The most successful artists in the world continue to innovate and reinvent themselves, to not only stay ahead of trends, but define them year after year to stay in the game - the launch of this new flagship store shows that high street music retailers have the ability to do the same. With the opening of this fantastic new store in Manchester we have a store that's more in the spirit of the old days - a fun and exciting place for people and local bands to hang out"
Various celebrations are planned throughout the day to celebrate the opening of the new shop, so if you're in the vicinity you might want to drop by.