Really shocked that that Nottingham one has gone! :o

 

It doesn't come up on their store locater now so looks like the list will be correct.

No real small town ones there though, which does confirm what they said about targeting the large city duplicate stores.

Nevertheless, shares in HMV fell some 13% yesterday.

 

 

Yeah......I was going to buy shares in HMV but I downloaded them illegally instead. :arrr:

Yeah......I was going to buy shares in HMV but I downloaded them illegally instead. :arrr:

 

:lol:

Yep, the Brighton one was closed when I walked past it yesterday :(

 

There's another more modern one in the shopping mall we have but I'll miss that one as it was less populated by chavs and generally had a more 'record store' atmosphere still as opposed to 'modern entertainment hub' that they feel like now. It had been there for decades, I remember going in there since I was about 4 or 5.

Yep, the Brighton one was closed when I walked past it yesterday :(

 

There's another more modern one in the shopping mall we have but I'll miss that one as it was less populated by chavs and generally had a more 'record store' atmosphere still as opposed to 'modern entertainment hub' that they feel like now. It had been there for decades, I remember going in there since I was about 4 or 5.

Yes, I was in there at the beginning of December. Again it's a long time since I first went in there. :(

MW article

 

==========

 

HMV has started the first phase of its store closure programme, closing nine stores on Sunday.

 

The company announced at the start of January that it was to close 40 HMV stores as well as 20 Waterstone’s outlets in the UK as it looked to cut costs in the wake of disappointing Christmas trading figures.

 

The first wave of closure took place yesterday (Sunday) and consists largely of smaller secondary outlets in locations where the company has larger stores. Shops in Birmingham, Brighton, Croydon, Ealing, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Oldham and Plymouth all closed.

 

One more closure is expected before the end of the week, with the 40 closures to be completed by the end of the year.

 

"We've begun the process of reviewing our store portfolio, with the main focus right now being locations where we have more than one store trading in close proximity to each other, which means we are broadly catering to the same public,” said an HMV spokesman.

 

“The stores we've just closed are pretty much secondary sites, leaving much larger superstores in place to ensure that we maintain our specialist offer in these locations.

 

“We're currently in consultation with affected work colleagues, who we're doing our best to redeploy to nearby stores where we can.

 

Stores that closed on Sunday January 30 are:

 

* Birmingham, Pallasades Centre (leaving the larger superstores in Birmingham Pavilions and Bullring Centres)

 

* Brighton, Western Road (leaving the superstore in Churchill Square)

 

 

* Croydon, North End (leaving the larger store in Croydon Centrale)

 

* Ealing, Broadway (close to London Westfield)

 

* Glasgow, Sauchiehall Street (leaving four stores in the city- Buchanan St, Argyle St, Silverburn and Braehead Centres)

 

* Liverpool, Bold St (leaving Liverpool One)

 

* Nottingham Wheelergate (close to Victoria Centre)

 

* Oldham (Manchester)

 

* Plymouth, New George Street (Drake Circus)

Well, so far the stores closed make perfect sense.

It's ridiculous when they have 2or 3 stores in such close proximity to one another, no wonder they're hemorrhaging money!

Well, so far the stores closed make perfect sense.

It's ridiculous when they have 2or 3 stores in such close proximity to one another, no wonder they're hemorrhaging money!

 

My point exactly. Having 3 HMV's in a close proximity of Birmingham’s Bullring is ridiculous . Especially when they're all in walking distance from each other!

Really shocked that that Nottingham one has gone! :o

 

It doesn't come up on their store locater now so looks like the list will be correct.

It definitely has, I went at lunch time yesterday just to find that it had been closed. I then had to go all the way to Victoria Centre (not far I know but it was my lunch hour!) to discover that they barely even bother to stock CDs in that one, they're just shoehorned into the bottom corner - how times have changed!

 

Still, I'm really surprised that they did that, I was expecting the big one in Nottingham to remain and for them to close the Victoria Centre one instead. The only reason I was going in the first place was to ensure I've spent all of the vouchers I received for Christmas in case they shut down for good in the coming weeks...

