Trans World Entertainment Corporation is an American company which operates entertainment media retail stores across the United States of America. It currently operates just over 300 freestanding and shopping mall-based stores under several brand names, down from about 540 in August 2010.
Based out of Albany, New York, Trans World was founded in 1972 by Robert Higgins. It opened its first store, called Record Town (formerly Record Land), in 1973. The company went public in July 1986 and has expanded through acquisitions of a number of smaller or failing companies including Strawberries, Camelot Music, and Wherehouse Entertainment.
On September 23, 2000, Trans World signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of WaxWorks, and the deal was expected to close by the end of October.
As part of a 2002 settlement with 41 states over CD price fixing, Trans World Entertainment, along with retailers Musicland and Tower Records, agreed to pay a $3 million fine. It is estimated that between 1995 and 2000 customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album.
In February 2006, Trans World acquired the Musicland Group, which owned Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, and Media Play. This also included a handful of On Cue stores.
Trans World operated at a net loss from 2006 to 2010. In fiscal year 2011 it turned a profit of $2.2 million (compared to a $31 million loss in FY 2010). The company closed some locations and increased margins on its products.
Video Trans World Entertainment
Chains
- Suncoast Motion Picture Company: Nationwide (mall-based)
- SecondSpin.com: California, Colorado (focusing on purchase and resale of used media products)
- Manifest Discs and Tapes: South Carolina, North Carolina
- Spin Street Music: Memphis, Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut
- Record & Tape Traders: One Location left in Towson, MD
- f.y.e.: Nationwide (mall-based and freestanding)
Defunct
- Camelot Music
- CD World: New Jersey and Missouri
- Coconuts: Chicago area, Indianapolis area, New Jersey, New York, and Mid-Atlantic States (some stores still operate as Coconuts)
- Disc Jockey: Southern U.S. (mall-based)
- Incredible Universe: Nationwide (17 stores; closed in 1996, six stores sold to Fry's Electronics; joint venture with Tandy Corporation)
- Leopold's: California
- Media Play: Nationwide (closed in 2006)
- Music World: New England states
- On Cue: Nationwide
- Planet Music: Virginia Beach
- Peaches: Nationwide
- Record Factory: Brisbane, CA
- Record Land: Nationwide (mall-based)
- Record Town: Nationwide (mall-based)
- Record World: Mid-Atlantic and New England states (mall-based)
- Sam Goody: Nationwide (mostly freestanding; most mall-based stores have been re-branded as f.y.e. stores)
- Saturday Matinee: Now only one location at Rockaway Townsquare in Rockaway, New Jersey; other locations closed or converted to Suncoast; previously operated in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania
- Spec's Music Inc.: Florida
- Square Circle: Nationwide (mall-based)
- Strawberries: Texas, Maryland, New England and Mid-Atlantic States
- Streetside Records: Missouri, Midwest
- Tape World: Nationwide (mall-based)
- Vibrations: South Florida
- The Wall: Mid-Atlantic States
- Wall To Wall Sound & Video / Listening Booth: Mid-Atlantic States, later converted to The Wall
- Wherehouse Entertainment: Arizona, California, Colorado (formerly Rocky Mountain Records), Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington; filed for bankruptcy in 2003; Trans World took control of 111 stores and liquidated nearly a third of them (Now a selling site)
- TWE Family Pictures: Albany, New York
Maps Trans World Entertainment
TWE Family Pictures
TWE Family Pictures is an American children's company Founded in December 1989.
Movies
- Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 (1989)
- Tamagotchi Video Adventures: Now Museum, Now You Don't! (1997)
- Tamagotchi: The Movie (2007)
- Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe! (2008)
- Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen! (2017)
References
External links
- Official website
- f.y.e.
- New York Times Trans World Entertainment page
Source of article : Wikipedia
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