Virgin Record Chain to Open L.A. Superstore

British entrepreneur Richard Branson plans to take his Virgin Megastore to the United States next year by opening an outlet in Los Angeles, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The “home entertainment superstore” will be Los Angeles’ largest record store, with separate shops specializing in rock, jazz and classical music, according to spokesman Will Whitehorn.

He said the store will also sell books, computer games and videos and have a restaurant.

Branson, who also owns Virgin Atlantic Airways, said he is looking at several sites, all of them larger than 25,000 square feet.

“It will be three times as big as that of our nearest competitor,” he said of the store, which may be in a shopping mall on Sunset Boulevard.

The store will have 30,000 square feet, compared to the 10,000-square-foot Los Angeles store of his major rival, H.M.V., a major British retailer also known as His Majesty’s Voice.

Thirty Virgin megastores operate in Europe, Australia and Japan. The first opened in London in 1970.