Popped into HMV today...

If you are in London again you will find at least three excellent record stores within ten minutes walk from the Oxford Street HMV.
I guarantee you a better shopping experience and more U.K. artists in these independent stores

 

It's worth checking out HMV vinyl as they have the odd great deal for membership card holders (get one if interested).

Great to have more choice back ont' shelves!

 

For anyone buying Vinyl and this is just my personal experience so far as I have only got back into it about 6 months ago...is
to stay away from re-issues they are a crap shoot,,,,for some reason the quality control of the re-issue pressings is non existent...
maybe it's a symptom of the modern world ... I picked up a Friday Music Elvis Golden Records Volume 2 and side 2 sounded as
what i can only describe as a 'tinny'sound,,,picked up a Speakers Corner Elvis Is Back! which sounded good but the surface noise
again on side 2 made it almost unlistenable.. this is just 2 examples there are more, don't talk to me about the recent d'agostini Beatles
repressings which have more faults than i can count! Then there is the outrageous extortionate
prices that are charged by greedy corporations like HMV and Gold Discs that have not care for
music only profit...

In comparison all the original or pre-1990 pressings of albums I have picked up have sounded
amazing, very quiet and the sound is fuller and more there. Okay they might have a few crackles and pops and the cover might
be a bit beat up but it all adds to the experience for me. If you want clean/digital sounding music stick to MP3s/FLACS or CDs..
Also you can pick up original pressings of great albums for about a tenner if you look around.
Last week I got an original copy of The Days of FuturePassed from the 2nd hand record store
where i live for 12 euros..yes the cover was a bit worn but the record itself played beautifully for
something 50 years old!

 

I agree, small independents are far more fun, enjoyable experience. I do find Rough Trade East in London to be just as expensive as HMV, a good stock though and the live in store performances are good. Always thought that store would be improved if they sold second-hand vinyl as well. I tend to go in there periodically but rarely buy because of their prices, same problem as going to HMV.

Fopp is enjoyable, far more so than HMV. But my local indie store is the best.

 

their vinyl prices are a bit high to be honest but I do love popping into the main London store and flicking through for an hour or so.
Will forever remind me of many Saturdays in the late 80's & early 90's where I would happily spend a whole day in HMV, Tower Records, Virgin Megastore and all of the Soho independents and therefore come home with bags and bags of black crack.

 

It's the old "digital vinyl" dilemma (which we don't really need to go into again here ). I'm pretty choosy about what vinyl I buy these days, this forum helps a lot with that.

Regarding HMV, I used to live in London so I get why people from there don't think HMV is any great shakes. Thing is, where I live now, in the town centre the HMV is about the only shop that's even remotely interesting to me!

There is a bricks and mortar record shop outside the town centre but the new vinyl is no cheaper than HMV.

 

You must have a great store. I always compare, and it's only now and again they beat amazon.

 

Same at Fopp in Manchester, the cheeky beggars....

 

My nearest HMV is in Workington and it’s excellent. Friendly, knowledgeable staff and a terrific range of stock. I pass the time happily in there while my wife plunders the nearby Marks & Spencer.

 

Vinyl records are fine if you want to sacrifice digitally perfected accurate recordings in favour of an incredibly obsolete format that's little more than a fad fading out more every second. Why any modern retailer would devote space to vinyl records just because customers are interested in them and are buying them is beyond me when digital CD captures everything you could ever want in a recording that rips perfect every time.

 

Errrm; remind me never to go into business with you...

 

You mean go into the vinyl record business. Doomed to fail. I don't sell my vinyl records, unless I don't listen to them anymore, in which case I use the proceeds to buy other obsolete format not digitally perfect accurate recordings proved by science.

 

You’d think they’d learn their lesson.. After repelling customers with ludicrously high prices for CDs and Blu Rays, forcing them to look elsewhere, they’re no doing the exact same thing with vinyl. It’s not like they’re in a position to make mistakes now...

 

If you want a wider range of value CDs go to FOPP.

