The Decline of FYE...What Happened?

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Remember when there used to be a music store in just about every shopping mall? This video talks about what has happened to them while focusing on one of the longest-lasting and significant ones, FYE.
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Company Declines:
Kmart: • The Decline of Kmart.....
Blockbuster: • The Decline of Blockbu...
RadioShack: • The Decline of RadioSh...
Solo Cups: • The Decline of Solo......
Toys "R" Us: • The Decline of Toys R ...
hhgregg: • The Decline of hhgregg...
Pan Am: • The Decline of Pan Am....
ESPN: • The Decline of ESPN......
Gibson: • The Decline of Gibson....
iHeartMedia: • The Decline of iHeartM...
Bon-Ton: • The Decline of Bon-Ton...
Kodak: • The Decline of Kodak.....
General Electric: • The Decline of General...
Woolworth: • The Decline of Woolwor...
Dell: • The Decline of Dell......
Sears: • The Decline of Sears.....
Payless: • The Decline of Payless...
Hostess: • The Decline of Hostess...
Redbox: • The Decline of Redbox....
Nokia: • The Decline of Nokia.....
JCPenney: • The Decline of JCPenne...
Quiznos: • The Decline of Quiznos...
GameStop: • The Decline of GameSto...
NASCAR: • The Decline of NASCAR....
Shopko: • The Decline of Shopko....
MoviePass: • The Decline of MoviePa...
Reebok: • The Decline of Reebok....
The Gap: • The Decline of The Gap...
Pier 1 Imports: • The Decline of Pier 1 ...
Sbarro: • The Decline of Sbarro....
AOL: • The Decline of AOL...W...
Long John Silver's: • The Decline of Long Jo...
Chuck E. Cheese's: • The Decline of Chuck E...
GNC: • The Decline of GNC...W...
Hertz: • The Decline of Hertz.....
Steak 'n Shake: • The Decline of Steak '...
CiCi's Pizza: • The Decline of CiCi's ...
Boston Market: • The Decline of Boston ...
Yahoo: • The Decline of Yahoo!....
Montgomery Ward: • The Decline of Montgom...
Fry's Electronics: • The Decline of Fry's E...
Souplantation: • The Decline of Souplan...
Gateway: • The Decline of Gateway...
BlackBerry: • The Decline of BlackBe...
Sports Authority: • The Decline of Sports ...
Atari: • The Decline of Atari.....
KB Toys: • The Decline of KB Toys...
Pizza Hut: • The Decline of Pizza H...
MGM: • The Decline of MGM...W...
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Опубликовано:

26 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 2,7 тыс.

@shortbutsweet 2 года назад

Fye actually came back and recently opened up in a local mall here. They now cater to anime and pop culture enthusiasts.

@MikeBNumba6 2 года назад

Yea we have one in one of the malls in columbus. However, it's very small compared to how big it used to be. It's like walking in a closet almost

@kevink1575 2 года назад

They also love pushing magazines subscriptions on you at checkout now.

@vismortis 2 года назад

They still linger here (Albany NY) but the stores are a closet compared to what they used to be. The one was so big it had its own full arcade inside the store. I think its actually the one shown at 6:14 and even then it was shrinking.

@dinoduelist2219 2 года назад

@@vismortis indeed they are. I used to live in maryland and the one we had there was massive but the one here while im glad to have it for my nearby nerd store is just an average store in a mall

@TheRawyan 2 года назад

That’s basically my FYE too

@ArtificialBanana 2 года назад

To me, bookstores and record stores were the anchors of the mall. It's not the same without them!

@isaiahadams1208 2 года назад

Damn right

@ckfinke7625 2 года назад

Really, it's department stores like Sears, J.C. Penney, Macy's and even more upscale ones like Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor (now defunct) and even Saks Fifth Avenue that are the main anchors of the malls.

@ru-gi-ohduelist2827 2 года назад

Still are to me

@ptravers9077 2 года назад

U dont think that the anchor stores that all have gone bankrupt are the stores that anchored our malls dont thinking was Sam goody or any record or book store

@utopua4all 2 года назад

@@ckfinke7625 This. I'm pretty sure if J.C. Penney's closed at out local mall (it easily occupies the the largest area) the mall - or what's left of it - would collapse like a cheap house of cards. It's easily the damn anchor which is freaking scary given their problems.

@YowLife 2 года назад

I remember signing up for FYE's membership program because it included 3 free magazine subscriptions. It sounded like and excellent deal. Later on I was looking at my bank history and discovered those magazines were taking payments from my card. FYE just used my card to pay for those magazines on top of paying for my membership and hoped I wouldn't notice. I had to make some calls to get my money back. I also canceled my FYE membership after that.

@oopsallbugs 2 года назад

That's so scummy!

@laurasyard 2 года назад

I wasn’t told that when I got the membership it was $$ each month so that was a shock!

@shadowarchivist2382 2 года назад

I've worked at stores that sell memberships, so I specifically asked the clerks if there was a renewal fee and they told me "No, the membership is free". A couple months later I was getting charged for the membership and three magazines that I wasn't even told about.

@scatterplot77 2 года назад

Dude. I worked at FYE for like 6 months and had to offer the Magazine BS to every customer. We knew it was bad and we had to pitch it to EVERYONE.

@nickjvideos 2 года назад

The same thing kind of happened to me too. I cancel my membership too, it’s not worth it.

@gerarddicairano4974 2 года назад

The declining state of malls is really sad. Grew up in 90's and loved going to the mall as a kid/teen. My first two jobs were in the mall. When I went to college and had a 4 hr gap between classes, my friends and I would hang out at the mall. I get that Amazon will inevitably win in price/convenience, but surely retail can compete with the whole 'experience'.

@newguy371 2 года назад

I guess it depends on where you are. Where I live, the mall is like the only place to hang out.

@12Mantis 2 года назад

I think they can compete through socializing, whether it's with staff or fellow shoppers when you're out and about either running errands or just walking around browsing there's a far greater chance of socializing then when your at home using Amazon. After the last 2+ years some more socializing sounds way better then staying home doing little to nothing. With the malls they could add some more seating and maybe even some tables, maybe even take a small empty store that's been vacant for a bit and turn it into something of a gathering spot with one or two more entrances as well.

@FlexibleToast 2 года назад

Malls have been changing. The successful ones now have changed to have different anchor stores or have become experiential. The department store is a terrible anchor in the days of Amazon, some Malls have changed to have things like grocery stores to be their anchors. Others have added more interactive stuff like rides and what not to make it an experience worth doing.

@newguy371 2 года назад

@@FlexibleToast Rides in malls are nothing new. What tends to happen is that malls will get new owners who see the rides as a financial loss, so they remove them.. what they don't realize,, is that those things give kids something to do and help attract customers. This is a never ending cycle, the only reason it seems new to you because you probably haven't seen this cycle in it's entirety.

@FlexibleToast 2 года назад

@@newguy371 rides are just an example of one way to change it to be more experiential.

