Top music retailers - ranked by sales in 2001 - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

DSN Retailing Today, July 8, 2002

Free digital downloads and CD burning have taken a toll on music retail. Sales of CDs dropped 5% in 2001 (the first annual decline in more than a decade) and early reports have sales down nearly 10% in the first half of 2002.

The 1,300-store Musicland chain reported a 1% decline in same store sales for the first quarter of 2002 due mainly to soft CD sales. Parent company Best Buy is remerchandising the group's Sam Goody division to improve sales.

The 400-store Wherehouse Music chain is putting more emphasis on DVD sales to compensate for the CD shortfall. It's also Wherehouse's answer to a disappointing 2001, during which it fell more than $100 million in sales and saw an aggregate drop of 90 stores.

                                              SALES (IN MILLIONS)
CHAIN                                      2001        2000    % CHG

TRANS WORLD ENTERTAINMENT CORP.          $1,388      $1,415     (1.88%)
 ALBANY, N.Y. +
TOWER RECORDS/VIDEO, SACRAMENTO,            631         650     (2.92)
 CALIF. +
WHEREHOUSE MUSIC, TORRANCE, CALIF. +        600         701    (14.41)
HASTINGS ENTERTAINMENT,                     379         371      2.16
 AMARILLO, TEXAS

TOTAL                                    $2,998      $3,137     (4.42%)

                                              NO. OF STORES
CHAIN                                  1/01      1/02      1/03 *

TRANS WORLD ENTERTAINMENT CORP.         984       902       902
 ALBANY, N.Y. +
TOWER RECORDS/VIDEO, SACRAMENTO,        115       106       106
 CALIF. +
WHEREHOUSE MUSIC, TORRANCE, CALIF. +    497       407       400
HASTINGS ENTERTAINMENT,                 142       141       146
 AMARILLO, TEXAS

TOTAL                                 1,738     1,556     1,554

* Projections

( ): Decline or loss

Source: Company reports and DSN Retailing Today research

+ Detailed notes about this chain are located in the Annual Retailer
Ranking list. (See INDEX, page 20.)