Private company

FYE

Logo: FYE, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American chain of entertainment retail stores

2428392, Inc. (trading as FYE) is an American music and entertainment retailer, founded in Trumbull, Connecticut in 1993. The company's initialism represents For Your Entertainment, and mainly operates in shopping mall destinations. The chain expanded significantly in the late 1990s, first by acquiring and rebranding the Camelot and Spec's Music chains.2 It is part of Kaspien Holdings, Inc.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1993Founded1

2428392, Inc. (trading as FYE) is an American music and entertainment retailer, founded in Trumbull, Connecticut in 1993. The company's initialism represents For Your Entertainment, and mainly operates in shopping mall destinations.2

Corporate structure

FYE is part of a group headed by Kaspien Holdings, Inc.. 2 entities on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

The first FYE store opened in 1993 at the Trumbull Mall in Trumbull, Connecticut. A second opened in 1995 at Eastview Mall in Victor, New York, and a third at Colonie Center in Colonie, New York in 1997.

In 2001, Trans World unified its other mall-based stores under the "f.y.e." name after buying out Camelot Music. During that year, a major re-branding campaign made f.y.e. the brand name for all of Trans World Entertainment's mall-based retail stores as well as many freestanding locations, though some freestanding or strip mall stores continued to operate under regional brands like Planet Music. In 2016 the company changed the store and website branding to "FYE".

In 2006, Trans World began remodeling buildings that were former Coconut stores and Media Play outlets near Salt Lake City, Utah and Buffalo, New York into FYE superstores. In 2009 FYE closed over 100 locations and 52 more in 2012.

Trans World opened new FYE concept stores in multiple locations (such as the Rockaway Townsquare in Rockaway, New Jersey) in 2016. The new FYE featured a new logo and look, a larger focus on pop-culture related items, an expanded selection of vinyl records and modern turntables, while the selection of Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs has been reduced.

In March 2017, FYE founder and CEO Bob Higgins died. Higgins was responsible for the creating the FYE brand as well as maintaining its profitability and therefore its status as the last remaining music chain store.

In November 2018, FYE's parent company was accused in federal court of deceiving customers by asking them to sign up for "free" and/or "loyalty" membership programs and magazine subscriptions while charging their credit and debit cards $11.99 per month until customers canceled the services. Another allegation was that customer information was shared with marketing company Synapse without customer consent.

In 2018, 33 FYE stores were closed, and 35 more were scheduled to be closed before the end of Trans World's fiscal year on February 2, 2019.

In the fiscal year ended February 1, 2020, FYE posted a loss of $50.7 million for the retail chain, more than double of the previous year. Later that same year, Sunrise Records announced and subsequently finalized their purchase of FYE from TWEC.

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In 2021, Spec's Music in Puerto Rico that was operated by FYE closed down.

In September 2024, Alex Baby & Toy, an FYE concept that opened in April 2022, closed down.

In November 2024, it was announced that Coconuts Music & Movies in Evansville, Indiana, operated by FYE, would be closed, with closure occurring in January 2025.

From Wikipedia’s article on FYE, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • compact disc

Listed on Wikidata.1

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1993Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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