@MusicalJourneysThruCinema 2 года назад

I prefer this store more than any clothing stores. Malls seem to just supply clothing stores now

@AK-47ISTHEWAY 2 года назад

For real that's how my mall used to be. Now it's just a Kohl's in there and nothing else.

@poeticsilence047 2 года назад

I think they are just mainly now for girls, honestly. Lol

@TheTenCentStory 2 года назад

@@poeticsilence047 always were

@poeticsilence047 2 года назад

@@TheTenCentStory lol. Just didn't want to anger the sensitive crowd.

@kenmore01 2 года назад

And jewelry stores, food courts, shoe stores (admittedly a type of clothing), maybe a book store. So boring, I won't go anymore. No wonder they are in decline.

@kirkjr 2 года назад

Totally forgot FYE existed. Just when I think you can’t anymore, Company Man still keeps unlocking memories lol

@interwebtubes 2 года назад

Yeah back when I was a little kid, I bought a reel to reel tape machine that had vacuum tubes inside of that really heavy-heavy boat anchor, This was back in the day when cd-players cost around $100 at the time, And c-D’S cost around $ 30 each, I had to cut lots of neighbors yards to make enough money to afford luxuries like that; Those were the days, Man how things have changed

@jefferypardue7509 2 года назад

@@interwebtubes the only major problem with real the reels is yet the thread the tape through the rollers and pinchers and possibility of crumpled up tape or breakage. Yes you can still get a CD players that may cost $100 or more especially if they're bundled in one of those record player/Radio/Bluetooth/CD/cassette combination "all in ones" in the wooden or mid-century vibe.

@GuitarxWolf 2 года назад

Damn for real, completely forgot about this store, that logo brought me back though, trip.

@interwebtubes 2 года назад

@@jefferypardue7509 yeah that too, However the audio quality was awesome, I believe much better than a CD ?, Of course that was when I was recording at High speed, I believe that it was around 15 inches Per second??; It was a really long time ago, However I definitely could tell, perceive a Quality difference than what’ll a cd would put out, To me I could hear the difference, I have pretty good hearing, It’s really sad that that machine is long gone nowadays; However it was definitely a very good Learning experience for me, I can definitely distinguish the Quality levels of various types; However all of this c proceeded internet access being generally available at one’s homes;

@sketchur 2 года назад

They're still around in my city!

@oneshoeshort 2 года назад

I was an FYE employee in 2007. The job didn't last very long but it was one of the best working experiences I had. My boss is still a good friend to this day. They closed the store I worked at in 2011, shortly before I had my son. This was a good video, Mike. Thanks for sharing!

@eugenetswong 2 года назад

Company Man's name is Mike? I must have missed that.

@tylerriley2587 Год назад

You were living the dream

@chunkysocks8121 2 года назад

I was a teen in the early 2000s, and FYE and Borders were the whole highlight of my trips. My friends would go to their stores and then Id be excited when it was my turn to look at DVDs and books. But I havent been to the mall in at least 10 years and everything is now online. Even physical goods. Why go all the way to the mall to check for a Funko figure when you can find it online and have it in a day or two?Its sad, but also seems inevitable. Im glad i grew up in the time before everything went fully online. It was so fun just spending hours browsing shelves with friends and seeing what cool stuff we could get with the $20 we had from our crappy min wage jobs.

@dwood78part23 2 года назад

I miss the era of actual music stores- & not just FYE, but Tower Records too- which is also worthy of it's own "The Decline of..." video.

@DjJokerr 2 года назад

Tower Records was awesome! plus they had porn section.

@dwood78part23 2 года назад

@@DjJokerr Tower Records still exist in Japan (Tower Records Japan spun itself off before the main company went outta business). If I ever go to Japan, I'll have to check it out, esp the one in Shibuya.

@jefferypardue7509 2 года назад

@@dwood78part23 Japan has a lot of crazy American Japanese only stuff like 7-Eleven is widely different than the American version and a weird stuff is in vending machines in Japan not just food but I read online even used items are in vending machines in Japan. But then Japan for all its craziness does have a 99.9999999% on time record for its bullet trains but then again bullet trains run on dedicated rail systems compared to Amtrak who share rail with slow stinky volatile freight trains.

@RobSchellinger 2 года назад

And the people who worked in the record stores looked like garage band rejects, but were usually pretty cool and fairly knowledgeable.

@wesleybush8646 2 года назад

There's an entire feature length documentary about it directed by Colin Hanks, came out in 2015. It's called All Things Must Pass.

@MielforMilo 2 года назад

When i was a mallrat tween, I would walk through FYE literally every time i went to the popular mall. But really, it was because it was the least busy section of the parking lot, so you would enter the mall through FYE. It had a Sam Ash next door so i would assume it helped them stay open. By the end of the store's lifetime, it was very much a product of the post-fandom market. There was merchandise for everything you can think of. Movie merch, Music merch, Video Game merch. It was like what GameStop is now! More merch than actual product. I think we bought the Twilight movies from FYE and that was over a decade ago, geez.

@Fruityfruitcat 2 года назад

I don’t realize it’s less popular now (to be honest I thought it was pretty new since it only opened around 5 years ago or so) there’s one in my mall and I love it. I always think of it as a hot topic with the lights on but more fun :) I love the plushies they constantly stock and the fandom merchandise they have available

@blueoceanfloor 2 года назад

I worked at FYE for 5 years. I eventually became a manager. I always wondered why didn’t they focus more on electronics. It was apart of their business but it was a very small part of their business. It was more centered around music and movies. And the prices were so much higher than places like Walmart and Target. Those other stores had other things to fall back on. FYE didn’t have anything else to fall back on. I remember customers use to come into our store and tell us they know other places sell these things cheaper but they come to us because of the customer service. It was the employees that kept that company in business. Because their prices were ridiculous. There’s only like one FYE left in my area that I know of. Most of them have closed. They still don’t really sell anything else. They sell action figures now too. They still haven’t really ever expanded on their electronic section. I think they would of did a lot better if they made electronics a bigger part of their business.

@Redbl0odx 2 года назад

There was an FYE near where my fiance lives in Arizona, in Tucson...the full series of Avatar the Last Airbender was almost $90. Basically any other place you went it was at least half that price. I don't know if it's mall prices but I am sure that is one huge thing keeping people away. I would love to buy anime and other things from my local FYE but the prices are staggering compared to just about literally anyplace else :/

@blueoceanfloor 2 года назад

@@Redbl0odx Their prices were absolutely ridiculous. Always like double the price of everywhere else. That’s probably another reason they had to close so many stores.

@ghill628 2 года назад

@@blueoceanfloor Unless things changed a lot from my time managing a Camelot & Record Town in the late 90's, TWEC never purchased their music/video media. They didn't own the music/movies they sold. They took a cut of the sales and kicked the rest to the labels. I clearly remember getting the directive to go across the street from Fox River Mall & purchase all the Limp Bizkit Starfish CD's from Best Buy (maybe it was Circuit City) because they were selling them cheaper than TWEC was making selling them on consignment. I doesn't matter that the CD tanked after a few weeks, we were told to use store money to keep buying the CD's. The kicker is that they took those purchases out of out sales so it looked like we underperformed-. Good-bye bonus! Transworld sucked as a corporation.

