Dancing and flailing around with a pair of headphones, Kizzy Aponte, 21, admitted she wasn’t expecting to stay long. It would be an in-and-out operation, or so she thought.
She came to fill out a job application. Yet, she had already been at the grand opening of the new Virgin Megastore for two hours, just sampling some rock CDs at one of the listening stations. She didn’t look like she was leaving anytime soon.
“I can stay here for hours and not realize it,” she said. “This place is actually a lot more organized than I could have imagined and there are so many listening stations, so there are no lines at all and you can just take your time.”
Aponte said she was planning on adding the new Kittie album to her hundreds of CDs.
When Virgin officially kicked off its opening Friday, more hi-tech listening stations weren’t the only changes Boston’s loyal music buyers found in the Tower Records replacement.
The three-floor, 40,000-square foot Virgin comes stocked with more than 200,000 CDs and 10,000 DVDs. DJs spin music on the second floor, while the third floor offers tea, coffee and cheesecake in a café. Buyers can listen to 800 featured CDs in their entirety, watch music videos on flat-screen plasma TVs that line the walls, or connect to the Internet on a bank of computers connected to Virgin Internet sites.
“I wanted to make it a place that was about more than just music,” said Virgin CEO Richard Branson.
Branson also worked on showing his customers a good time by giving them live performances from Boston-based Howie Day, Alien Ant Farm and Shannon McNally. After each performance, fans flocked to the third floor, where the bands signed CDs. The Dance Room featured the Godfather of techno, Juan Atkins, and others like John Debo and Morgan Page. Several Patriots’ cheerleaders were on hand to sign pictures of the squad for fans.
Keith Waithe, of East Weymoth, won a trip for two to London, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.
“I just came here to see the bands with my son,” he said. “I never thought I’d win anything. It’s been a pretty good day.”
While Tower Records enjoyed popularity in Boston for more than 15 years, most customers are ready to welcome the more modern take on a music chain store. Some customers don’t see much difference at all.
“It looks pretty much the same except for all the technology and organization. It’s great for what it is: a chain store,” said Gokce Ocal, 24, of Boston.
Travis Roache, 15, of Boston, noticed one drawback: the prices. He said Tower Records had more sales. While he liked the new machines and televisions, he said he probably wouldn’t buy too much music from Virgin, where the average going price of a CD ranges from $15-$20.
Vito Ellison, 20, a junior at Boston University’s College of Communication, has become almost a Virgin Megastore pro, having visited the New York City store several times and others while traveling. He said he heads straight for the import section.
“It’s a nice store, but the one in Times Square has much larger import, magazine and singles sections, so I was kind of disappointed with this one,” Ellison said. “It’s all right, but I think Newbury Comics does a lot of what this Virgin does in a much smaller space and at lower prices.”
This Virgin Megastore, the 22nd in the nation, is the first in New England. After Virgin grabbed its lease, Tower moved temporarily to a smaller location on Boylston Street, near Fenway Park. Most customers at the new Virgin store didn’t even know Tower records still exists.
“Tower Records is open? I thought they went bankrupt,” Aponte said, adding she was sure Tower didn’t find a big enough place to be of any interest to serious music shoppers.
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