Zavvi Entertainment Group Ltd
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Entertainment Retail |
| Predecessor | Virgin Megastores |
| Successor | Zavvi.com |
| Founded | September 2007 |
| Founder | Simon Douglas |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
130 at peak |
|
Area served
|
UK and Ireland |
|
Key people
|
Simon Douglas, Chief Executive Officer Steve Peckham, Chief Finance Officer Mark Noonan, Commercial Director |
| Products |
Books Consoles BD DVD Games T-Shirts |
| Revenue | £441.4 million (2008) |
| £108.8 million (2008) | |
| Profit | £55.4 million (2008) |
|
Number of employees
|
3,415 (2008) |
| Parent | Zavvi Entertainment Group |
| Divisions | Zavvi Group Limited Zavvi Limited Zavvi Retail Limited V Space Limited Vshop Retail Services Limited Piccadilly Entertainment Store Limited VR Services Limited Vretail Services Limited Ablegrand Limited Ablegrand (2) Limited Zavvi Online (Guernsey) Limited Zavvi Entertainment (Ireland) Limited Zavvi Retail (Ireland) Limited Zavvi (Ireland) Limited Harlandic Limited |
| Website | www |
Zavvi was an entertainment retail chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, originally Virgin Megastores. Zavvi was formed in September 2007 when a management buy-out team purchased the company from Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
It was the UK's largest independent entertainment retailer before being placed in administration on 24 December 2008. Store closures took place from January 2009, with the last to cease trading on 20 February. HMV purchased 19 Zavvi stores to be merged into the HMV chain. Former managing director Simon Douglas and business partner Les Whitfield purchased five of the stores to form Head Entertainment, all of which eventually closed in early 2009 after less than a year of trading.
On 2 March 2009, The Hut Group purchased the rights to the Zavvi brand online, and relaunched the Zavvi website with an increased range.
Richard Branson started his first Virgin store on London's Oxford Street in 1971. In 1979 the company opened its first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the chain grew, most notably through its merger with the Our Price chain whilst under the ownership of WH Smith. Virgin Megastores had become an international franchise as part of the Virgin Group but during the early to mid-2000s, the Virgin Group decided to sell off most of its Virgin Megastores to various companies, including the French stores to the Lagardere Group and the American stores to Related Companies.
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