@blueoceanfloor 2 года назад

@@ghill628 They’re awful to their employees too. Which is crazy because their prices are outrageous. It’s the employees that make people knowingly spend more money because they love their employees. We made them money and they treated us like shit. 🤦🏼‍♂️

@Tornado1994 2 года назад

@@ghill628 They did the EXACT same thing to Anime Labels like CPM,Media Blasters, ADV Films and Pioneer.

@Larry 2 года назад

I spoke quite a bit about HMV in a video I made last year, it stands for "His Master's Voice" and they were a record label who decided to cut out the middle man and sell their own records directly.

@trevorj3838 2 года назад

Amazingly that they still exist, my local one is hanging on just

@ckbwtf 2 года назад

I actually met my fiancé at the local FYE about 2 years ago. I was a regular and he was an assistant manager. He doesn’t work there anymore, and we don’t really shop there anymore, but it’s still special to us because it’s where we had our first kiss.

@paolahf 2 года назад

Aw, that's sweet

@ozymandias3097 2 года назад

talk about great customer service

@mikeedward9595 2 года назад

Where does that fall under the WINS strategy? Welcome Inform Note Suggest

@ckbwtf 2 года назад

@@mikeedward9595 to be fair, it was a noteworthy kiss.

@ScrungleCat 2 года назад

We found love at the local FYE

@jeremyshuster9492 2 года назад

I remember going there and they signed me up for the “backstage pass” because they said it would be 10% off my purchase saying it was “totally free” and then I found out I got billed like 12 bucks a months for a year before I even noticed. So I decided they weren’t getting my business anymore and I think a lot of people probably encountered this and felt the same.

@Tool0GT92 2 года назад

I decline anything that's free because it usually isn't.

@lightsoda7445 2 года назад

Don't understand how that makes sense because in order for them to charge you 12 bucks they would have had to have had your credit/debit details and you wouldn't be giving those details for something you expect to be free.

@matthewmullin9416 2 года назад

I worked at an FYE one summer and refused to push the backstage passes on our customers. It's hard to believe thousands of people signed up for such a rip off.

@TheSuperPenGuy 2 года назад

You could be like me and never even sign up but still get charged monthly

@jeremyshuster9492 2 года назад

I paid with a credit card and they were able to get the info that way. I guess they’re pretty sneaky

@lillanakitten 2 года назад

I loved FYE I live in a small town and two towns over they had a FYE it had any cd you could ever want, loads of anime and collectibles. They closed awhile ago but I still miss it.

@pidgeo5 2 года назад

The moment you showed the graph for new FYE stores exploding in the early 2000s, I remembered going to the Trumbull Mall in CT for FYE in the mid 90s. No idea that the store was such an important location! And MASSIVE! Such a trip to see the picture @5:45. I remember the coffee shop outside the main entrance. If you went through the entire store, they even had an arcade at the other end which exited near the food court and Cinnabon! Man...so much nostalgia! :D

@chrisrehm2040 2 года назад

I worked at FYE, for almost a year, after graduating high school. When I started the store, in Kingston, NY, was split between Record Town and Saturday Matinee before they merged into FYE. Was one of the funnest jobs I had.

@metalqueen237 2 года назад

There was an FYE in the mall in a sketchy part of my hometown. I’d almost exclusively buy Star Wars Funkos there when those were big. The cashiers always looked like complete neckbeards but were always friendly. I’m a small woman & anytime they thought anything was wrong they’d go out of their way to make sure I felt safe there & i really appreciated it. I was such a regular there that as soon as i walked in they would point me straight to any limited edition or rare Star Wars funkos. That mall is almost completely dead now & doesn’t even have any anchor stores. the FYE there closed down pretty early into covid. I hope those cashiers are doing alright

@metalqueen237 2 года назад

@ghost mall nope. Lakeforest in gaithersburg Maryland

@obeytheking7575 2 года назад

@@metalqueen237 lakeforest went to shi

@metalqueen237 2 года назад

@@obeytheking7575 yeah. They even lost the McDonald's in the food court

@Kris-wo4pj 2 года назад

Sounds like my local mall. The weird part about it is that the sketchy part of town is now nice since they gutted all the abandoned stores and homes rebuilt new ones and finally fixed the roads now the mall that's basically just a truck stop for semis to sleep at is rundown and dead looking. I'm still surprised it's open but it's just a food court and those scam jewelry and electronic places.

@d.i.p4076 2 года назад

@@metalqueen237 i hate that mall, the area is so ghetto lmao

@MattX28025 2 года назад

I used to work for fye. Those music stations were a godsend at the time. Before that all the listening stations had to be manually ripped to a massive library in the stock room. You had to punch a 3 digit code on the stations to listen to the album that matched the code. Our store had a universal secret code. If you pressed "666" on any station it would play "The Number of The Beast" by Iron Maiden. 😎

@TonyGearSolid 2 года назад

I remember FYE being rather expensive compared to other stores, I still went there from time to time, but I usually never bought anything. At one point we had two FYEs in the same mall, one was smaller (a rebrand of a store I think) and another bigger one at the other end of the mall. The smaller one eventually shut down and I can't even tell you when the other one ended up closing.

@Sireth 2 года назад

Before the advent of the internet, FYE helped me discover so much new music with their listening stations. It was also a great place to hang out and talk to people about music. It kind of sucks that places like that are going away.

@ToonrificTariq 2 года назад

Damn, I only used to go to FYE for like DVDs and other merch or whatever. Had no idea most of their market was CDs, that just kind of changed my whole perspective. Crazy because I was just wondering where they all went. Smh.

@johniii8147 2 года назад

Times moved on.

@chachisadventures3378 2 года назад

I remember their used CD’s sales “Buy 3 get 2 free” used to stock up 😂

@matthewmota9154 2 года назад

The one at my mall had to cut its space in half, surprised it just didn't close down

@Penoatle 2 года назад

@@matthewmota9154 The last one in a mall that I have seen had most of the space taken up with merchandise, Funko and the like.

@DarDarBinks1986 2 года назад

I mainly went to FYE for their anime discs. Bought quite a bit of my anime collection that way. Now, I just go to Walmart or order off of Amazon or RightStuf. Far cheaper. Why should I go to a store and pay more for my anime?

@mayhemtm 2 года назад

I feel like a lot of people forget about Media Play ! They were similar to FYE / Radioshack from what I remember . I'd love to see a video on them !

@antihistamean 2 года назад

They recently opened an FYE in one of the malls near me. I'm a big music fan so new record stores are always good but it is VERY clear when you actually shop there that the store isn't catering to music fans anymore. They had a fine selection of music that varied slightly from the record stores around me which was a plus, however it was a very different atmosphere than a record store. It had a very similar progression to Hot Topic, both all about the music until hey shifted to general pop culture, alienating their original customers.

