Under a new Oregon-based owner, San Diego’s Movie Trader, Inc. will soon undergo a rebranding that will have its two locations selling CDs as well.
Portland-based Djangos, named for Belgian gypsy guitar legend Django Reinhardt, who died in 1953, purchased Movie Trader from founder Jeff Clark in a deal that closed early last month.
Steve Wood, CEO of the privately held Djangos, did not disclose the sale price for the two stores, which sold used videos and DVDs.
The two stores, in Pacific Beach and Chula Vista, will be renamed Djangos Moby Disc later this year.
Clark launched Movie Trader’s Pacific Beach store in 1998 and the Chula Vista store about four months ago, he said. The Pacific Beach store did about $400,000 in sales last year, he said.
Movie Trader’s sales concept followed a used-CD retail chain he founded in 1987, Music Trader.
In February 1999, Clark and his wife, Debbi, sold the 16-store Music Trader chain to Oklahoma company CD Warehouse for $4 million, including $1 million in company stock, Clark said. The deal had marked CD Warehouse’s entrance into Southern California.
As part of the sales agreement, Clark signed on for a year as vice president of CD Warehouse’s West Coast operations. He left the company at the end of his contract.
Since leaving CD Warehouse, Clark has been doing independent wholesale deals in video, DVD and CD retail, he said.
According to Djangos’ Wood, his company had first been interested in acquiring Music Trader. After CD Warehouse bought the company, Djangos turned its sights onto Movie Trader.
Part of the appeal of getting into the San Diego market was the city’s proximity to Los Angeles, where the Djangos Moby Disc brand is already established, Wood said.
About a year ago, he began negotiating with the Clarks to buy Movie Trader, Wood said. He would not release projections for Djangos for 2001.
