Botswana Affected As Musica Closes Shop
Staff Writer | Monday February 1, 2021 15:14
The music and device store has advised that it will close its doors at the end of May. The owner, retail group Clicks Group said Musica was unable to keep up with the rise of digital streaming and online entertainment.
Clicks announced that they decided to close Musica due to the shift to digital consumption of music, movies and games, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The inevitable demise of the brand has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a rapid decline in foot traffic in destination malls where Musica stores are typically located,” Clicks Group revealed in a statement. The Group added that Musica has been operating in a declining market for several years owing to the structural shift globally to the digital consumption of music, movies and games from the traditional physical format. Consequently, Musica is selling its stock at large discounts in preparation to shut doors permanently at the end of May. On their Facebook page, Musica posted a web link to their closing down sale. Some large swathes of Musica’s DVD and CDs collections are currently selling for P20 until March 3, 2020. In South Afric,a Musica has already closed some of its stores since the start of the 2021 financial year and is now trading from remaining outlets.
The remaining stores will be closed as leases expire over the next four months. Clicks have owned the brand since 1992. In more recent years, Musica has tried to shift from selling CDs and DVDs to more general electronics and entertainment. In its glory days, Musica was the go-to of places to get all the latest hits, with music fans spending hours at its listening stations deciding which CD to buy. By the early 2000s, Musica Megastores which was launched after Clicks’ acquisition of music retailer CD Warehouse in 1997 - sold over 30,000 local and international CD and DVD titles. But the rise of digital streaming of music, movies, TV and gaming killed the demand for physical CDs and DVDs. In recent years, Musica tried to adapt its business by selling more electronic products, as well as headphones and gaming gear. In 2020, before the start of the pandemic, Musica had more than 150 stores, which declined to only 59 by the start of 2021. From June, there will be none.