HMV Canada to close all 102 stores April 30 (Sunrise to take over approx 70 HMV stores)*

There is no way the Fairview location will last. I went in there about 6:30 p.m. tonight. The mall was still busy but I was the only customer in the store. Very depressing.

 

Sunrise is a very ambitious operation. Not sure how they can succeed where HMV didn’t even with a larger vinyl selection for which 9 out of 10 records will never end up in my collection. The used vinyl section is pointless, overpriced and below what you can find in indies shop.

 

Same thing in the Carrefour Laval location. Depressing indeed.

 

Before my stepson and I saw the new Star Wars movie on Saturday I took the opportunity to finally check out Sunrise Records at West Edmonton Mall. It seems just like HMV to me- some vinyl and CDs, but still heavy on the DVDs, video games and other entertainment related paraphernalia (books, coffee mugs etc). But the prices...I looked at the vinyl section. Yozwa! The Beatles records, for example, they had all the 2012 stereo vinyl remasters (and the Red/Blue albums, plus BBC, Naked and the Yellow Submarine Songtrack) each for the low price of $36.99. $36.99...the friggin' White Album was $74.99 -!!!!!!- but, and get this, they had a copy of the 2014 mono pressing and that was only $49.99. Fancy that, eh, mono cheaper than stereo, you'd think it was 1965 all over again I'm going through these records and laughing and shaking my head- my kid asked me why I was laughing; I held up one of the LPs and said "Thirty years ago I paid $11.99 for this. Inflation, man!"

At least when I checked out the jazz LPs I found copies of Our Man In Paris by Dexter Gordon and Night Train by Oscar Peterson for $21.99 each Those I bought...

Still, $75 for the White Album...nevermind the poster and head shot photos, for that price it better include a vintage doobie hand rolled by one of The Beatles, signed even! And not a forged Mal Evans or Neil Aspinall Beatles signature either

 

Sunrise pricing has been a popular observation on this thread. I had this discussion with one of their clerk who claimed that their vinyl cost is higher compared to other shops. Something I am still trying to figure out!!!

Back to memory lane, I was amazed to take out a fresh wrapped copy of Clapton Unplugged bought at HMV a few years back with a 2 / $25 sticker. Vinyl price hase tripled since then...

 

I think the main reason the Sunrise shops exist is because so many Canadians go to shopping malls to spend their money,
instead of their local commercial streets in urban areas where the local retailers are.

I suppose it's good to have more places selling vinyl, but a decent independent shop is most often far better than
the few Sunrise locations i have frequented. Better selection because they're not so focused on mainstream titles,
and lower prices likely because their rent isn't so expensive as at the corporate mall.

 

My local indie record store doesn't exactly shy away from inflating their prices on occasion but what I saw at Sunrise shocked me. Especially when we went round the corner to London Drugs later on and some of those same Beatles records were ten to fifteen dollars cheaper.

 

At the end of November, I made my annual trip to Toronto ON. I meandered up to the site of the Superstore to see what, if anything, had been done since the closing. Nothing. It's still for lease but the south side of the building (what used to be the original video section) had some business there, which has also closed.

 

There is a lot of new development planned for that entire area of yonge street. It wouldn't surprise me if the building at 333 Yonge gets sold,
or the owners have some new plans to completely renovate it for a new tenant. But it's going to be ground zero for construction for years around there.

 

That makes no sense unless they can't or choose not to buy direct.

 

I was in my local Sunrise today. They had a bulletin board & there was a notice stating they were looking for used vinyl with an emai address as a contact.
I wonder if my local store is gonna sell used wax soon.

 

The CD section at Sunrise is great.

 

Exactly...

 

The Sunrise at West Ed had the same little notice posted. They did have some used vinyl for sale but it looked to be mainly standard thrift store type fare at this point. Lots of Englebert Humperdinck, those kinds of artists.

 

I was in the one Sunrise in Halifax several times in recent months. It's in one of the former 2 locations of HMV. Thought the cd selection was great and prices fine, and the staff excellent. Hope they do well.

 

$1 M question here.

How can Sunrise be a successful operation where HMV failed? They both look very similar in their business approach. Vinyl and used vinyl are still a niche market and hopefully not a cornerstone of their business case.

 

Well, the official explanation is that HMV was heavily indebted for corporate reasons that had nothing to do.with sales. Sunrise's notion was that with the same level of sales (or less) but less debt/lower costs, they can make a go of it. Let's see about that...

 

They'll certainly be getting a good idea right now on how viable they will be - the Christmas period is usually very important for stores like this. I've been critical of their pricing in the past (probably on this thread), but I have bought a few records from them over the past few months - new releases where the price has only been a little higher than Amazon, which I think is reasonable to be able to get it in hand more quickly. The pricing is still all over the place, though, which may be more down to supplier/label pricing than Sunrise. Box sets are still too expensive for me to consider buying them there and I still think that they need a better return/exchange policy.

I think that they will have a sustainable business, but possibly not in it's current form. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some stores close over the next couple of years as they see what's working and what isn't. It's good to have them as an option as well as a visible mainstream presence for music. They'll probably always be third choice for me, though. It's probably been around a month since I was in one. Since them I have bought a lot (boxsets and individual records) but it's been from my local independent or online.

 

I was at the mall last night and popped into Sunrise.

Apparently if you buy one of their somewhat overpriced lp's ($45 for the reissue of Peter Tosh's Legalise it!!) you can get a plastic sleeve for $1!!!

Alternately you could walk a few hundred meters to the local independent record store just outside the mall, get the same sleeve free with your purchase, which will invariably be a few dollars cheaper anyway, or even buy a pack of 100 sleeves for $20!!!

 

Ha! Though Urban Outfitters not too far away from the future LRT station is not any better with respect to pricing either!

 

I don't even bother going into Urban Outfitters after one of their annoying hipster staff members kept trying to sell me one of those "great Crossley record players to play the vinyls" on!

 

Ewww, I shudder at the thought of that.

 

Not sure but there’s a reason why they ended so badly. At the end of the day the sales weren’t there to cover whatever debt they had.

Sunrise management are very brave IMO in their businees approach but so far failed to have me spend more than $5.99 at their store. As many forum members, a good part of my income is spent on music media. Fair price, quality, variety and service will make me spend at Sunrise.

 

‘Impossble as Crossley is the pinacle of all audio engineering and design.’

Be aware that the new generation is not really into hifi. My 16 years old always point out that my kit is too precise to her taste. MP3, IPhone and standard earpiece is the deal!