Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which operates nearly 800 retail stores in 46 states (primarily under the FYE brand), announced that it has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Musicland Holding Corp., which operates approximately 400 stores under the Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, and MediaPlay brands.  Musicland recently filed for Chapter 11 (see 'Suncoast Returning All Manga Inventory'), so Trans World's $104 million cash bid (and assumption of $17.1 million in Musicland debt) will be subject to a competitive bidding process and approval by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

In a statement announcing Trans World's bid for Musicland, Trans World's Chairman & CEO Robert J. Higgins noted: 'We believe that the acquisition of Musicland's assets will allow us to leverage their store locations, strategically increase Trans Worlds national footprint, and will provide further growth opportunities.'  According to Home Media Retailing Trans World plans to convert 345 of the Suncoast and Sam Goody stores to its own brands and will close the remainder of the Musicland outlets.

Musicland vendors contacted by ICv2 had a decidedly mixed reaction to the news that Trans World had made a bid for the Musicland retail chain.  Musicland's Suncoast stores have been real pioneers in bringing anime to American shopping malls, stocked anime more deeply than any other large scale specialty store chain and also carried a considerable selection of manga and anime/manga-related toys.  While some of the vendors we talked with were hoping the deal would salvage some of the mall-based shelf space and customers that would typically be lost when a retail organization the size of Musicland disappears, others worried about the commitment of Trans World to anime and manga.