Major Music Distributor Handleman Exits Music Business

Major music distributor Handleman Corp. announced Monday (June 2) that it is exiting the music business. The Wal-Mart chain has been Handleman's biggest CD customer. Handleman president/CEO Albert A. Koch said, "CD music sales have been declining at double-digit rates for several years, both industry wide and at our customers' stores, resulting in a sharp drop-off in our business. Unfortunately, even the significant steps we've taken over the past two years to reduce our costs have not enabled the company to return to profitability." The Troy, Mich.-based company will lay off 260 workers. Its inventory and other assets will be sold to Anderson, based in Amarillo, Tex. Handleman said it will continue to operate its other units, including video game maker Crave Entertainment.