Following its recent entrance into administration, HMV has announced that high rent and business rates have forced it to close 27 store branches, including its original store in Oxford Street that opened in 1921.
It was the second time HMV had gone into administration in six years, and it has now become clear that the decline of CDs is really taking its toll. In a recent article, PSNEurope’s David Davies investigated the decline of CDs and the subsequent impact on mastering. In the article, Will Wright, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, commented on HMV’s administration. He said: “Whilst we understand that [HMV] has continued to outperform the overall market decline in physical music and visual sales, as well as growing a profitable e-commerce business, the company has suffered from the ongoing wave of digital disruption sweeping across the entertainment industry. This is in addition to the ongoing pressures facing many high street retailers, including weakening consumer confidence, rising costs and business rates pressures.”
KPMG’s administration has issued the list of stores set to close, following the acquisition of the music chain by Sunrise Records.
The Oxford Street store is among the closures, along with other London stores in Westfield and Wimbledon.
The full list of store closures is below:
Ayr
Bath
Bluewater
Bristol Cribbs
Chichester
Exeter Princesshay
Fopp Bristol
Fopp Glasgow Byres
Fopp Manchester
Fopp Oxford
Glasgow Braehead
Guernsey
Hereford
Manchester Trafford
Merry Hill
Oxford Street
Peterborough Queensgate
Plymouth Drake Circus
Reading
Sheffield Meadowhall
Southport
Thurrock
Tunbridge Wells
Uxbridge
Watford
Westfield London
Wimbledon