@X-Factor-by2kz 2 года назад

Going to the mall to a music store was part of the experience in the 80's and 90's. People actually would look forward to new release day to get new music from their favorite artists. Physical media will always be number 1 with me. I want something tangible that I can hold in my hands. I like looking at the liner notes and photos and lyrics. I guess I am old school in that way. Streaming just doesn't offer that same experience.

@TightMoneyGripp813 2 года назад

I would spend hours reading through the booklet of albums. Learning what label a featured artist was on, sample credits, thank you's and any art 🤟🏾😤🤏🏾

@dalemoyers8881 2 года назад

I agree with you 100%!!! I’m definitely old school when it comes to my music. I still have my collection of Records, Cassettes, and CD’s. Lol 😂 Now it’s all coming back around with Record sales.

@AD1978leo 2 года назад

Yup being a hard rock/ metal fan I'll never forget the early 90s when Guns N' Roses did the Illusion albums, one yellow, one blue. Side by side. When the CD actually came in a box.

@X-Factor-by2kz 2 года назад

@@AD1978leo Ah yes the long boxes...takes me back!

@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache 2 года назад

Fye reminded me of Circuit City or even Blockbuster and the decline of those businesses as well, due to digital streaming and physical copies of movies and music becoming more obsolete

@lurji 2 года назад

ever thought about getting off the computer?

@DINKYMOOSE 2 года назад

At my Fye it’s mostly anime figures and foreign and strange foods barely any cds and music. It’s fun but a overpriced store

@johnchrysler5122 2 года назад

I guess the concept of owning things are becoming obsolete?

@neubro1448 2 года назад

While the CD market is still hanging on in Japan. There's still Tower Records there.

@robertcuratolo5339 2 года назад

Mustache boy we meet again....This guy has more facial hair on his lip then "Yosemite Sam"

@PTGKChrisHD 9 месяцев назад

f.y.e., Media Play, Circuit City, and Fry’s Electronics are where I used to buy my DVDs and Video Games. The 2000s was the Peak of Physical Media

@akatsukigirl1214 2 года назад

I remember my mom taking my younger brother and myself to fye back in the mid 2000’s. I remember one of my last experiences there. We were in check out and about to pay & the cashier asked my mom if she wanted to sign up for the membership. My mom said sure and my mom started reading the paperwork. My mom immediately got agitated and told the cashier that she would not be signing up for the membership. The cashier then proceeded to try and convince my mom that she had to accept the membership because it was on the screen. My mom, at this point quite angry, said “I don’t have to accept this. If you need to cancel the transaction and start over. I won’t be paying for this. Last time we tried to cancel it dye would charge us a second time. We had to close our bank account to stop the withdrawals. I’ll leave if I have to. I won’t be paying for this bull shit all over again. Needless to say we didn’t got to fye much after that and my view of fye changed. I originally thought they were cool place, but afterwards I thought they were scummy because, to me, they were try hurt my family

@paradoxxor7770 10 месяцев назад

That story is crazy 💥 I got one too Years ago, my mother bought a DVD season from FYE. However, there were two "Disc 2" copies instead of "Disc 3". She took the package back & wanted a replacement. The manager said he would look for a replacement & to leave the package at the store. Bad idea. Because she came back the next day & the manager acted like he never met her & refused to refund or replace her purchase. He basically scammed my family & got away with it. Don't worry, mom returned a month later & shoplifted almost $100 in movies. Just ripped open the cases & nabbed the DVDs. We never shopped there again.

@Markimark151 2 года назад

I’m surprised that FYE lasted nearly a decade longer than Tower Records, they were in our mall until 2015, I remember when they first opened as Camelot Music and we bought lots of cheap records and videos there!

@jonlamontagne 2 года назад

I just Googled the one near me and it is still open... How I will never know!

@Markimark151 2 года назад

@@jonlamontagne I think those stores are franchised and some malls still have them opened because of audiophiles who buy physical music. But in my mall, they’ve been gone since our mall got renovated to include upscale retailers and restaurants.

@j.j.q1379 2 года назад

its sad that japan still has tower records while we dont :(

@jonlamontagne 2 года назад

@@Markimark151My mall now is just a Target bunch of random stores. Like GameStop Old Navy stuff like that. It is just all restaurants, movie theaters, arcades and a bowling alley. It's pretty much just a complex you show up and play games, eat at or watch a movie. The mall is probably letting them stay there for almost free at this point so that they're not losing even more money on the place not having any tenants.

@Markimark151 2 года назад

@@j.j.q1379 Japan has a much different market when it comes to music and records.

@bonecanoe86 2 года назад

When I was a kid/teenager in the late 90s/early 00s I would be very excited to spend my allowance money on CDs at FYE and other similar stores. It wasn't like today where you can just listen to any song you want on demand; buying a CD (or getting a burned CD from your friend) was an event that opened your world to more music every time you put on a new album. I know I'm going to sound boomer af but it is kind of sad that kids today won't grow up with the same experience and feel the same excitement to go home with a brand new CD in hand and putting on the boombox for the first time.

@TheBrandonn 2 года назад

Idk man. I was getting music on demand just fine in the early 00s. Still got CDs once in a while for some of my favs but def never went out of my way or spent allowance on one. Good ol p2p days

@jefferypardue7509 2 года назад

Or even on the car ride from the store on the car audio system if your parents allowed you or on a handheld battery operated CD or cassette player with headphones of course.

@jimurrata6785 2 года назад

Taking a deeper dive into an artist's catalogue because it all came with the single you wanted to hear was a great part of CD's (or albums, if you're as old as I am. 👴)

@Sputterbugz 2 года назад

kids will have their own nostalgia. i dont find it sad

@jokerpilled2535 2 года назад

Their nostalgia will be Roblox and fortnight

@comettamer 2 года назад

The FYE in my local mall used to be MASSIVE. They had giant sections for music, DVDs and even craptons of anime merchandise. I remember buying so many CDs there and even some anime. That was back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Now the space they used to occupy houses a Sephora, and their shelves are all pop culture stuff, some DVDs and a bit of vinyl.

@italian504 2 года назад

one little addition to the physical media decline with copying CDs. My local mall with the FYE had almost an entire wall dedicated to re writable DVDs and other media so the company did catch on to the copying CD craze of the early 2000's and burning. It may not seem like a big detail but that may be a small reason why they stuck around long enough. Because whoever was in charge was quick to catch onto the blank CD/DVD market. I actually remember it was my source for getting blanks. nowhere else in my area had them outside of a Best buy that was miles away while the mall was like 10 minutes from my home. That same FYE is where i bought my anime DVDs, got some nice music. Every winter i think back to the times i spent with old friends long since gone checking out the Anime section and chatting up nerd stuff, buying it during the winter, heading home to my father's with the giant ass tv downstairs for a day to watch Gungrave, Elfen Lied, The Slayers...you name it. Those were the best winters and times when you had the snow everywhere but the street... That FYE i believe last i checked still exists though it's hemorrhaging big time. It's effectively became another Game Stop or Hot Topic. just a place to get random nerd culture knick knacks.

