“Starbucks, which has been scaling back its once-grand ambitions to turn itself into an entertainment hub, is about to shrink its plans yet again. We hear that by September, the chain will have dumped almost all of its in-store music retail offerings,” Peter Kafka reports for Silicon Alley Insider.
“That means no more ‘spinner’ racks offering multiple CD choices to latte-buyers. And that also means no more gift cards and promotional giveaways for Apples iTunes. Instead, we’re told, the coffee chain will offer just four CD ‘slots’ per store,” Kafka reports. “But it will also continue to offer free Wi-fi access to Apple’s online music store and may continue to try to sell entertainment online.”
More info in the full article here.
It’s interesting that Starbucks would consider dumping iTunes Gift Cards as the card display takes up so little room and the cards seem to work quite well for other retailers like Target.