HMV to Close All 102 Stores

[Yamer]

Didn't even know this was on the horizon, but it makes some sense given the modern market. The store had really branched out into novelty items over the last half dozen years or so.

Kind of too bad as it was the one store you could go to and actually find a copy of whatever you were looking for.

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...all-102-stores

[PostandIn]

Wonder how they're liquidating their stock.

[GreenLantern]

I was in the mall the other day and saw a HMV, I don't get there often but I was surprised they had survived this long.

I still miss the days of buying tapes and cd's, now the only physical copy of anything I own is when I treat myself to a LP. All my music is streamed on Google play.. just how it goes I guess.

Maybe Randy Marsh will buy up a store!

[shermanator]

Sad news, but not at all surprising.

The last few years, HMV has been like Blockbuster was 8-10 years ago. It had been a very important place to you for a long time, but you knew that eventually it would become completely irrelevant with the digital age.

Hopefully there are some great sales as they go out.

[4X4]

Jeez. When your sales are in the hundreds of millions, you'd think the guy in charge would realize that the industry is changing drastically, and you need to adapt or die.

I have about as much sympathy as I did for Blockbuster.

[CaptainCrunch]

Really is kind of sad because you could motor through one and find a long forgotten movie or CD and pick it up. Its not like I go out of the way to a Best Buy or whatever, but if I'm in a mall, I'll walk through.

At some point in the future, we won't leave our houses to go shopping. We'll put on our VR headsets and then stand in a virtual line waiting for a virtual cashier.

While getting angry and the loud dingus behind us talking to his virtual girlfriend.

[greyshep]

Selfishly I would love to see these places stick it out, but its gotta be tough in a digital age. Unfortunate.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by PostandIn

Wonder how they're liquidating their stock.

Article says some stores will stay open to liquidate in coming weeks.


Cheap vinyl here i come!

[RW99]

I dont buy much physical media anymore and I would assume all of the novelty items would be cheaper elsewhere, so no loss here. And much like cockroaches and twinkies, The Source will outlast everyone

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Really is kind of sad because you could motor through one and find a long forgotten movie or CD and pick it up. Its not like I go out of the way to a Best Buy or whatever, but if I'm in a mall, I'll walk through.

At some point in the future, we won't leave our houses to go shopping. We'll put on our VR headsets and then stand in a virtual line waiting for a virtual cashier.

While getting angry and the loud dingus behind us talking to his virtual girlfriend.

Or you could just use Amazon. It's waaaay better than a mall. You should try it. The future is NOW!

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Jeez. When your sales are in the hundreds of millions, you'd think the guy in charge would realize that the industry is changing drastically, and you need to adapt or die.

I have about as much sympathy as I did for Blockbuster.

I think the at least tried to adapt, certainly more than Blockbuster did. They now carry a lot different inventory - toys, collectibles, books, shirts, mobile items, etc. I think they made a clear effort to expand their offering in an effort to hang on.
So I give them credit for at least trying to adapt. Ultimately, it was doomed to fail, but I don't really know what they could have done instead to avoid this eventuality.

[Regular_John]

Huh, I'm actually a little bit surprised by this one. It seemed to my eyes that they'd done a decent job transitioning from physical media (CDs, DVDs, etc) into pop-culture nick nacks and the stores always seemed to be busy when I popped in.

Then again they did have discount stickers on everything... and I don't think I've spent more than $20 in a single visit in over a decade.

[GGG]

I was always amazed when I made my yearly trip to a mall that it hadn't gone the way of blockbuster.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Jeez. When your sales are in the hundreds of millions, you'd think the guy in charge would realize that the industry is changing drastically, and you need to adapt or die.

I have about as much sympathy as I did for Blockbuster.

They were trying to, actually. But it appears that goofy t-shirts and cheap plastic novelty junk doesn't sell much better than CDs and DVDs do.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think the at least tried to adapt, certainly more than Blockbuster did. They now carry a lot different inventory - toys, collectibles, books, shirts, mobile items, etc. I think they made a clear effort to expand their offering in an effort to hang on.
So I give them credit for at least trying to adapt. Ultimately, it was doomed to fail, but I don't really know what they could have done instead to avoid this eventuality.

I read that (well, the list wasn't that long in the article), but I was getting at the online sales side of it. It's not like a local record store trying to become iTunes. HMV peaked at $360MM just 7 years ago, and within a couple of years, they were at half that revenue. The CEO should have been scrambling to get into online/digital sales. At least, that's my reaction. But I'm not an executive of a big company. I'm just a guy that can't see how they didn't see it coming.

[habernac]

I'm one of three people left on Earth that buys CDs and Blu Rays, so this kinda blows, but not surprising. Amazed they lasted this long.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by habernac

I'm one of three people left on Earth that buys CDs and Blu Rays, so this kinda blows, but not surprising. Amazed they lasted this long.

I still buy CDs, but they are 100% purchased online. Not that any local stores would sell what I want anyways...

[Dion]

Originally Posted by habernac

I'm one of three people left on Earth that buys CDs and Blu Rays, so this kinda blows, but not surprising. Amazed they lasted this long.

I'm the other one of the three. Will miss that store

[keratosis]

Ninja

[Swift]

Put me down as another person who still buys physical CDs, and fairly often at HMV. I'll miss them, but won't miss the "Do you want to sign up for our membership card?" spiel every time.