Sam Goody

Sam "Goody" Gutowitz (1904–1991) of New York City opened a small record store on New York's 9th Avenue shortly after the advent of vinyl long-playing records in the late 1940s. Although he did some retail business from his main store on 49th Street, most of his volume was in mail-order sales at discount prices, of which he was a pioneer. He became something of a folk hero among penniless college students as the first successful large-scale LP discounter.{{cite news |url=http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/the-story-of-sam-gutowitz |title=The Story of Sam Gutowitz |magazine=No Depression |date=December 15, 2011 |first=Easy |last=Ed}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/13/business/at-85-sam-goody-longs-for-a-new-business.html |title=At 85, Sam Goody Longs For a New Business |newspaper=New York Times |date=June 13, 1988 |page=D2 |first=Isadore |last=Barmash |id={{ProQuest|110550230}}}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/29/archives/the-origins-of-sam-goody-inc-capitalized-on-the-lp-record-29-stores.html |title=The Origins of Sam Goody Inc.: Capitalized on the LP Record 29 Stores in Chain |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 29, 1980 |page=B4 |first=N.R. |last=Kleinfield |id={{ProQuest|121059745}}}}

Later, the Sam Goody name was applied to a chain of record stores established in 1951 by Gutowitz. In 1959, a group of creditors took over the company to collect $2.4 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=2400000|start_year=1959}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in debts.{{cite magazine|title=Hazards of Disk Discount Biz; Bigtime Sam Goody Operation Taken Over By Creditor Group|magazine=Variety |date=February 25, 1959|page=45|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety213-1959-02#page/n268/mode/1up|access-date=July 4, 2019|via=Archive.org}} File:Sam Goody logo (c. 1940s-1980s).svg In 1978, the company was acquired by the American Can Company (later renamed Primerica), the owners of Minneapolis-based Musicland,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/14/archives/american-can-plans-to-buy-sam-goody-american-can-plans-to-buy-sam.html |url-access=subscription |title=American Can Plans To Buy Sam Goody |newspaper=New York Times |date=December 14, 1977 |pages=D1, D7 |first=Isadore |last=Barmash |id={{ProQuest|123383691}}}} Goody's rival.{{cite news |url=http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/SAM-minyanville-TWMC-mall-goody/6/19/2009/id/23037 |title=Mall Brands: Sam Goody |website=Minyanville |date=June 19, 2009 |first=Mike |last=Schuster}} Sam Goody continued to grow through both acquisitions and organic growth, including the launch of its website. The stores averaged {{convert|4600|sqft|m2}} but varied in size from 1000 to {{convert|30000|sqft|m2}}.{{cite web |url=http://shop.samgoody.com/site/help/aboutus.jsp |title=2002 snapshot of Musicland website archived at Archive.org |publisher=Sam Goody |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021209024405/http://shop.samgoody.com/site/help/aboutus.jsp |archive-date=December 9, 2002 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} The Musicland Group was once the largest music retailer in the country, operating at its peak more than 1300 stores, over 800 of them Sam Goodys, and earning over $2 billion in annual revenue.

In 1986, Sam Goody's corporate parent Musicland purchased the then just recently purchased 34-store Southern California-based Licorice Pizza chain and 26 other record stores for $13 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=13000000|start_year=1986}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) from Record Bar.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-23-fi-1244-story.html |title=Licorice Pizza Chain Will Be Sold to American Can Unit |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 23, 1986 |first=Denise |last=Gellene}} The Licorice Pizza stores were rebranded Sam Goody the following year.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-29-ca-835-story.html |title=Pop Eye |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 29, 1987 |first=Patrick |last=Goldstein |quote=And a fond farewell to Licorice Pizza, the popular Southland music and video stores which will undergo a name change at the end of the month as part of a corporate consolidation by new parent company, Musicland Group, Minneapolis. The chain has renamed its 35 area Licorice Pizza stores, which will now be called Sam Goody Music & Video.}}

Best Buy attempted to diversify its retail holdings by purchasing Musicland in 2001, only to sell it two years later.{{cite news |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2003/06/16/daily1.html |title=Best Buy sells Musicland |work=Milwaukee Business Journal |date=June 16, 2003 |author=}} In 2002, Best Buy decided to consolidate some of the acquired stores by converting On Cue stores to the Sam Goody brand.{{cite news |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2002/05/13/story7.html?page=all |title=On Cue brand will become Sam Goody |work=Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal |date=May 12, 2002 |first=Andrew |last=Tellijohn}}

