More HMV stores have reopened, and more are under threat.
A new piece in Music Week has shed fresh light on the current status of retailer HMV. The company was saved earlier this year, when the owner of Sunrise Records in Canada – Doug Putman – stumped up to buy it. In doing so, of the 127 stores in the chain, 100 were instantly saved. 27 were announced for closure when the deal was confirmed.
Of those 27, it now turns out that 13 of them have been saved, with branches in Uxbridge and Westfield, London the latest to be rescued. That said, it’s also been confirmed that three branches – Crawley, Kingston and Portsmouth – have now since closed too. Furthermore, three more are under threat: the branches in Solihull, Llandudno and York.
This all comes with the backdrop of a significant fall in physical media sales, as we reported yesterday.
Still, the Music Week piece has much to be positive about. Putman talks about doing more things in-store, and being willing to innovate more. Notably, though, he’s a great advocate for physical media, and the full interview – inevitably focused more on music than mocies – can be found here. Thanks to Mark Pledger for alerting us to it.
