Bad corporate vibes are about to silence a downtown music store.
Vibes Music, 911 Mass., is scheduled to close for good at 9 p.m. Saturday, ending its run in one of the busiest stretches of the central business district.
Vibes Music, 911 Mass., will be closing its doors Saturday, ending its run in downtown Lawrence.
The store is one of three remaining college-oriented stores owned by National Record Mart, which has 153 shops across the country.
The concept heavy on alternative, hip-hop and other titles aimed for 18- to 22-year-olds didn't sell in Lawrence.
"We're owned by a corporation," said Doug VanHorn, district manager for Pittsburgh-based National Record Mart. "We've gotten a bad name as a corporation. It's a college town: 'Damn the man.' "
The Vibes demise comes as other national chains continue to open and thrive in the downtown area. Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters and Talbots operate retail shops at the north end of downtown, in the 600 blocks of Massachusetts and Vermont streets. Borders Books Music & Cafe sells books, music and coffee at 700 N.H.
Vibes' sales dropped during the past few years, VanHorn said, stung by intense competition in the downtown area. Among the other downtown retailers of compact discs and other recorded music are Kief's Downtown Music, 823 Mass.; 7th Heaven, 1000 Mass.; and Love Garden Sounds, 936 1/2 Mass.
"It's hard to tailor a store to do what everybody wants," said VanHorn, who described Vibes as "a corporate store that tried to look and act independent."
Vibes has cut its staff from a half dozen people to two, who will be out of work.
Tim Fritzel, president of Gene Fritzel Construction and an owner of buildings that are home to several national retailers in downtown, described the Vibes exit as "interesting," considering the complaints he's heard about chains squeezing independent stores from the area.
"Now you have a national chain fleeing the market," he said. "It all boils down to you still have local people running the stores for those national chains. Those local people either are doing a good job or not.
"It's all about being smart about how you do business and you can be smart nationally, regionally or locally."
National Record Mart's stores are operated as Vibes and five other nameplates: Waves, Music X, Tempo, House of Music and Music Oasis.
Vibes' inventory in Lawrence will be transferred to other National Record Mart stores, VanHorn said. Most will go to Waves at the Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe.
Waves is marketed to the broad, "mall-based" crowd of shoppers ranging in age from 11 to 55, VanHorn said.
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