Chartbusters was an Irish

video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

founded by former

Xtra-vision Xtra-vision was a video, film and music retailer that operated across the island of Ireland. Founded in 1979, it had 200 shops at its peak before running into financial difficulties, changing ownership a number of times, and ultimately closing ...

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, Richard Murphy.

History

Chartbusters was founded by Richard Murphy following his departure from Xtra-vision in 1990. His exit contract with the latter included a non-competitive clause that ran until 1994. Chartbusters was registered on as Chartbusters Limited. The chain rented out

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

DVDs The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

, and sold VHS/DVDs,

computer games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, cassettes and

books A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

. The first two locations opened in

Tallaght Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The central village area was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres. Up to th ...

and

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern Counties of Ireland, county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchards ...

Stores

The first store that opened was in

followed by the second in

, both of which were classed as

superstores A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The ...

and were reported to be generating £6,500 to £7,000 per week in 1994. In 2003, stores began to offer stand tanning under the company's tan.ie branding in the outlets. At the height of their popularity, in 2004, the chain had 52 stores across Ireland. By 2009, there were 44 stores open. On , a fire broke out in the vacant Chartbusters store in

Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also and previously or ), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains many housing estates, shops and oth ...

resulting in the adjacent restaurant and Mill House pub to be evacuated.

Liquidation

In 2009, Chartbusters' debts mounted to €20 million and they declared that they had gone bust, later going into examinership. The company made an announcement that they were to cease trading on with the loss of 87 jobs. The petition for winding up was struck out on .

References

{{Reflist Irish brands Retail companies established in 1993 Companies based in Dublin (city) Video rental services Irish companies established in 1993