Home Entertainment Musica, that shop you used to buy CDs and DVDs from, is being shut down nationwide

Musica, that shop you used to buy CDs and DVDs from, is being shut down nationwide

1 min read
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Musica

Remember when you wanted the latest and hottest albums, and you had to go obtain a selection of music from a physical location? Me neither, but apparently that’s a thing that happened in an dark age that predates Napster or that dodgy dude at your high school who carried around a scratched CD with several hundred songs on it.

Musica used to be the place to grab the latest album or a fresh addition to your Blu-ray collection. Even with more consumers adopting digital distribution, it still served a market that enjoyed physical ownership of content, and even branched out into other forms of merchandising. Vinyl records, headsets, video game consoles, if it had any tangible relation to music, Musica stocked it.

Those days are over.

Clicks Group, Musica’s parent, announced today that the music retailer’s stores will be shut down countrywide. “Shareholders are advised that the board of directors has taken a decision to close the group’s heritage entertainment brand Musica with effect from 31 May 2021,” Clicks said in a press statement on the JSE.

The inevitable demise of the brand has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the rapid decline in foot traffic in destination malls where Musica stores are typically located.

It’s the end of an era, hastened by the current pandemic and closing the book on a local brand that was a favourite haunt for many mallrats when they were growing up. Being able to preview newly released albums, grabbing one of the cool McFarlane collectibles when they were briefly stocked or even picking up a few extra music band badges from the front desk, will soon be distant memories as 2021 rolls on.

Last Updated: January 28, 2021

8 Comments

  1. Man, that stings. This place has been part of our lives for a long time. Can’t say thanks enough to them, the guys over at northgate went out of their way to help me secure a PS5. I actually feel so bad for them.

    Reply

  2. D4m@E

    January 28, 2021 at 04:00

    Man, use to go to Top CD (yes, I’m that old) and then Musica all the time to go listen for some new metal albums.
    End of an era right there. Ouch.

    Reply

  3. Iskape

    January 28, 2021 at 04:15

    A sad ending to an era. That’s tech progress I guess. Radio seems to be the only thing that has held on through so many ups and downs.

    Reply

    • HvR

      January 28, 2021 at 05:27

      Mostly I think since it adapted, adapt or die.

      Reply

  4. HvR

    January 28, 2021 at 05:39

    Am I the only one not sad, hated CD shops. Fooking endless flipping through cases because it was never organized properly; trying to communicate with the staff that was always listening to music around the counter and not really interested in helping you; then spelling out the specific band and album I was looking for and preordering it at a ridiculous 500% premium because it was not the latest Kurt Darren, Spice Girls or Leon Schuster album and then to find out weeks later it was never ordered.

    World of music opened up for me in the 90’s with a friend giving me an ugly navy and yellow music player called Winamp and couple of dozen mp3, then Napster and for the albums I got to have there was Take2 where you could order directly from the UK and US for 1/4 the price that Musica would charge.

    Reply

  5. BurninZ

    January 28, 2021 at 07:36

    A sad end no doubt, but lets be honest here. local music stores in general never even attempted to evolve with the times. There is no local music store doing anything digital or employing a forward thinking approach to the traditional old school business model. Sad for all the people losing their jobs, not sad for the brand / business name fading away.

    Reply

    • tno2007

      January 28, 2021 at 10:41

      True. They could have started selling online. That would have been a big win because they not only sell CD’s, but DVD’s, Audio equipment, Gaming consoles and games. It was a red flag to see that Takealot would sell CD’s online but not them.

      Reply

      • HvR

        January 29, 2021 at 02:39

        That was actually Take2 (who would later become TakeALot) whole sales model at the start, they pretty much only sold CDs, books and smaller audio related items.

        I specifically remember buying Monster high quality audio cable for my speakers for less R100 a roll, at the time the price at Musica and Audio Vision was over R350 for the same roll.

        Reply

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