HMV to REOPEN London Oxford Street Store

I live in Wakefield West Yorkshire, we recently had a hmv open back up again, but I prefer to support our local independent record shop, Wah Wah records. Alan who runs it is a great guy and will save you records until its convenient for you to pick up.

 

To be clear, this is the Oxford Street store near Bond Street tube they are reopening, not the other one that opened in the 80s between Oxford Street and Tottenham Court road tube stations - that is now a Sports Direct and has been for many years.

This reopening store hasn't been occupied by any other firm since HMV left it as far as I know

 

What is a scam sweet shop?

 

Quite. For me Rough Trade East in London is the beneficiary of a free pass that its actual performance does not really merit. And not just on price. Over the years I have come across some of the most consistently unhelpful staff there in all my years of shopping in music retail. Which is saying something. Speaking as someone who used to do the same job back in the day I think I know the difference between folks who are stressed and are buckling under pressure and those who are just plain rude for rudeness sake. Compared with the helpful and knowledgeable people who work behind the counters at Sister Ray and Foyles for example it really is night and day at times.

 

Last time I was in the area the site was occupied by one of those strangely under populated confectionary mega stores that you see around Leicester Square.

 

Where did all those US sweet shops in London come from? The problem is, we don’t know | Adam Hug

 

I used to work in Music Zone.

 

I took these photos in September 2019.

The "flagship" or original shop located near Bond Street Tube...from memory it had about 4 or maybe 5 if you count a basement...



The other big floor space Oxford Street shop, had a basement, ground and top floor which had massive floor space...

 

entirely disagree. It’s a shop that has diversified and adapted to ensure it survives and thrives.

shops cannot afford to have millions of pounds of inventory, when most people shop on line. If you are after a catalogue item - you go to Discogs or eBay.

it’s promoting new music every day of the week, and supports a lot of new or under appreciated artists.

 

So is the store near Bond Street the original store that was opened in 1921?

 

Concerns over Oxford Street being ‘overrun’ with US candy stores

 

I think so aye. My picture above says it is

 

Really pleased to see HMV re-opening.

I am not it’s biggest fan, and it’s pricing is often pretty horrible.

However, if it gets people buying records, gets people interested in music (even if that’s merch), then that’s great news generally for all music lovers.

 

I genuinely don't know how HMV survives. I don't particularly want them to go even though their pricing is disgraceful, but my nearest is often near empty and very rarely has queues of people buying stuff.

 

Fair enough. I can just never find anything I want to buy in there, and I have very broad tastes. Most of their stock is actually catalogue, not new releases. The old shop in Covent Garden, less than a tenth of the size, was crammed with interesting new records. This one isn’t.

I end up having to go to Sounds of the Universe, Phonica or Sister Ray in Soho, or Casbah in Greenwich if I want to avoid the Discogs route.

 

Note: just new reissues' catalogue, not real vintage catalogue (their 2nd hand rack is a goddamn shame. The basement of the store in Notting Hill used to be 10x as large and interesting).

They went the total hipster appeal route.

 

What I have found with Sister Ray in particular is that I have got to know what the staff's personal enthusiasms are and they are pretty happy to share recommendations. Never found anything approaching that level of care or interest in RT. Apologies to the folks who work or who have worked there there that do care but my experiences have been pretty industrial.

 

Yeah, it’s nice to have a chat to a friendly face behind the counter. Karl in Sounds of the Universe always suggests interesting stuff. Mind you, I’ve been going in there since 1992!

 

It just made the BBC news at one, I guess vinyl is definitely back.

 

Even Nurofen ads have got brief shots of records spinning now, not nauseating at all. More for me to harvest up when the boom turns to bust

 

If the prices stink they'll remove themselves again after poor sales.

 

What's with the negativity? You want more poxy clothes stores, sweet shops and Costas?
I welcome HMV back to Central London.

 

When I first arrived in England (mid 94) Oxford St was a dump (but had some great clubs & shops, especially just off the street).

You'd walk down the street and you'd have those dodgy guys with their mega phone mics selling name brand stuff like cologne for cheap but of course they were all knock offs. So many useless shops.

Then it turned around. Haven't been back in years but by all accounts seems like a dump again.

 

I see the thread was moved from Music Corner to here - the kiss of death. I forgot (again) to put the magic "Beatles/McCartney" words in the title.

 

agree. It’s a bit crap. Understand it’s a UK topic, but it’s an important music topic. Will die in here.