Starbucks scaling down CD sales & iTunes Gift Cards

When you go to Starbucks, have you ever noticed those CDs that are being displayed on a small rack just in front of the cashier counter? I often only see them, but barely even have the urge to touch the CDs.

Or after I've grabbed the coffee I've ordered and sat down on the couch, I rarely listen to the music played there. Because either I'm talking with friends or moblogging with my Treo, I don't really like the music and too busy enjoying my cup of addiction. ;-p

Apparently, a scathing New York Times article on March reported that the chain was selling just two CDs per store per day. A month later, Ken Lombard, the head of the chain's entertainment business in Starbucks, was bounced out.

Starbucks will remove rotating CD racks from the floors of 6,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada by September to focus on four CDs it sells near cash registers.

Rotating CD racks appeared in Starbucks stores in 2005 and carried six to eight titles along with iTunes gift cards and promotional giveaways. The iTunes items will continue to be available elsewhere in stores. 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.

So finally, Starbucks will get back to its core business and focus once more on what it does best: brewing coffee. All right! I can see some of you are already smiling, oh wait I think it must because of that smiling picture pasted under the Starbucks cup. ~LOL~

Sources are from The Seatle Times, via Sillicon Alley Insider.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]