Zavvi, the rebranded Virgin Megastore that was part of THG’s empire from 2009-2023, has collapsed into administration, with all trading stopped immediately and customers told all orders have been cancelled.
The retailer, known for selling Blu-rays, pop culture collectibles, trading cards, music and toys, has completely shut down operations and replaced its website homepage with a notice regarding administration.
“As a result of the Company’s financial position, the Company has ceased trading with immediate effect,” Zavvi said in the statement.
“The Company is unable to fulfil any outstanding orders or pre-orders. Customers should not place any new orders through the Company’s website. Please also note that we are unable to accept any returns for items of any kind.”
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Zavvi was founded in September 2007 as a rebranding of Virgin Megastores. At the time, it became the UK’s largest entertainment retailer, with 125 stores. This fell into administration in December 2008, with THG acquiring the brand and relaunching it as an online-only offering in March 2009.
In July 2023, the investment firm Gordon Brothers secured a £5 million facility for Zavvi’s management to buy out THG’s OnDemand division, which included Zavvi as well as the pop culture collectibles brand Pop in a Box.
Recently, Zavvi has competed with fellow former high street giant HMV in the online space, although HMV has largely taken a different path, focussing on expanding its physical presence, last year announcing plans to open more physical stores within the UK and Europe – in 2023, HMV reopened its flagship location on London’s Oxford Street, although this week it said it will shut the site after three years citing a doubling in its rent and a need for extensive renovations that make operating the store “commercially unviable.”
Virgin Megastores began as a small record shop opened by Richard Branson in London in 1971, expanding into the first full-scale Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street in 1979. By the 1990s the brand had rapidly scaled into a global entertainment chain, opening over 100 stores across the UK and expanding internationally to the US (launching on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1992), Japan, Australia, and Europe. In 2007, Virgin Group sold its UK and Ireland stores via a management buyout, leading to the Zavvi rebrand, and the firm’s first collapse into administration in late 2008.
Image: Zavvi Newcastle, courtesy Mankind 2k/Creative Commons
