FYE pop culture store opens in Lombard

For your information: A new outpost of FYE – For Your Entertainment – is now open at Yorktown Center in Lombard.

The 3,500-square-foot store features all kinds of pop culture merchandise, from specially branded candy to ubiquitous Funko Pop vinyl figurines.

And contrary to naysayers assuming the death knell had rung long ago for mall-based music stores, the new FYE in Lombard regularly stocks the latest hit songs on vinyl and CDs.

“We’re focused on the pop culture experience, but we also still carry media,” Chief Merchandising Officer Jodie Evans said about physical entertainment media, which includes 4K video technology and throwback vinyl.

“We still carry all the new music and movie releases,” Evans said. “We feel that’s a point of difference for us from other pop culture stores in the mall.”

Evans said FYE has adapted amid the massive technological shift among consumers toward music and video streaming services. Yet, Evans said, there still are people who want physical media of their favorite music or movies, especially if they are not licensed on streaming services such as Apple Music or Netflix.

FYE is one of the last mall music store names standing. Earlier stores such as Record Town and Tape World were renamed or acquired such as Camelot Music, Wherehouse Entertainment and Sam Goody. In January 2020, the FYE parent company Trans World sold it to be a subsidiary of Canadian-based Sunrise Records & Entertainment.

Evans said the Lombard FYE location brings the company’s North American physical store portfolio to 206 stores. They plan to be at 215 stores before the December holiday. Evans added that ordering from FYE online for store pickup currently is not available.

“We like to say that everybody in the family can shop in our store and find something they will enjoy, whether it’s a game, a movie, a collectible piece, a T-shirt and so on,” Evans said. “That’s really been our focus over the past couple of years.”

And FYE has moved away from its previous blue guitar pick logo for semantic reasons.

“We revamped the logo,” Evans said, noting the FYE on orange dots are meant to emphasize the acronym of For Your Entertainment. “We still have people who pronounce the store ‘fie.’”

https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20220708/fye-pop-culture-store-opens-in-lombard