HMV to close London Oxford Street store

"And how rubbish will that be "
Mega.

 

Gotcha.

 

Lots of good record shops in Soho. Records are a niche market and CD's are going that way too so there is no need for big megastores. I would rather visit 2-3 independent shops in Soho than one megastore on Oxford Street (a disgusting crowded street full of poor shops).

 

Yep, but ..blu ray ..movies.

 

Quoting myself from the Canada HMV thread

This pretty much seals the end for me in London now. With the Cinema Store on Monmouth Street having gone, due to rent increases, I've now no reason at all to want to go shopping in the West End. Every other store I might want to visit is present and at least as well stocked closer to home.

Does this herald the end of HMV nationally? Who knows, but I've a feeling it might. Not being a vinyl fan (a slippery slope I don't even want to start down!) and someone for whom CDs have been something to rip to a NAS and then put on a shelf I've been very much part of the shift to purchased downloads and now streaming as well (not instead of, as well). I have made a point of buying physical when there has been an advantage to me: serious liner notes/books, usually part of super deluxe type boxes and/or hi-res bluray ie Floyd Immersion.

Many of these I bought in HMV at full price (Beatles in Mono, Floyd Discovery box) as part of a use-it-or-lose-it mindset, but more than once HMV simply haven't had the sets in. The SMiLE Sessions uber-box wasn't stocked on launch day so I bought the 2CD box from HMV then the uber-box online. This has happened more than once; HMV simply haven't stocked it, or have stocked the regular edition and not the all singing, all dancing version.

When HMV went into administration the first time I was shocked, worried that they would disappear entirely. This time though I'd be sorry to see them go but not surprised or shocked. As much as I'd like to see HMV maintain a presence on the high street, I'm not sure that there is enough money in it to sustain a business, rents, staffing etc. Music today is getting a smaller slice of the pie vs video games, films etc and music's slice of the pie is increasingly going to streaming services. The streaming model is only going to increase as it gains mass acceptance: try finding any DVD player, phone or device that doesn't support Spotify etc out of the box or via an app store. I suspect the best I can hope is that super deluxe type sets continue to be made available if only through Amazon and independents, and that the loss of the last national change doesn't signify 'not enough of a market' to the labels and publishers.

Circling back, the loss of the Oxford St store sucks primarily for the staff but also for music shoppers in the capital and music retail in general in the UK. The days of giant, multilevel stores in London (HMV Oxford, Virgin, Tower), Manchester (HMV Market St) etc are truly now a part of the past.

 

Another HMV closure was the ex Virgin Megastore premises in Coventry. Moved round the corner to smaller premises but at least started stocking some vinyl. I think they are gradually reducing their cost base in the UK to make the business more viable and closing Oxford Street fits in with this. Likely they will open a smaller outlet in central London.

 

I'm trying to avoid making Amazon purchases now for this reason, sometimes there are some great offers like Ian Brown - greatest hits (greatest) 2xLP for £11.99 but often now vinyl is cheaper elsewhere. Might be back more often if I get burned with some bad quality new vinyl I can't return.
Another sneaky trick they are doing is making prices exclusive to Amazon prime members only, like Queen - greatest hits £20 only for prime members.
Problem I've seen with HMV is, apart from there Liverpool one store at Christmas, they seem to stock too much 'safe' run of the mill vinyl titles, aimed at dads getting back into vinyl along with some of the safer new titles for the Crosley Kids. Problem with this sort of stuff is it seems to be everywhere in supermarkets, clothes shops & such like, often sold for much less then HMV,
I go in mainly for a look as it takes me back to bus trips up to Wolverhampton town centre HMV, Our price (yes it was a second rate store) woolworths and J.M as a kid with mates and old girlfriends, flicking through the vinyl in the late 80's.
I rarely buy anything in there as most of what they stock I already have what I need or am after a rarer pressing.
And that's my issue with them, great for the newbee, but not a lot to keep you spending after that initial spending round.

