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

Same with blank VHS tapes (you couldn't keep recordings indefinitely, but many did).

 

One reason they are still around. Physical store plus mail order. Even in the pre-internet days, there was a mail order side of things.

 

I didn't know that but I'm sure I may have kept a few.

Wracked with guilt, I don't suppose the police would be interested now.

Probably too busy not answering calls about burglaries.

 

Closing certain stores does not mean they will never re-open in those areas again.....by closing the stores they are cutting ties with current lease agreements, opening them with the possibility of renting other (cheaper) premises at a later date.

Will be interesting to see how they progress.

 

Yeah, re the decor.. in the now doomed flagship Oxford Street when you went up the escalator they had a large promo display for a particular release. But it was always someone like Bublé, Sheeran, Harry Style, Swift etc. Not being a snob, in fact I like Swift. Just seemed pointless promoting stuff that's gonna sell anyway.

The only time in recent years I saw a display in there for music outside that "area" of artists, was when one had died: eg Bowie, Mark E Smith, Prince.

And all that "Now Trending" signage everywhere for years, just cringe inducing made-up nonsense. Trending where? And the piles of rubbish on the counter that the poor staff were instructed to ask if you wanted. Would you like Rod Stewart's Christmas Album with your Siouxsie and the Banshees LP? NO! Would you like a reward card? NO!

All that has to surely stop?

 

That's true. HMV vacated my home town when they first went into administration. They came back when That's Entertainment finally shuttered last May (That's Entertainment were then owned by Music Magpie).

 

Don't discount Bandcamp. It's a remaining beacon in an out of control situation..

 

Yeah, first time I used them I could tell they were mail order veterans: I ordered a stack of different formats as a birthday present for Mrs BlueSpeedway and the package was terrific: CD, books, T shirt and more.

 

All I know is that half the shop space in Covent Garden is for DVD and Bluray. And it's always busy. Of course Fopp is a specialised outlet and may not reflect that sad state of affairs in the HMV branches I have seen in recent years.

 

Every HMV needs to become more Fopp-ish - even more so.

 

Devalued it, and least in the general public’s eyes.

 

From Wikipedia:
Douglas Robert Putman

Douglas Robert Putman (born 1984) is the chief executive and owner of the Canadian music retailer Sunrise Records and the president of the family business Everest Toys.

Early Life
Douglas Putman was born in 1984 and raised in Ancaster, Ontario.

Career
His early career was at Stelco which he left to start a toys and trading card business. In 2017 he acquired the Canadian HMV business which he added to his own Sunrise Records. In February 2019 it was announced that he had acquired the British HMV chain.

 

They never had that store in Ireland, sounds good.

 

Very sad that Fopp has gone. I’m pleased HMV Broadmead has been spared though, since the Cribbs and Bath branches have gone.

 

All great suggestions, would also be great if the new stores carried used vinyl and sold great coffee, I'd definitely frequent them if they did.

 

Anyone know if my local-ish store (Derby) has been spared?

It’s glad that HMV has another chance, but it appears they’ve really done all they can. I can’t see there being a sudden upsurge in physical sales.

 

The location of the Manchester Fopp is abysmal. Whilst only a minute's walk from a busy main street, its not really visible from said street so the chances of anyone stumbling on it are incredibly slim. I go there 2-3 times a year with work and always look in Vinyl Exchange & Piccadilly Records before heading home. I have no idea how long that Fopp has been there for. I only discovered it after going to my first ever Fopp in Edinburgh whilst on holiday a couple of years ago, then googling to see if there were any in the North West. I was genuinely surprised to find Manchester had one, given how many times I must have walked down that main street, not knowing is was so close.

For me, at 39 the excitement of flicking through a pile of cards in VE has not diminished much since I first went in there at about 18. The excitement only wore off slightly in that much of the back catalogue stuff I've been hunting down over the years as I've discovered new-to-me older bands, I have actually found and thus I'm not as likely to walk out with a big pile of CDs anymore. Still, I'm happy just to find a couple and support them. It was awesome to find Sonic Youth / Yo La Tengo / Guided By Voices etc CDs I needed to fill in gaps in my collection, at fair used prices. Also traded in a few stacks over the years, but last time I was told that the titles I was parting with are more likely to be sought by buyers on vinyl, so the trade-in / cash price wasn't as good as it once would have been.

Quite honestly, I think the clientele for VE & PR compared to HMV are very different anyway (with Fopp sitting somewhere inbetween, with their more expansive stock than HMV). On my visits, I would normally do them in this order: VE, PR, Fopp. I would only go to HMV as a last resort out of those 4, so sometimes wouldn't go in at all. I do hope that VE & PR do pick up some custom from former Fopp & HMV shoppers though. Both shops always seem popular and both seem to do well with vinyl especially.

 

Fopp used to be nothing to do with HMV at all, and were popular in my manor, by the time they had several London branches (Camden, Gower Street, a huge Tottenham Court Road one, and the still open Shaftesbury Avenue one). But for whatever reason, they collapsed and HMV bought them, closing all but one of the London ones. They’re good and as far as I can tell are allowed to be run slightly differently to HMV, although the differences aren’t so pronounced as they were before HMV bought them.

 

Last time I went in Piccadilly Records Manchester I fell down the stairs on my way to the used basement Potentially highly embarrassing but they didn’t see me as the counter is so far from the stairs

Or was it Vinyl Exchange? I can’t recall, but recall the bruises!

 

Yeah, Vinyl Exchange seems to be stagnating these days, gone are the days when I used to come home with an armful of CDs every month. The stock is often very low at times, part caused by fopp having cheap CD offers I think.

 

Their problem was expanding too quickly, they went from a handful of shops to over one hundred in hardly any time. Taking over Music Zone when they went tits up was a big mistake and the final nail in the coffin as it turned out.

 

I haven't been following this story too much, because honestly I'm not sure what HMV could do to get me to go to their stores.

That said, this new owner is at least saying the right things. He sounds like someone who actually has a love for music, which ought to be the minimum requirement for owning a chain such as HMV. Given the alternative was Mike Ashley, I'd say there's cause for a sigh of relief.

He's said that "people want more Vinyl", so Vinyl-heads might well make out well.

 

They have to keep DVD's, but those (funko ?) POP things, what's that about, why are they in a Record shop..

 

When I venture into piccadilly records, I usually end up scurrying out empty handed because I don’t feel cool enough to shop there. There was none of that with HMV or Fopp.

 

Is this partly because you have found what you wanted over time though? I have a want list, and though stuff gets added, I am ticking off more than I'm adding. As much as I love VE, I'm more likely to spend £20 rather than £40-50 these days, simply because there's not as much I'm actively looking for anymore. Online can be good for used stuff, I've had plenty from Music Magpie's eBay store. The pile of jiffy bags I have kept with MM printed on the back (to save me buying one when I need one) is getting rather silly.

Just today I ticked the last release off my Bob Mould list. My older brother is a huge fan and introduced me to him via Sugar years ago, thinking that would be the easiest way in, what with me being a big fan of US Alt stuff anyway. So I've picked up Husker Du & solo stuff at random since then as I've seen it, many from VE actually. Today I ordered 'Workbook' for £2.33 (yes, two pounds and thirty three pence) from MM, with free postage, some places you can't even buy a sandwich for that. I wanted to get that last release I needed, so it seemed pointless to wait until I saw it in a shop. In fact I think I saw it in Fopp a while back and it was £10. A few quid saved, as got a few new releases (including new Mould funnily enough) I want to get anyway.