Headphones strapped on, Jerry Voithofer (senior-marketing-international business) peered into the vacant Vibes Music at 226 E. College Ave. Album advertisements for Dave Navarro and Train are still taped to the outside windows. Their albums, however, are not inside the store walls.

Vibes Music officially closed its doors last Monday.

"I liked Vibes," Voithofer said. "Even though it's a chain, it made State College unique. They had T-shirts, posters, and CDs you couldn't find anywhere."

Like many, he was confused why the store closed.

"College kids listen to a hell of a lot of music. Vibes closed in a college town," he said.

For many, the closing came unexpectedly. One individual, however, foresaw it.

"Business at the State College Vibes Music was down 50 percent last year," said John Patrick, director of operations of National Record Mart Incorporated (NRMI), a Carnegie-based record sales corporation. NRMI operates other multi-media stores including National Record Mart, Waves Music, Music X and Music Oasis.

"The reason why they closed down, primarily, is because of the popularity of music downloading from the Internet," he said.

NRMI was the first national music retail chain in the country. In the 1990s, they introduced Vibes Music as its "college-oriented" music store, according to the company's Web site.

Ironically, despite efforts to appeal to its targeted demography, Vibes Music is closing down nationwide in college towns.

Patrick questioned why college students would buy desired music when a double-click can get them their music faster and cheaper.

"We don't have any college stores anymore," he added.

Ken Kubala, manager of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., has been seeing a declining trend in corporate music stores. In regards to Internet downloading, he believes that Vibes Music toppled because it specialized in mainstream music, which is the popular target of Internet downloads.

"We try to sell good music, not a lot of music," he said regarding his efforts to combat file-sharing programs such as Napster and Morpheus.

Mark Biega, manager of Arboria Records, 119 E. Beaver Ave., agreed.

"I've been doing this for 25 years, and it hasn't been this easy. A lot of stores have come and gone," he said. "Music is a strange business now with Napster and everything that's been going on. It was a giant jukebox; it turned people on to things they never listened to before."