Options
The Big HMV On Oxford Street
![[Deleted User]](https://wc.vanillicon.com/v2/ce817d8a02377cd69933ffeed95dcbae.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 4,910 Forum Member
✭✭✭
It's closing down! I was there today and it has big 'store closing' signs all over the store. I am not that surprised since HMV is terribly out of touch now with its expensive pricing, but i am slightly surprised that the big oxford street one would close. I always thought that one would stay safe with tourists and whatnot. i must admit that HMV was the main reason i would visit the dreadful oxford street.
Now that the oxford street one is going i reckon this must be it for HMV. The end is nigh,
Now that the oxford street one is going i reckon this must be it for HMV. The end is nigh,
0
Comments
Yes i spotted a lot of '2 for £10' stickers etc and if you're a porridge fan you can get the entire collection boxset for £9.99
It's being replaced by Sports Direct so I don't expect the layout of the store to change much. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10144651/HMVs-Oxford-Street-flagship-to-become-a-Sports-Direct.html
I don't think the new store is the original location, it is on the opposite side of the road.
However...went in there on Friday looking for the Gravity soundtrack...not a single copy...
http://www.hmv.co.uk/music/363-oxford-street-hmv-comes-home
They re-opened their original store at the other end of Oxford Street and still have a mini store in Selfridges.
Sports Direct are going into that site are they? Another nail in the coffin for Oxford Street then. I thought they were trying to keep the fire sale type stores down the east of Oxford Circus strip of shops.
The new store is in exactly the same location as where HMV were based for many decades - they had another store across the road for a few years. The big store nearer Tottenham Court Road used to be wonderful but it's obviously far too large for the range of product sold now - far fewer music CDs are sold now and the store opened in the days of the LP and video tapes which took up a lot of space.
So the Eastern half of Oxford Street is going to get even more tedious. That will be why I hardly go to Oxford Street these days.
HMV also have a store in Selfridge's basement.
I made the mistake of going in there last week. It`s like Satan`s waiting room. You`re practically assaulted by floorwalker sales assistants (a repellant American practice) as soon as you walk through the door. Everything is crammed into a small space, shit music blares out and the place is uncomfortably full due to it`s small size. Who the **** wants to walk up to Bond Street anyway? Unless you`re already going to John Lewis or Selfridges - NOBODY!
Even the Selfridges branch is halved in size now and nothing is racked properly. The staff seem even more surly and disinterested as a result whereas the Oxford Circus lot (the old-timers anyway) are genuinely gutted, as am I, that their landmark store is closing. Decades of my life and many thousands of pounds spent in that hallowed place. Feels like an old friend is in the terminal stages, only days left to go....
Yes, i noticed all these things too when i visited the bond street one.
It's awful. Far too small, much more like what you'd expect to find in a regional shopping centre.
If they're not going to bother they only have themselves to blame.
As I recall, I posted a similar thread on Sunday but what my source of information didn't tell me was that the big one in Manchester City centre's being relocated to another close location. It's probably going on with other HMVs No doubt it'll be taken over by another supermarket or clothes shop.
Sunday trading laws only allow them to open for 6 hours.
A helluva sale - Started out at 4 for £10, then 3 for £5 and finally 6 for £9 with all manner of blu-ray (box-sets included), steelbooks and special editions included. The last day saw other floors go mad with the yellow 80% off stickers resulting in some blu-rays for as little as ONE pound! T-shirts (Marvel, 2000AD etc) for £3 as well as lots of games (which I wasn`t at all interested in so I couldn`t say if they were good buys but I did see lots of people grabbing armfuls so I guess they were).
Apparently Hilco were looking for offers of 6-9m for the Oxford Circus branch. No idea if they got that from Sports Direct but the last thing that street needs is another bloody trainer shop.
Did you go? According to the local rag they had some cheap stuff on offer.
I did, it was a disappointment to be honest. They were advertising up to 70% off in the shop window, but I didn't see anything of worth (or at all really) with more than 10% discounted. I might as well have gone to the Cwmbran store and saved myself a bus journey. Maybe it was just the DVD section though. Still, I thought I would pick up The Likely Lads box set while I was there.
Sounds very much like the kind of scam they`re running in the smaller stores. Signage gives the impression of deep discounts but the actuality is virtually everything is a measly 10% off only.
Hilco seemed to have had no intention of rebuilding the brand, contradicting their statements from less than a year ago.
they are moving to a smaller shop - ironically the same shop that HMV was in when it first started.
They`re already open at Bond St, and a horrible, small poxy place it is too. The irony is their other Bond Street location near The Disney Store was a much better shop, being like a smaller version of Oxford Circus and still over 3 floors. Any fanfare associated with re-opening their original location is soon rendered moot when you have the misfortune to visit the actual shop. Put it this way, I won`t be making a repeat visit. I had a lengthy chat with one of the staff (mid-fifties from the look of him so I am sure he`ll be edged out soon in favour of a Yoof) and we found ourselves nodding in agreement at the reasons for the gradual destruction of the HMV brand both at the hands of downloaders and Hilco - A deadly combination!
Indeed. I can see them going into administration again soon, with further store closures. It's a shame but I think HMV's days are numbered.
On the flip side if and when they do disappear altogether maybe we will see more independant entertainment stores crop up?
Oh I assumed they were staying at the above site- so they're moving from there, then?
Such a shame the flagship store has closed but HMV have only themselves to blame. Sat there thinking they were so well-known, they didn't need to keep up with the times. Idiots.