@robertoXCX 2 года назад

I was a young child when they converted Camelot Music into FYE and I was wildly disappointed when that happened. Camelot had a cool dark almost spooky atmosphere with the lighting and effects they had there. FYE was bright, basic, clean, simple, and had no personality.

@MasterMalrubius 2 года назад

In other words, corporate.

@neonsigns6721 2 года назад

Camelot was the best. They had alot of indie music in ours. This was before the internet was huge. I remember sending cash in the mail to get new albums. Ahh the good old days

@NFSBeast2365 2 года назад

Typical emo 😂

@theluigifan1 2 года назад

There was an f.y.e. in my college town’s mall and my friends and I didn’t really buy physical media music from them, we just liked buying nerd stuff that they had sitting around. (Shirts, plushies, DVDs, manga, you name it) Needless to say, it was a sad day when it eventually closed down but we made sure to go back one last time for its final clearance and grabbed some neat stuff. Felt like the second time I had to say goodbye to a store I frequented and loved, the first being Borders when I was a kid.

@piratestation69 2 года назад

Next up... intelivision...

@jbmp1390 2 года назад

Completely understand where you're coming from and agree with your sentiment. I enjoyed buying music at Fye but I mostly liked finding other merchandise. Obscure t shirts or other apparel from interesting media, plushies, little figurines, posters etc.

@call1800itskat 2 года назад

Omg Borders! I loved Borders. What a sad loss.

@ckfinke7625 2 года назад

@@call1800itskat Yeah! Please upload a video of the decline of Borders!

@theluigifan1 2 года назад

@@Trust-Yourself-1st Borders nurtured my growing manga collection and Diary of a Wimpy Kid obsession :,)

@delmontoon Год назад

Just discovered your videos yesterday and have been enjoying them immensely! Thank you!

@jmorales09 2 года назад

The FYE in my mall appeared there about 3 years ago, i had no idea until now that it was at one point such a major chain. It's seen pretty consistent business, it's always pretty packed whenever i visit. It fills the Hastings sized hole in my heart that appeared around 5 years ago

@matthewsims3528 2 года назад

I was there when the FYE in Rochester NY opened up in the mid 90s. It was MASSIVE. I worked there for about 4 years...music, books, video games, movies, comic books. It had the coffee shop in the middle and an arcade area. It was quite the experience.

@yrly59e 2 года назад

Was that the one in that mall in Victor?

@matthewsims3528 2 года назад

@@yrly59e Yup, Eastview mall.

@TRJ2241987 2 года назад

I remember visiting one of the original FYE stores in New York, definitely massive like a Best Buy and looked way different than what FYE stores would eventually be

@yrly59e 2 года назад

@ghost mall FYE’s problem is a lot of stuff was expensive. When they had close to 1000 stores they could have easily leveraged that buying power (and probably were) but the end consumers really didn’t benefit from it. The pricing at a standalone superstore was always cheaper in this area than the mall stores they still had at that time, no cohesive pricing across the brand.

@matthewsims3528 2 года назад

Yeah, by the time I left working there the arcade and coffee show was completely vacant and emptied. It was slowly becoming less of what it originally was. With the prevalent of online media there was less of a desire for physical media.

@aamiller90 2 года назад

I loved those stores. Not only did they have dvds, but lots of candy, including Reptar bars, cereals from tv shows and animes, shirts, records.

@JOHNSTIER23 2 года назад

They will make a comeback

@BeyondDaX 2 года назад

@@JOHNSTIER23 Maybe a small one but overall, physical media is on a decline world wide

@jeffs.772 Год назад

I worked for FYE for 10 years. When I started it was all about building the sale and relationship with the customer. After 2 years they came out with the vip program instead of the backstage pass and it was downhill from there. They only cared about selling those cards and magazines that people would forget to cancel. On top of that they wanted you to not mention cancel. I was a top seller of add ons in my first 2 years cus the backstage pass was $25 for 1 year no reoccurring fee. After that I was mainly used for management and visual as I could not ethically get behind the new card what so ever. It is sad as I grew up loving that store and it became something else.

@Myllz 2 года назад

One of the chains under Camelot was called The Wall. For a while, we had TWO The Wall stores in our mall, one at each end. It was both bizarre and awesome at the same time.

@mrvanimal 2 года назад

Same here. Mid 90's we had the same setup at our local mall

@joejay4646 2 года назад

Wall to Wall.That's great lol.

@JeffreyPiatt 2 года назад

My mall had one on each floor. The top.floor location was the bigger one and they had a smaller store on ground level.

@ExNihiloComesNothing 2 года назад

Lifetime music guarantee. Man that was the best

@KingRandor82 2 года назад

I should check to see if Alwilk was theirs, too

@AK-47ISTHEWAY 2 года назад

The reason why lots of people stopped going is because they will sign you up for magazine subscriptions. It happened to me without my consent. 8 years ago I went to buy a couple used DVD's and they have my information on file because I had a membership type card. The girl behind the counter asked me if I wanted to subscribe to any magazines and I said no multiple times and she went and did it anyway. Of course I find this out weeks later when all these magazine started getting sent to my house. I canceled my membership and never went back. FYE needs to go bankrupt fast!

@johniii8147 2 года назад

Doubt that had much to do with it. It's just an outdated format now.

@stephenmisener1659 2 года назад

At the FYE at my mall they still push those things. Had a friend who worked there for like 2 weeks and once he found out hed have to literally flat out lie to customers to trick them into buying subscriptions or even enrolling them WITHOUT consent he quit right then and there. Ive never bought anything from them and i never will. I tried buying a funko pop but once they kept asking for all this info i just left it at the counter and walked out.

@GuessTheSongMS 2 года назад

When I worked at Coconuts, the boss seemed more concerned with us pushing those subscriptions than actual sales. There must have been a cash bonus for the store manager with the most people "signed up". These goons would also stand nearby pretending to re-sticker stuff, watching you ringing customers up. They had to ensure you were trying to sell them on the magazines with enough enthusiasm.

@dannydaw59 2 года назад

That seems illegal.

@comickombat8424 2 года назад

Listen man I currently work for FYE and have been working there for a while now and I can tell you right now that the VIP (Backstage pass) or even the Mags are something optional. Yes we are supposed to offer all of our customers to program but WE HAVE to explain to them benefits and of course the $12 after a month. We CANNOT force no one to get signed up for it. Actually the customer has to sign acknowledging that we've explained everything to them before they even get it. So if you are one of those people that never pays attention to what others have to say and just sign everything without reading that's on you man! You have no one else to blame but yourself

@PrettyINCs 2 года назад

The most surprising thing to me is that FYE still exists. I thought they all closed in 2010s. I used to go there for CDs.

@laserdiscphan Год назад

They actually opened a new FYE in one of the malls I frequent in the last year or so. Music and movies are an afterthought of course. It's basically another Hot Topic focusing on pop culture gear, but at least they were able to pivot.

