HMV Canada sold

[23skidoo]

Well this could be the beginning of the end for the last mall-based music/DVD store chain in Canada. HMV Canada has been sold off by the parent HMV UK company to some "restructuring specialist" called Hilco UK:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Canada+sold/5010584/story.html

Exactly how much was paid is unclear. The link above and Sun Media are reporting only $3.2 million was paid for the 120 stores, while the Toronto Star reports it was $3.2 billion.

Either way, I fear I'm about to lose another place to go. As I entered my 40s my world began rapidly shrinking as more of the places I enjoy visiting and buying stuff at and hanging out at disappeared. Bookstores are going, DVD and CD stores are going. I'm sorry, I don't give a damn about clothing stores. And I don't smoke or drink or do drugs and I have physical issues that make spending all my waking hours at the gym impractical. Everyone talks about "ooo - you gotta move with the times" - but the thing is the fact I can continue to order CDs and DVDs online is not the point. I use going to places like HMV as an excuse to get out.

These are the things people don't think about when stores close. Not saying HMV necessarily is about to close - no one has actually said that yet - but whether for $3.2 million or $3.2 billion, there's still a strong sense of "do what you will - we wipe our hands of it" that probably doesn't bode well for the chain. If the HMV at West Edmonton Mall goes I'll actually have no reason to ever go there again.

On one news page someone expressed hope that the end of chains might mean "mom and pop stores" will make a comeback. If only anyone was actually bothering to open "mom and pop stores" to replace them, I might agree. But people aren't doing it. I am utterly convinced to the very core of my bones that this over reliance on downloading and doing everything "in the cloud" instead of permanent, reliable physical media is going to bite everyone in the ass so hard they'll have their choice of orifices to fart from. That whole thing with the Playstation Network was just a preview.

Alex

 

[Bisz]

I always found HMV to be overpriced as such I hardly ever when in there. I can't say I'll be missing them if they shut down for good.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I think in general, music stores have always really struggled in Canada. The one store location at the nearest mall was once Sam's, then Music World, and then HMV. I liked Sam's, because it seemed they catered more to the individual listener and cared more about variety. Music World wasn't too bad, but towards the end, it started to feel like they didn't care, and by the time HMV came in, it was all about what was popular in the top 40's and nothing much beyond that. When I couldn't find something uniquely Canadian on a major label (The same one BNL and Sarah McLachlan use), I started to feel like not just the store, but the industry was in decline. I mean, how can a band make it these days when the stores refuse to stock your music? Oh, apparently because it doesn't sell. It's not popular enough, they say! Well, how are they supposed to get popular if they can't get some much needed exposure? Well, we can't sell them here because they're not popular enough! Arrrggggh! I so wanted to strangle them lol. I so wanted to find their music in order to support them, but I couldn't. It was a physical roadblock in me obtaining an album, which I had to rely on a friend in the States to buy me at one of their concerts down there, which I found ridiculous.

The thing with mom and pop stores is that I think the quality of them really varies. At least you know when you walk into an HMV that it's going to suck I have a mom and pop store in the south end of town, which is way too far for me to go to, and the rare times I've gone in there wasn't such a great experience as the guy who owns it is quite the snob. Not really friendly to you unless you know your music. Though I'm starting to wonder if an alliance of independent stores might be the way to do it, the way some independent bookstores do it in the US.

 

[T'Baio]

That's kind of sad that one would need a retail store as an excuse to go outside.

If you can get to the store, you can go for a walk in a park or something.

 

[Canadave]

I won't really miss HMV if it goes, myself. They're always ridiculously overpriced, and they really don't give an air of giving much of a damn about what they sell.

 

[BillJ]

If they only paid $3.2 million for HMV, then they're liquidating it.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

I always found HMV to be overpriced as such I hardly ever when in there. I can't say I'll be missing them if they shut down for good.

Over priced and you can't always find what you want.

 

[Geck]

I've never found them that overpriced, and found their prices have gone considerably down over the last 4-5 years, if anything. It is harder to find what I want there though, as they've continued to shrink the music section in favour of books, video games, etc. The problem being, if I want to buy books, I go to a bookstore, and if I want to buy video games, I go to a games store.

I do like HMV and will miss them if they go though. Staff has always been great and turned me on to all kinds of new artists over the years. As long as there are still some independent music stores where I can go to browse physical CDs though, I'm happy.

 

[firehawk12]

Like any speciality retailer, the good part is that they carried older stuff. It's all online based now.