 

Yes, I was in there at the beginning of December. Again it's a long time since I first went in there. :(

 

I remember when it was on three floors with the videos on the first floor (!) and jazz/country/specialist music on the second floor - it had such a different atmosphere to how HMV feels these days. And unless I'm recalling incorrectly, Virgin Megastores was on the opposite side of the road maybe where Argos is now, before they moved into Churchill Square when that was redeveloped in 1998. I remember a summer day in 1997 going down to some Scooby Doo convention on the seafront (yes, I know :drama:) and then going up to that Virgin on Western Road to buy the Scooby Snacks single by Fun Lovin' Criminals :lol:

 

My point exactly. Having 3 HMV's in a close proximity of Birmingham’s Bullring is ridiculous . Especially when they're all in walking distance from each other!

 

I'd never been to Birmingham before a couple of weeks ago and was quite shocked to see so many HMV's practically next door to each other - not surprised at least one of them closed.

I'd never been to Birmingham before a couple of weeks ago and was quite shocked to see so many HMV's practically next door to each other - not surprised at least one of them closed.

 

I bet there is a poster on the door... PLEASE USE HMV STORE 2 DOORS DOWN :heehee:

 

And LOL at a Scooby Doo convention

I bet there is a poster on the door... PLEASE USE HMV STORE 2 DOORS DOWN :heehee:

 

And LOL at a Scooby Doo convention

 

What can I say, I was 10 and it was my favourite thing at the time :lol: But I do have pictures to prove it! (not that I'm willing to post on here though :P)

Gutted... the Liverpool and Nottingham branches were my haunts at various stages of my life, although I'm not sure if it was that Nottingham branch or the other one that I used to spend £50 on import singles at every couple of months...

The one that has closed in Nottingham has only been open for a matter of months, it used to be the massive Virgin/Zavvi store if that means anything to you?

 

Oh yeah, vaguely. Thank god :drama: Didn't there used to be one IN the Victoria Centre? Is that still there? But it was the one near the other big shopping centre that I used to go to most.

Record stores that have closed down in Plymouth city centre in the last 10-15 yrs...

 

Top independant store - Rival Records (now a charity shop)

The Rival spin-off store opened by former employees - Different Class (now a Polish food shop)

2 branches of Our Price (top and bottom of town)

The giant Virgin Megastore (now a bank)

MVC (now a Poundland)

Top secondhand store Music Video Exchange (now a clothes shop)

Not to mention Woolworths of course (sat empty for over 2 yrs now)

 

A couple of years ago a new shopping mall opened at the top end of town. There was a smallish Virgin record shop in there. It was taken over by Zavvi when Virgin went down. The Zavvi store was taken over by HMV a few months later when they went down. This now gave Plymouth two branches of HMV (the traditional two-floored one in the city centre, and this new smaller one in the shopping mall).

 

Going back to the late 80s there was a different Virgin Megastore in town, which became an Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop, plus newsagent/toy/gift store Arcadia used to have a good selection of albums and singles. Of course there were outlets like Boots, WH Smiths, Littlewoods, Debenhams, etc. all with music departments too. Plus specialist dance, classical, second hand music shops, a thriving indoor market with several music stalls, even a superb independent store, Music Box, a little way out of town in the St Budeaux area.

 

The first I knew of the city centre branch of HMV closing was an email from their Pure rewards scheme offering me a £5 voucher for the branch still open in the mall, since the town centre store I last shopped at was now closed. There was no mention of it closing down when I was in there just last week. A real shame for music buyers in my opinion. All those old shops mentioned above are just a memory now leaving just this one small HMV left in the shopping mall, which only devotes about 40% of it's floorspace to music anyway.

 

its there own fault, they are going the same way as woolworths selling CD's and Games for 12 and 45 pound respectively when online the same CD's and Games are half the price, if they want to survive they are going to have to sort themselves out and bring their prices into line with Play.com and Amazon

its there own fault, they are going the same way as woolworths selling CD's and Games for 12 and 45 pound respectively when online the same CD's and Games are half the price, if they want to survive they are going to have to sort themselves out and bring their prices into line with Play.com and Amazon

There are a number of posts in this thread explaining why they cannot possibly match Play and Amazon.

The one that has closed in Nottingham has only been open for a matter of months, it used to be the massive Virgin/Zavvi store if that means anything to you?

 

I must've been in that one exactly a week before it closed. Some of the shelves were empty, and the one in the Victoria Center had more choice (though neither had what I was looking for).