@DubYuhGChoppa 2 года назад

Ngl, this is one of the few channels that genuinely never misses

@xlevix10 2 года назад

I love going into FYE to look around, but nearly everything in there is at least 10-25% more than anywhere else. Hell, they sell those 1 pound Reese Cups for $25 when you can find them for $10 at any other store. The only thing I get from FYE are FYE exclusive Funko Pops, or occasionally they'll have a random item I can't find elsewhere, like The Office hot sauce.

@tigerlord9302 2 года назад

Pretty much what everyone buys there 😢

@SillyMeause 2 года назад

I went last week and they had a Pusheen Cereal for $15 Couldn't find it anywhere else

@jefferypardue7509 2 года назад

@@SillyMeause remember inflation is very high and probably going to get even higher with the current military activities in eastern European and western Russia (USSR)

@cristroman100 2 года назад

@@SillyMeause i think the cereal and coffee were FYE exclusives thus the mark-up

@TheBrandonn 2 года назад

@@jefferypardue7509 Pretty sure fye always had dumbassed prices. Even like, 20 years ago

@cmmolthr 2 года назад

I was a Sam Goody/Musicland kind of guy, then Wherehouse, finally Tower Records, which I fell in love with, wish I had started shopping there sooner...they're supposed to be back as an online retailer...but places like the aforementioned were not just stores, they were -experiences-

@CanesFan88 Год назад

FYE was one of my favorite places to go when it was really at its height in the early 2000's. I loved their selection and the fact that I could sell music and movies back to them for pretty decent prices all things considered was fantastic. I miss that experience.

@shibolinemress8913 2 года назад

I LOVED Camelot Music as a kid! My favourite memory was saving up to buy a very obscure LP and going in there every chance I got to be sure they still had it while I was scrounging my money. I was gutted when I checked shortly before I would have been able to buy it, only to find that it was gone and not likely to come back! But I soon found out that my mum had noticed me ogling it and secretly bought me the last one for Christmas! RIP Mum, I miss you so much! 💜😥🤗🤗

@MattDustyParker 2 года назад

This was a sweet read. Good for you dog.

@shibolinemress8913 2 года назад

@@MattDustyParker 🤗👍

@ncapone87 2 года назад

That was so nice of her! Which record was it?

@shibolinemress8913 2 года назад

@@ncapone87 I don't remember the exact title, but it was traditional Japanese koto and shakuhachi music. Like I said, obscure 😁. I was 13 at the time, and a total Japan nerd. My mom couldn't stand that kind of music, which was why I never dared ask her to buy it for me. That made it all the more special when she bought it secretly to surprise me! 💜

@letitgrow1846 2 года назад

My local FYE closed down years ago. The main thing I remember about them was that they were about twice as expensive for music and movies as the box stores. I'd go there to listen to music and decide what I liked and then go buy it at Best Buy or Target. Their later pop culture merch was fun to check out though.

@TECfan1 2 года назад

Awww I hope this remains open at my local mall (it still is currently in 2022). It's my go-to music stop since I collect CDs and Vinyl. Sure I can order them online but there's just something about going into a store and exploring.

@daboz8753 Год назад

So either the first or second picture of the first few FYE stores, was at Eastview Mall in Rochester, and that was my first exposure to the store. I remember being absolutely BLOWN AWAY about how many cds they had, as well as comics and movies and cassettes…it was insane. The neatest thing about that store was it literally was the size of several smaller stores, and cut through the mall in such a way that you could avoid an ENTIRE HALLWAY in the mall if you wanted to cut through there. It was so awesome…it felt like it lasted a long time but I could see it’s decline, they tried so many things to keep it relevant I mean, it was gut wrenching how hard they were trying and nothing could save that place. I forget when it closed, but when it did a stupid ‘Forever 21’ took its place…then that closed a few years ago. I always hated that store so I couldn’t help but laugh every time I passed the. Vacancy for awhile saying; ‘guess 21 wasn’t really forever.’

@ADAMATION2007 Год назад

I miss the big FYE so much😢It got me started in collecting toys and “retro” figures and such.

@konversion 2 года назад

Oh yeah, I look forward to this one. I worked at two different FYEs back in the early to miss 2000s so I remember their decline. Nothing like continuing to sell CDs for 20 and DVDs for 30+ when Best Buy was only two minutes around the corner selling for a fraction of that

@ChristionGirl45 2 года назад

FYE was always one of my favorite stores to go to whenever I went to the mall, as a kid/teen. And like many stores from the 90s/early 2000s, it is sad to see it coming to an end, just like so many other stores I grew up going too such as K-Mart, Toys R Us, Blockbuster, etc! 😞😟

@tookay4ever 2 года назад

This is one of my favorite channels now, just so interesting. The voice over work is good too. Used to be 7 FYEs near me when I was 7 then when I turned 20 and ever since there is only 1 in my whole state

@lauradaly8020 2 года назад

I spent a lot of money in places like WaldenBook and B.Dalton The Bookseller, as well as Camelot Music and Spec's Records and Tapes , which was a regional chain in South Florida, which was a place that I lived when I bought records and tapes. I also did shop in Musicland and Peaches Records and Tapes, which was a free-standing store in Fort Lauderdale.

@AlexMoffatPrime 2 года назад

As a kid Incredible Universe was, well, incredible! They had a gaming area where I could play all the fancy stuff I'd never own like 3DO, Saturn, along with the standards like SNES and Playstation. Wasn't the same when Fry's bought them, but still great for its own reasons at the time. Fry's story is a sad one too in the end.

@TVC_Studios 2 года назад

I always went to FYE to look for TV seasons and anime sets I couldn't find at places like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Plus some of the prices were often cheaper than the internet. I honestly miss going to this shop, I haven't been there since I left New York.

@LTNye 2 года назад

I use to work at an FYI in college. It wasn't supposed to be long-term, but I enjoyed the job and the people I worked with. That'll always be my memory of the company. Today that same store is a jewelry store at the center corner of the mall.

@chinapat6708 2 года назад

Man, FYE was my favorite store in the mall. I still go there sometimes for Marvel Legends or tpb comics. I do miss the days of going through all the new CD's & DVD's when they came out. Great vid!

@Train2589 2 года назад

The FYE I went to was an actual stand alone store. It lasted for years but sometime during the pandemic it finally closed last year as I drove by for the first time in a while and noticed it was empty. Always loved going there if there was some kind of music I wanted to have a physical copy of, but at the same time I was wondering how long they'd live as it was almost always empty

@wwb16 2 года назад

there is an FYE still operating at a mall like 15 minutes away from me, and while I am surprised its still standing I suppose its nice to have one still around because despite their overpriced stuff. they do have a very good selection

@sarahsims6164 2 года назад

Same, the Galleria in Henderson still has one as well; then again, it's been a while since I've been there.