 

Ludicrously high prices may have been the case when it was under different ownership pre-2013, but I don't think there's too much to complain about these days. I was in Manchester last week and picked up a stack of CDs from HMV and have just been checking prices against Amazon - with one exception where the prices were the same all were cheaper in HMV, a couple were around half the price. Can't really comment on vinyl prices as I don't buy that much, but the two I have got recently (Dream Syndicate's How Did I Find Myself Here and The Clientele's Music for the Age of Miracles) were the same price as on Amazon. I checked out Piccadilly Records first, the best indie shop in Manchester and they were more expensive on The Clientele and didn't have the Dream Syndicate so my money went to HMV.

 

For the size store i don't think HMV in Shrewsbury do too bad with there vinyl & CD stock, prices are largely on par with amazon (who's vinyl prices yoyo spectacularly if you follow them closely and are it always that competitive) in fact last month they had latest Elton John vinyl cheaper then them,
HMV's best store that I've seen so far was one in Liverpool at Christmas last year (Liverpool one if I remember right) it was last year but they stocked a massive amount of vinyl, the most I've seen in any store so far, plus a good range of CD's and bluray.
Sainsbury's Nantwich has a growing section of vinyl, started off just being one of those cardboard Crosley pop up shelves but had expanded to include a rack of shelves now also.
Its all very predictable stuff mind.. Beatles, Nirvana, Ed sheeran, Fleetwood mac rumours.
My local Morrisons tried a bit of vinyl along with some cheap ass (cheaper the Crosley) turntables last Christmas but it didn't last long.
Its good to see these stores selling vinyl again but there a bit of a soulless experience, even in there heyday I preferred Virgin megastores to HMV, still can't forgive them for keeping up that tired several year old promo of 2 CD's for £22 (or around £14-18 each) promo when you could just pop into Asda next door and buy the same CD's for £7.99 without them being covered in there promo labels and security tabs.
Not possible for many these days but if you want to feel music shopping again in a bricks a mortar store, visit somewhere like a Rough trade or Piccadilly Records or try your local little independent store, though I must say I find these a bit intimidating these days at my age.

 

Regarding Rough Trade, doesn't their West shop sell used records? I visited the East shop and thought it's a nice place for all brand new records. Picked up a Carcass LP (remastered for full-dynamic range and from the original master tapes) for a decent price versus buying it online here in Canada.

 

Not sure, haven't been in the other one. Been in East plenty of times, used to work near there, was always frustrated by their pricing though. I do occasionally pop in there but if in the area prefer to head to Flashback Records which is 5 minutes walk away, a proper old school secondhand vinyl/cd shop. Recommended.

 

Yes, it does. They keep all their used records in the basement. Definitely worth popping in if you are ever in the area.

 

Duly note, guys. Thanks @Almost Simon and @qwyjibo for the information. When I visit London next time, I'll be sure to check these two shops out.

 

Well, I visited London in 2003 and 2017. I won't be back until sometime in the 2020s, at the earliest. The way the record store landscape changed between 2003 and 2017, it'll be different when I return (although who knows exactly how).

 

I love the Islington branch of Flashback. That and the Greenwich branch of the Record Exchange are the only two record shops I make a point of visiting whenever I'm in London.

 

HMV in Chester and Liverpool are both relocating to smaller shops. The Chester store currently has a closing down sale - might be worth a trip for anyone in the area as when they have held these sales in the past everything has been reduced by at least 10%.

 

I was in the Chester shop a few days ago and there is no sale, despite what all the signs hanging around the place might say. The only stock that is reduced is what has been in the 2 for £15 or 2 for £10 deals for months already. The only thing that's changed is the way they're displayed. I see HMV claim that although they're moving to smaller stores the music range will stay the same and they'll actually be increasing the amount of vinyl by around 30%. A bit sceptical about that myself but time will tell.

 

Moving to a smaller shop and keeping the same music range doesn't make sense unless they are getting rid of something else like DVDs. I can see them cutting the the number of CD titles, although I was surprised by the number of titles on display at Derby.