 

There’s been a lot of business complaining about the looming massive hike of business rates in central London. Reports in the papers of it being as much as 50% for some. I’m sure that doesn’t help.

 

] was in Edinburgh in January, didn't have time to look for record shops then,
but i'll be back in May and will plan a visit to that one on Rose Street.

 

My pal visited the HMV Oxford St store today and staff denied they were closing down. Said the Canada news had caused mis-speculation; either that or they are lying or they haven't been informed yet...

 

Sadly at the moment Fopp is more or less the only record more in the city centre, but worth a visit. There is another shop called Coda on The Mound just up from Princes Street that specialises in Scottish and folk music.

There is an HMV down in Leith at Ocean Terminal mall where the Royal Yacht Britannia is berthed.

Outside the centre slightly there are a few second hand shops, a couple on Leith Walk and also some in the Newington area.

Compared to 30 years ago when I was a mad keen 16 year old record buyer and Edinburgh had loads of great shops, it's a bit of a barren wasteland, but still we have something at least.

 

This looks more optimistic:

HMV responds to claim its flagship London store is closing

 

highly likely they havent been informed yet. Spent most of my 25 yrs of working life in retail and the shopfloor staff are always the last to know.

 

You must have been the only one that was shocked. HMV's pricing strategy was all wrong. Most of their items were priced too high. Sale items were usually stuff that everyone had. Occasionally, they put some good stuff in the sale, but you would hear stories about people flipping the items on ebay (think those Blur reissues sold at £3). I never thought the stores would come back.

 

It certainly does sound more optimistic, and the comment that they are looking to open 2 new stores (of course, some may correspondingly close I guess) doesn't exactly smack of a winding down.

 

I bought a full set of those Blur deluxe editions for £3 each from HMV. It was a very short time after they were released.

 

Sad day for physical media fans (if true).

 

I hope Fopp survives....even though they have trouble sometimes providing me a flat record...

 

Damn, really? Used to go there all the time when I still visited London with friends frequently a few years back. Am only into vintage vinyl and streaming these days so didn't visit it when I was in town last fall but still a shame to hear it's going, it's iconic.

 

HMV -London
Not closing down now apparently.

 

Maybe its just speculation and some reporting this have jumped the gun somewhat?

Physical media must be selling pretty well enough right now to sustain the shops that are currently open?

 

To be completely honest, it was the end of an era when the Virgin/Tower flagship store, in Piccadilly Circus, finally closed its doors. For me, that was the best music chain store in London (with HMV's now defunct Oxford Circus store coming a close second).

Since 2008/9, I've been relying more on Amazon for buying CDs. Personally, I still miss exploring the multi-level music stores, but they shot themselves in the foot by charging too much for CDs (remember the prices for CD imports, anyone?). I've bought so many CDs on Amazon that would have cost me 2-4 times more, if purchased at one of these music chain stores.

Then there's the range of music CDs, which started severely going downhill around 2006/7. My music tastes are more specialist, so the lack of choice (coupled with the high CD prices) forced me to shift my allegiance to online shopping. It was something I was very hesitant to do but, in such a climate, one has to adapt.

Nowadays, I never visit HMV's Oxford Street store (which I usually refer to as their Bond Street store), simply because the music CDs being sold don't interest me at all. And while the Virgin/Tower flagship store was a mega blow, for me, the closing down of the Virgin store on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris, was truly the final straw.

Had some great times while it lasted, though.

 

That Tower/Virgin store was great. I remember I would sometimes be at home bored at 10pm and just jump on the Victoria Line (I lived in 7 sisters at the time) and head down to do some browsing. I went there often, easily several times a week for quite awhile. If I was meeting someone near there I'd pop in. Such a great selection.

The Oxford St HMV was pretty good too. I worked near by in Soho so popping over for a quick browse was very easy. I remember popping in once to kill sometime at lunch and the Pretty Things were doing a short set. The selection was great too.

 

Mary Hopkins time.
"Those Were The Days".