@TNBCvampchic 2 года назад

Just before FYE closed at my local mall, I heard from a friend that you could get really good deals on kpop albums at FYE! So I hauled over there, only to find out their entire collection was wiped. Oh well, I'll look online. I did... and then maybe a year or two later, a new FYE opened up a couple doors down from the old location! I love browsing through the small kpop selection, and I even found my favorite group that nobody seems to carry. When I mentioned how excited I was to the cashier he was like, "Well isn't a music store so..." every time I pass, they're busy, so I hope they're doing well. I definitely don't mind the rebrand, especially if it helps them to stick around. I also remember the headphones!

@pinbackcat 2 года назад

I have a lot of fond memories of living down the street from a Warehouse my whole childhood, which then turned into an FYE in 2006. In high school, it was one of the perfect hangout spots, complete with a Rite-Aid next door where we could get an ice cream cone before walking back home with our dvd and cd spoils. Good days!

@moneysins 2 года назад

If it’s another “private equity destroyed the company with debt” story I’m going to flip…

@AaronOfMpls 2 года назад

Nope, it's more like Blockbuster, in that their main business became obsolete.

@moneysins 2 года назад

@Josh Turner I might make a video on this, but that really isn’t how PE works. Private equity firms start by looking at how much money they need to deploy, then stars going down the list of companies to find one that matches their needs. Once found, they ensure the deal closes by paying a premium to existing shareholders, resulting in frequently overpaying. The purchase is heavily financed by debt, which is taken on not by the private equity firm, but put on the company’s books, increasing debt load. To ensure a fast return, they often force the company to take out more loans and pay the loan proceeds to themselves as a “special dividend”, further driving the company into debt. When all is said and done, the private equity firm has turned a normal company into a massively indebted one, and paid themselves handsomely. Now, they start working on “fixing” the business, or breaking it up to be sold in order to “help” the company pay back down all the debt they forced onto it in the first place. In an ideal world, private equity works as you described, making money by fixing broke companies, and that happens 1/10 times; unfortunately, trading a company’s long term future is a much easier way for PE to get paid, and with the “green is green” mentality, this is the predominant style of the industry. Source: I work in PE

@junrosamura645 2 года назад

@@moneysins So basically, the world doesnt need PE? If a company can't keep itself afloat then it was failed business model in the first place.

@halnwheels 2 года назад

@Josh Turner There's no doubt in my mind that private equity firms are invited by companies in trouble. The owner wants to get out and the PE firms sell them on how they will invest in the business and they will protect the employees. Then they rape and pillage. Often, the companies fold because the sale is debt funded. The real crime is that this debt loading is even allowed. It's a disgusting practice and the employees are the ones who really suffer.

@the_mimic_octopus 8 месяцев назад

I am forever grateful to FYE. I used to DJ weddings many years ago. In reviewing the music a few hours before the reception I realized that I somehow missed the song requested for the mother-son dance. I drove to FYE and told the worker there about the song I needed. She was super friendly. They actually didn't have it in their store! So she called her boyfriend and they tracked down how to get the song. It was a very obscure song that was only for sale from the artist's website. I was able to purchase and download the song in time for the dance. So all thanks to that particular store's tremendous customer service everything went smooth. With streaming and stuff now it likely wouldn't be an issue, but at the time they were my only hope!

@jimtennings5453 2 года назад

Oh man… I worked at an fye for 5 years as a manager. Those listening and viewing stations were the bane of our existence. No one put back in their CDs after listening to 30 seconds of each song on an album. At the end of the night we would have literally 50 or more CDs to put back on a regular day, and hundreds on a weekend day. If you’ve ever seen the movie Empire records you might think working in a music store might be kind of fun, it definitely was not.

@chelseaward1244 2 года назад

SAME, the day they took those LVS stations out at my store was one of the best days.

@adrianarias-hernandez7472 2 года назад

I got an FYE in my town and actually did my Christmas Shopping there. They're admittedly not ZIA Records but FYE still has a certain charm to it

@JL-sm6cg 2 года назад

You obviously live in Arizona or Las Vegas if you're mentioning ZIA! (aka The greatest record store on the planet!)

@jasonzed36 2 года назад

I loved the FYE at my local mall. I bought my first game council from them, and would get the marble soda when ever me and my friends would go up to the mall to hang out. hopefully with this resurgence of records, and retro games, stores like FYE can find a place again in todays market.

@Wintersoldier73 2 года назад

I used to shop at that first FYE in Trumbull, CT. I worked at The Dream Factory, a comic book store located in the same mall & it was fun to just go over to FYE & walk through that huge store. Last time I shopped there must've been in 2014 or 2015. The store had moved to a different location in the mall, then moved back to the original location with a much smaller foot print. Good times no more.

@zata1197 2 года назад

The FYE in my mall used to be massive, Like the size of an anchor but on the inside of the mall. In more recent years they kicked them into a small store and put a forever 21 where it used to be. I still go in from time to time to buy vinyl, they actually have pretty decent prices compared to other stores, I wish I could see that giant store again though, it was much cooler

@Prymary2 2 года назад

Dang. I think we're from the same area

@Prymary2 2 года назад

I bought my first punk records at that spot. Sad to see it get reduced like that

@RiderLeangle2 2 года назад

You wouldn't happen to be from Maryland would you? That sounds a lot like what happened to the FYE in Arundel Mills Mall

@Prymary2 2 года назад

@@RiderLeangle2 I am!

@RiderLeangle2 2 года назад

@@Prymary2 Wow, what a small world it is that all 3 of us commenting are thinking of the exact same FYE (Well, if the first poster isn't that's a hell of a coincidence that it's the exact same story and even has the exact same replacement in the spot it was in)

@justjon_6844 2 года назад

I remember going to one when I was a child and being blown away with the selection of movies and shows

@StarlightEater 2 года назад

In an outta the algorithm my boy, good to see you back little brother 🏴‍☠️💪

@moneysins 2 года назад

Going on an acquisition binge FIRST and trying to make it work second has rarely worked out

@lexsombersunrise 2 года назад

We have an FYE still going pretty strong in our town mall! It's honestly kind of amazing, because they sell a lot of anime merch that you wouldn't otherwise find in other stores. It's not too expensive, either.

@Enraged_Cantaloupe 2 года назад

The fye where I live is really expensive and you never see anyone in there

@lexsombersunrise 2 года назад

@@Enraged_Cantaloupe Dang, the one here is usually pretty busy. Their online store isn't bad, either imo

@yrly59e 2 года назад

No mix and burn kiosks? Our FYEs here had mix and burn kiosks where you could compile your own CD or load mp3s to supported devices.

@MarioTheLiopleurodon 2 года назад

I remember walking into a FYE store in a mall in the early 2000s with my mom. I got some Godzilla toys and Bionicle sets there (over the course of many months and trips to this mall). There was some pretty cool stuff, I honestly wish I could go back and just chill there for a bit (without fucking up the timeline or anything lol)

@Maw0 2 года назад

That store had everything! Movies, books, records, and my favourite thing... Funko Pops!

@Toontastic_Juju 2 года назад

It’s very sad that FYE has been declining for so many years. It’s one of my favorite stores when I visit malls, they had a great variety of music and movies. I remember owning a Blu Ray of The Cat in the Hat movie there. I hope they continue to live on.

