Looks like HMV in the UK may survive after all...

If the rates are that high - let alone the rent - it just adds to my confusion about those big "American sweets"/general tourist tat stores that always seem empty on and around Oxford Street... I'm sure there was like four or five of them when I last was there.

 

Know what you mean, we have similar 'tartan tat' stores in abundance in Edinburgh on Princes Street and The Royal Mile which will be very expensive for rent and rates. They must sell a lot of awful cheap kilts made in China to cover the high rents.

 

Those tourist shops are a money spinner, I fly back to Scotland every couple of weeks at the moment due to a family illness and when I'm coming back through EDI the place is full of tourists wandering around in various Scotland/Edinburgh Hoodies, jackets, hats ect, all obviously freshly purchased.

 

I think if this was the store that was in London when I was growing up, it might serve a purpose. It was massive and offered a selection that was matched nowhere else in the country. But the current store is not big at all, and offers virtually nothing that people can't buy in the regional stores. It is simply not worth it. No-one is going to go on a day trip to London ready to spend a few hundred pounds in that HMV for that very reason. It is, alas, redundant. But the closing of a store now doesn't mean there won't ever be one there again.

 

Plus, isn't all the music upstairs in the Oxford Street store anyway? Always seemed odd to me.

Same with the Bath store that is also earmarked for closing - the entrance floor has a few shelfs of chart/offer CDs and DVDs, along with books and technology. But the actual music section is upstairs.

 

Music is downstairs in the HMV in Glasgow. Street level is reserved for DVDs along with other ‘ stuff’ that they’ve diversified into in recent years. It does seem odd given that DVDs seem to have an even more uncertain future than cds but there must be good business reasons behind it. It’s almost as if it’s not music fans that they’re primarily trying to attract and it hasn’t been for sometime.
It will be interesting to see if that changes now.

I see they’re talking about offering a greater diversity of vinyl ( ‘not just Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits but tusk and Tango in the Night as well’!!) but if that’s all they can up with then I fear they’re only delaying the inevitable (and I say that as someone who buys mostly vinyl).

 

Early days, I know he's primarily a businessman, but the new owner appears to have genuine passion for HMV and music. He seems the right type to know what the loyal HMV customers want from the stores and how music buyers tick. Imagine what Mike Ashley would have done to HMV. We have to be grateful it's not him.

 

I've not read too much about him or the takeover, but I understand he is a proponant of store autonomy, which is a model that has worked well for Waterstones recently, so let's hope its the same for HMV.

 

My local HMV branch has been tweeting again, stating that they are now getting stock of new releases.

 

Looks like People Power has worked to save this bit of history.
'Iconic' music store saved from closure

 

It would be great if Oxford Street could do the same.

 

Thing about having an Oxford Street address is a lot about image and maintaining a high profile flagship store. A guy coming in with more of business head ain't gonna see the sense in that.

Having said that if you'd got a bunch of money to invest you more than likely wouldn't buy a high street business anyway, especially one like music that's being crushed by the Internet.

 

"The Greatest Showman" Coming soon for fifty pence to a charity shop near you, a quid in Poundland if you want a re-wrap.

 

Probably. Enjoyable film though.

 

Didn't Poundland go bust ?

 

Poundworld certainly did. Not sure abut Poundland.

 

Poundland still survives. Middlesbrough's own Harrods.

 

Interestingly, people on this thread were talking about CEX earlier. I went into my local store for the first time in quite a while, and notice the blu ray section has shrunk considerably over the last few months, and that used copies of certain titles were only marginally cheaper than HMV. The William Castle boxed set was £40.99, compared to a new copy in HMV for either £42 or £44 - I can't remember which. Used copies of Eureka titles were £8-10, again on a couple of pound cheaper than new ones from HMV. And the CD section is...well, a bit like a jumble sale and seemed to exist mostly of forgotten X-Factor winners. I certainly don't think HMV has much competition from them.

The new owner of HMV now says he is hoping for a reprieve of all the stores earmarked for closure. I doubt he will achieve that, but he certainly seems dedicated to the job in hand.

 

CEX is odd, which I assume is due to franchiseeship? A lot of stores I've gone into have ditched CDs completely. One I know ditched them for a while, then brought them back, then got rid of them again. The ones in Reading and I think Birmingham were very much jumble sale like as you describe - just a load of cds strewn across some shelves, to the point were trying to browse them was so unpleasent I gave up.

Now it seems most of the stores are devoted to 50p DVD sections, perhaps a true sign of what most people actually go there for...

 

CEX can be a frustrating queuing experience too. I have bought a number of cds, DVDs and blu rays there but I have spent so much time in a queue because they don't have separate queues for buying and selling.

I have even had to wait while everyone behind the counter are busy adding stickers to the items that they have just bought from sellers.

 

Yes. Another reason I don't go often. As someone with mobility issues but not in a wheelchair, queuing for up to fifteen minutes for something I'm not that bothered whether I buy or not is very off putting.

 

Is HMV online store currently not up and running?

 

I was in London today for some studying at a library and went up to Bond Street afterwards...only to find the Oxford St branch shut. That'll teach me to read relevant threads...

Once Crossrail has been completed there'll be a fair amount of retail space round the Charing Cross Road area - wouldn't be surprised to see a store there at some point.

 

Something to look forward to at the “new” HMV

 

The Bath store used to have rock and pop CDs on the entrance floor, and the first floor was reserved for classical music, world music and soundtrack CDs. I know it was like that into the early 2000’s.

With the decline in music sales, at some later date the rock and pop cd’s were moved to the first floor. Ever since the entrance floor always seemed a strange, unfocused mix of chart cd’s and dvd’s, games and technology.