In March 2006, Trans World Entertainment, which had been acquiring their competitors for several years, announced the purchase of 400 Sam Goody and Suncoast stores. Trans World kept 345 of the stores open and closed 55. In late 2006, Trans World Entertainment Corp. began changing the names of mall-based Sam Goody stores to f.y.e., the company's signature retail store. Trans World retained the Suncoast Motion Picture Co. name on about 170 stores.{{cite news |url=http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2006/02/20/daily6.html |title=Trans World set to buy struggling Musicland |newspaper=Business Review |date=February 21, 2006 |author=}}

File:Sam Goody Floor Logo.jpg, July 2014]]

Trans World has announced their intention to focus on the f.y.e. brand and convert all Sam Goody stores to f.y.e stores in the future. By February 2009, Trans World had removed the Sam Goody brand from its corporate website.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209211116/http://samgoody.com/ |archive-date=February 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |url=http://samgoody.com/ |title=February 9, 2009 Internet Archive snapshot of samgoody.com website}} They kept a large store in San Diego branded Sam Goody due to the cost of changing the signs until late 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/12/sam-goody-store-close-last-one/ |title=Sam Goody store to close (the last one!): Most of the chain's stores were converted to F.Y.E. brand |newspaper=San Diego Union-Tribune |date=September 12, 2012 |first=Tanya |last=Mannes}}

By late 2015, Transworld had a fully operational Sam Goody in the newly renovated Centre of Tallahassee in Tallahassee, Florida.{{cite news |title=Tallahassee Mall: Longtime customers help mall businesses survive |url=http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2015/03/06/mall-museum/24447573/ |newspaper=Tallahassee Democrat |access-date=December 24, 2015 |date= March 6, 2015 |first=TaMaryn |last=Waters}} The last recorded instance of this store was in an Internet Archive snapshot of the Centre of Tallahassee website from April 4, 2016,{{cite web |url=http://thecentreoftallahassee.com/directory/categories/1-shopping-dining#s |title=Shopping & Dining |website=Centre of Tallahassee |date= |author= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404121315/http://thecentreoftallahassee.com/directory/categories/1-shopping-dining#s |archive-date=April 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}} only to disappear by April 30.{{cite web |url=http://thecentreoftallahassee.com/directory/categories/1-shopping-dining#s |title=Shopping & Dining |website=Centre of Tallahassee |date= |author= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430150714/http://thecentreoftallahassee.com/directory/categories/1-shopping-dining#s |archive-date=April 30, 2016 |url-status=dead}}

In February 2020, Transworld sold Sam Goody's parent FYE to Sunrise Records for approximately $11 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=11000000|start_year=2020}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{cite news |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8551557/sunrise-records-fye-trans-world-entertainment |title=Sunrise Records Completes FYE Acquisition From Trans World Entertainment |magazine=Billboard |date=February 20, 2020 |first=Ed |last=Christman}}

In 1990, Sam Goody entered the UK market and established a presence in a number of English towns, such as Milton Keynes, Weston-super-Mare and Stockport, with a "deep catalogue" retail format that included a large amount of "recurrent" music albums and videos. However, whereas this format might have been successful in the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s, in the United Kingdom it came under pressure from a range of price led and established retailers. In 1999, Sam Goody had exited from UK marketplace, selling its stores off to rival retailers.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gw4EAAAAMBAJ&q=Sam+Goody+exits+uk+1999&pg=PA12 |title=Musicland Pulls Out Of U.K. |magazine=Billboard |date=February 13, 1999 |first1=Tom |last1=Ferguson |first2=Ed |last2=Christman |name-list-style=amp|volume=111 |number=7 |pages=12, 123 |issn=0006-2510 |via=Google Books}}{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgHgDgiLzqMC&q=Sam+Goody+england+billboard&pg=RA2-PA24 |title=Atlantic Crossing |first=Tom |last=Ferguson |magazine=Billboard |date=January 9, 2010 |page=24 |volume=122 |number=1 |issn=0006-2510 |via=Google Books}} At the chain's height, there were 22 stores and only 14 stores remained when the company exited the UK market.

File:SG0862-Torrence(CLOSED).JPG|Typical Sam Goody pre-1994 concept in Del Amo Fashion Center.

File:SG0147-Tigard.JPG|Typical Sam Goody 1994-1998 concept

File:SG0142-Everett.jpg|Typical Sam Goody 1998-2006

File:SG4743-Union Gap (Yakima).jpg|Typical Sam Goody - Best Buy era concept

File:Sam Goody logo - early-late 90s concept.png|A recreated version of the early-mid 90s store concept logo.

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• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060214073123/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1994/fulltext/356c6.pdf Sam Goody in the UK]}}

Category:Music retailers of the United States

Category:Retail companies established in 1951

Category:Defunct retail companies of the United States

Category:Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom

Category:1951 establishments in New York City

Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006