@BehindTheMustche 2 года назад

They actually just opened one in my nearby mall. They’re geek merch oriented and I actually get a decent amount of stuff there.

@TRJ2241987 2 года назад

I still go to the FYE in Nashua, NH quite a bit. Still a good store. But I miss seeing the strip mall style FYE/Coconuts/Strawberries stores

@zeldazackman 2 года назад

Why I stopped bothering to go into them to check stuff out was their inventory rarely ever rotated and the quality of mech that they stocked kept dropping while they raised their prices on things, their music selection turned into basically "Nothing but dubstep" in 2011 and cds that the month prior going for $20 were now on "clearance" for $25 with a note that it was 'marked down' from $35. That and if you preordered something in high demand at the time like a collector's edition of gears of war 3 or a halo reach collectors edition bundle, you'd get it and discover that pieces of the collection were missing with the box being clearly ripped open, and that was especially even more disappointing being a broke af teen that saved up for those. For the listening stations, I remember that tower records did have a bunch of those in the 90s which were amazing but also kind of nasty just with how many people used them.

@packers12to80 2 года назад

The music stations that allowed u to listen to songs on a cd before buying were amazing

@sor3999 2 года назад

I remember FYEs showing up in malls around the time when Suncoasts and other stores like that were disappearing. I clearly remember thinking to myself "why would anyone open a new chain of physical media stores?" And I thought maybe they were making a comeback. And thanks to this video it turns out they aren't new, just existing stores rebranding to FYE. The appearance of FYEs was basically the death throes of the industry.

@ThaKoalaKing 2 года назад

I don't know if this was something they did all around the US, but our FYE stores have always sold their stuff at MSRP. That was insane to do 15 years ago, and yet they still do it to this day.. Who's buying a movie for $40 there when you walk down the way in the mall to a Target where it's only $20?

@Yousnoob 2 года назад

For real. Never understood that.

@phantomblade89 2 года назад

Yup, same witn Anime. A series could be 70 dollars at FYE and might be 30 dollars cheaper at target or walmart.

@foxthepassion Год назад

I was literally known as the mallrat who was always at the local F.Y.E. for 10 years. Every weekend that's where I would hang out. Back before he quit, I was best friends with the main manager and most of the people who worked there. Made some of the best memories at that place.

@jacobsavage495 2 года назад

I worked for Suncoast, and it was like my dream job. As soon as the purchase to FYE went through they closed all the Suncoast stores in our whole region. . . And I have always avoided FYE after that.

@aidenharris4343 2 года назад

YES! I remember them being a big part of the mall when I was young, I can still remember the name of the chain we had before FYE bought them out: “The Wall” they had these cool Blue and White Stickers on the Cassette and CD Cases they sold, showing that it was a product sold by The Wall exclusively; and it was so cool. I remember FYE replaced them in our local malls starting around 2002-2003 and they really began to decline not long after that-I’d say about six years later and business wasn’t so hot for FYE. Last I saw the last FYE store at the mall in 2017, they’d completely changed their format; it feels like they’re trying to emulate Box Lunch, but, it really wasn’t working for them. It’s sad to see. ETA: Based on your suggestion to research the local chains and see what happened, The Wall was part of Camelot Music, so they'd absorbed the chain outright and then went ahead with rebranding around 20 years ago...And YIKES! what a thought that puts some things in perspective to me: How long ago that was now.

@Patriotofliberty69 2 года назад

I loved our FYE store. I spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars there. We had the largest heavy metal section in the state. In a town with the population size of mine that was a big deal.

@derekkizzee7940 2 года назад

I bought plenty of music cd's and dvd's from F.Y.E. at the mall I went to whenever I had the chance to, by 2008 it was gone from the mall. I truly miss that store very much, have nothing but good memories of shopping and listening to the latest cd in F.Y.E.

@The90sGamingGuy 2 года назад

Back when i went to malls i would go into Sam Goodie, FYE, and Virgin Store to shop for cds or just browse through the shelves back in 1999 to about 2006. Great video.

@torquemada3332 2 года назад

Shoutout to the FYE located at the Burnsville Center in Minnesota. Gone but definitely not forgotten

@neyoid 2 года назад

Pretty sure the one in Maplewood is still open

@torquemada3332 2 года назад

@@neyoid I overheard plans for opening one in Edina near the 'dale

@thecoolerjessica6780 2 года назад

The one thing I always love about this series is I always learn about all these companies that I either A: never seen in my life or B: have heard of them but haven't seen then in a long time. This series is just so good I love it!!

@mikebliss3153 2 года назад

Used to work as an Assistant Manager for FYE back in 2016/2017. Real interesting hearing what happened to the company since I left.

@shininginshadows 2 года назад

I worked in one of these stores almost 20 years ago on the management team. One thing I think this video misses is how much of a disconnect there was between corporate and the customer. An example of this how much corporate overestimated customers brand loyalty. They didn't understand that the recent people shop there was because they had functionally cornered the market, and they started rolling out initiatives like their "backstage pass" loyalty program that you had to pay $25 a year for. To their credit, embracing the used CD, DVD, and video game market was literally a way of printing money. However, they never invested enough in selling hardware (opting instead for Coby brand everything) and by the time they were actually looking at changing their business model that ship had already sailed

@TheAlexSchmidt 2 года назад

HMV is an interesting history in and of itself, it stands for "His Master's Voice" after the famous painting of the dog listening to the record player used by Victor records (bought by RCA in the US, and whose Japanese subsidiary became JVC)

@battlemineguy 2 года назад

There’s still an FYE, with the blue logo and everything, in our town’s mall. Though they really only sell nerd stuff, especially anime and manga merchandise. But despite it not selling any CDs and barely any movies, it’s pretty much one of the cool places to go to in the mall, and me and my friends still hang out in there every time we go to the mall. Was under the impression that they were failing based on their change of the things they sold, but had no idea it was this bad. Great video!

@tylerriley2587 Год назад

When I went to Arundel mills mall growing up, there was the FYE store and I enjoyed going in there and looking at the items a lot

@mannygarcia4070 2 года назад

I worked in the movies dept of the 2 story Sam Goody in Horton Plaza here in San Diego, 2008 to 2011 just before they closed. Loved it. We still have an FYE in our local mall.

@CoolGuyZool129 2 года назад

I remember only buying anime DVDs the few times I visited my local mall's FYE. The last time I bought something before they closed was around August 2017.

@tetsuoshima2314 2 года назад

One near me was massive and had these crazy 3d audio listening stations, a clear plastic dome with speakers inside that hung from the ceiling about a foot or so above your head that you could only hear when you were directly underneath it. I believe they were right outside the store to attract customers from mall foot traffic.

@bizzyb0t 2 года назад

Those 3d audio stations were designed and built by Bose. The Bose company leased those demo stations out to fye.

@Reczack 2 года назад

I'm old enough to remember going to music stores with my dad and listening to CDs with him when I was 6 or 7, but young enough to know I didn't return to one after that.