World’s largest HMV opening in Birmingham, UK

From BBC News Can the world's largest HMV work in a digital age?

 

I don't think brick & mortar will completely go away but the product seems to shift more into t-shirts/collectables than the music itself unfortunately

 

HMV started going downhill when they began selling Shirts/Mugs/Books/ and other stuff like that

 

Is that in the old Hummingbird?

 

HMV sold T-Shirts, mugs and books when I was a kid in the late 70s/early 80s. I got official shirts from there for Springsteen's 'The River' tour and the Stones' 'Tattoo You' tour, both of which I went to but didn't buy a shirt at the gigs.

 

More coverage from The Guardian HMV to open Europe's biggest entertainment store in Birmingham

 

What a bizarre & unexpected development! The short answer to the BBC's question is: “no, it can't work”. Since Brum is a nearby city to me, though, I'll try to check out this HMV before it closes.

 

“The Birmingham store [...] is aiming to offer something Amazon cannot. It has a stage to host bands and DJs and a screening room with space for 50 people alongside its music, film, books, band paraphernalia such as posters, T-shirts, mugs and technology such as headphones and turntables.
[...]
The plan is to open a cafe, too”

Sounds great, I hope they prosper!

 

So it’s basically an attempt to rip off Rough Trade’s formula. Hopefully they’ll realise tbey need to offer varied and widely stocked back catalogue and genres, if the focus remains on top 40 artists they’ll fail.

 

I appreciate the new owner’s passion, but I still believe that HMV won’t survive in the long-term. Although the stores are better now than they were previously in terms of the vinyl selection, they still can’t compare with most independents that are still in business. In large part, that’s because they can’t sell used vinyl, only new releases and recent reissues, so they’re inherently constrained in terms of the stock on offer. To that point, if the record selection is exactly the same every time you go in, then you’ll gradually get bored and stop visiting.

Moreover, the fact that they still haven’t reactivated the loyalty scheme means that I’ve had no incentive to visit or buy anything from them in recent months. Why would I when I could either support my local independent and buy it from them, or eliminate the middle man and get it from Amazon or EBay? The latter of which I’d have to do anyway to get something like an Analogue Productions or MFSL reissue.

I don’t like sounding negative, and, of course, I in no way want them to go out of business, but I can’t help but be pessimistic. Still, I hope they do well. I’ll check this store out when I can.

 

I'm a sucker for a ginourmous record store, so I'll visit this place while it still there.

 

I like the cafe idea. They need to create reasons for you to actually go in there and want to keep the store open, because I don't especially want or need to pay high street prices.

 

Sounds like a disaster. If they are smart they will lose the cds and focus on records only.

 

As I understood it from the report this morning, the plan is to open more shops the same size / format across the country if "it proves sustainable".

If the Oxford Street store wasn't sustainable a few months ago, I can't see how, but hope to be proven wrong.

 

The rent would be considerably lower though with the product being sold for the same so the margin will improve.

 

Still millions more cd's sold than vinyl.

 

I think making it a place to hang out is a great idea, because that was what many did years ago.

I was just counting how many outlets used to sell records when I was a kid on the High street. You had Our Price & HMV, WHSmith, Woolworths, even Boots!! Now, there is zilch.

I think CD’s were well overpriced. New release albums were being priced up to £14.99, and that was over 10 years ago. I used to buy a £3.50 vinyl just because I liked the album cover. No speculative purchasing when a CD costs that much. The record companies weren’t selling as much, the prices went up to cover & people bought less

 

Sounds great. Just a shame you have to go to Birmingham to visit it.

 

Complimentary car washes and showers at Newport Pagnell services Southbound

 

People bought loads of CDs in the 90s. That's evident from the sales figures and the sheer numbers of them in charity shops.

 

I think a smart businessman always thinks against the grain - imagine the same statement 20 years ago , those people who bought huge record collections when everyone wanted to get rid of them are rubbing their hands now . The majority of people nowadays buy records because they fall prey to a very smart marketing move of the music industry , not because they think vinyl is the superior physical medium (most of them do not even have a record player) , a similar case are people who bought every new remastered cd upon release and are realising now that the originals often sound much better

 

as someone who used to dread going into Birmingham when I lived in the Midlands, I can say it’s improved significantly in the last 10 years or so, although driving in and out remains horrendous.

 

The vinyl section in the HMV that I last visited had improved significantly, both in volume and layout, since the take over and there were plenty of customers browsing.

It's not enough for most retailers to be just shops these days, they need to be a "destination" and provide more of an experience so this seems like a sensible move. I hope it works out, I'll certainly visit if I got to Brum in the near future.

 

Yep, because the dozens of people in fopp in Manchester yesterday don't actually want the CDs they were buying...

 

Yeah. I think that the approach of making the shop a destination is the right way to go. 'Come for the records, stay for the coffee'.

It entices people to visit in a way that Amazon can't. The same approach has lured me into Rough Trade East in London a few times, even though their record selection isn't really aimed at me.