FYE: The Last Mall Record Store Chain | Retail Archaeology

In the episode we take a look at FYE, the last big mall record store chain. We also discuss Trans World Entertainment, the parent company of FYE.

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[josh]

I'm old enough to remember when my local mall had like 4 music stores (including an FYE) that was when cd's were like 20 dollars each.

[MrMario]

Going through the site on the Wayback Machine was such a treat.

[Donde_Lieta]

A couple of months ago, me and a friend got rally drunk at a bar inside the mall and went shopping afterwards cause we couldn’t drive home. We went into FYE and got matching rugrats shirts for $5. That’s about my only distinct memory there lol

[JsBluRays]

They opened up a brand new FYE store in my city just a few years ago, which was an incredibly surprising addition considering that these stores seem to be closing more often than opening.

[tnbspotter]

I used to go to Warehouse and Tower Records back in the 90's. Then came mp3s and all music was magically free.

[jessical.dragonetti]

My husband & I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and now we always have your videos playing in the background! 😁😂😊👍🏻👌💙💚 We're both in our 40's so hanging out at the local malls was part of our youth culture back in the 80's & 90's.

[Lameashellcosplay]

I have two FYE's near me and they're both fairly popular, I get a lot of pop culture items there! Its a pretty good store and is sorta a less edgy hot topic at this point.

[Dsmaxwannabe]

I love your videos, they are relaxing to watch when I get home from work. I usually turn it on the tv when im kicking back on the couch. Love the nostalgia (I was a 90s kid)

[Anime_Andrew]

I love FYE. I love how they blended music, movies, and pop culture together and still managed to thrive - despite heavy competition with the internet

[indisible]

I only just turned 17 so I can’t say much about the history and how it’s aged, but fye is always one of my first stops when I arrive at our mall cause I can always find the music there that I can’t find in any other store around. The fact that I didn’t even realize it was a record store is pretty sad. I swear the Barnes and Noble has more records than fye, and 97% of b&n is just books. They have a healthy stock of cds at my location but I think the giant wall of pop figures is definitely too much. It sounds like the location I go to caters a little bit more to music people than other locations, but it’s a red flag when the collectibles and toys start to balance out with the music.

[collin]

The first location you looked at looks almost identical to my local FYE. I've only been in there maybe once or twice and in the very back corner of the store I saw the sign labels CD's. The company seems to be putting way less emphasis on CD's but there is actually a decent sized market for them and I feel they should be capitalizing on that. The rest of my local store is just T-shirts, Pop figures and movie souvenirs. Great video, keep up the good work :)

[edalder]

I worked at Tower Records for 5 years and that 2002 page from Sam Goody was when I worked at Tower. Wow.

[fireroy]

Man, CDs are dying.
They don't sell CDs at my local best buy anymore.
Good video as always

[jw]

Used to work at an On Cue store back in the day-that was owned by MediaPlay that also owned a Sam Goody. Our store went from an On Cue to a Sam Goody to an FYE to closed.

[masterofthemash]

I thought fye was already gone. Always liked this store

[arbutuswatcher]

As a kid, remember shopping at a local record store called "Apple Tree Records." They had some of the more popular singles releases on small records - 45 rpm I believe. I think I bought Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" on 45, back in the day (1982). In later years, I frequented the likes of Musicland for cassettes & records. Eventually, they evolved into Sam Goody, before they bit the dust in this part of the country.


Media Play was another great place to shop, for music & videos. I bought the "Back to the Future Trilogy", when it was first released on VHS, from Media Play. Borders – a retailer known as the ‘media of all things’ store, was a more recent casualty, of the war on brick & mortar business. Now, these stores are all but a distant memory.

[laurenashley]

Another great video! I used to work next to one of few FYE’s a while back and it was always so, so empty. The merch was always really cool but it was definitely a ghost town in there. Thanks for all the awesome content!

[czv]

6:09 Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVD collection on top!

[eyeofthescar]

I was a manager for ten years. They are mo longer owned by Transworld but by a Canadian company. They still have some stores in the US.

[malachi]

I love fye they sell up to date toys movies and cds it’s always the first place I go when I hit the mall