Tweet End of Another Video Dealer

There isn't really a board topic where this news fits, so I'm trying it here.

HMV Canada is closing all of its stores -- more than 100 -- as of April 30th. It is separate from its British founding HMV parent and was in a much healthier position, but four years of steeply declining revenues and a failure to work out negotiations with its suppliers led to the announcement.

This is a real blow for those of us who love physical copies of movies, TV shows, music, and the like. HMV was pretty well the last chain of stores offering a great selection that went far beyond today's shooting-star. In fact, in just the past few weeks I was going there to pick up CDs of old Toronto local bands from the 1960s to teach my son about them (Ugly Ducklings, Kensington Market, The Paupers, Edward Bear, Whiskey Howl, McKenna Mendelson Mainline...) HMV was the only bricks-and-mortar place I could find these relics. (Yes, I know I can get this stuff from amazon. How much fun is that, I ask you?)

The main store in Toronto (Yonge Street) had the largest selection of Criterion films, both DVD and Blu-ray. They also had the largest selection of boxed sets. And the Ottawa store was the only place in town to get anything at all!

Exactly two years apart, the flagship Yonge-at-Edward-Street HMV store closes after the World's Biggest Bookstore did: you could walk straight across from one to the other in less than a minute.

My world just got smaller and less fun.

Jim

My condolences, Jim. I recall when J&R was shutting down. I was there with a good Canadian friend, looked at the mostly empty bins, and said "Well, here's another part of my world that's dead." There are still stores I can go to for cds, but no e that offer the pleasure of browsing through infinite riches.

Bob

My condolences, Jim. I recall when J&R was shutting down. I was there with a God Canadian friend, looked at the mostly empty bins, and said "Well, here's another part of my world that's dead." There are still stores I can go to for cds, but no e that offer the pleasure of browsing through infinite riches.

Bob

We're all "God Canadians" up here, Bob. Thanks for noticing!

Yes, it's going to be pretty well impossible to wander around a store full of treasures and take a plunge on something you never heard of before. I just got back from Walmart (my daughter had to buy a birthday present for a friend, that's my excuse) and their DVD section is pitiful.

The demise of HMV means no more "2 for $20" bargains, no boxed sets of every television show ever made, no thrilling discovery of Best of Enemies going for $5.

In recent years, as my older kids have gone away to universities in Toronto and London (Ontario), we made it an occasion for all of us to get together 3 or 4 times a year for supper in one of the great restaurants across the street, then head over to HMV. It was one of the last stores where all six of us could enjoy shopping together. And the family that shops together...

Ah, don't make me weep!

Jim

That is the reality of the 21st century---with online sellers able to sell for much less, brick-and-mortar stores are ever more at a disadvantage and due to their overhead, can't compete. Those great clearance bargains you mentioned are good for the customer, but the store lost money on them and the other sales just couldn't sustain the business over the long run.

I fondly remember going to camera stores as a kid and looking over racks of Castle Films for my 16mm silent projector. Even the mall record stores of the 70s and 80s are gone--and they always had lots of videos. In my area the
record and CD stores are closing one by one---as the owners die or retire.

Wal-Mart just offers the newer violent movie trash extant to the market since the late 70s with seldom any older decent
movies.

The only place around here that has a diverse selection are the Barnes & Noble bookstores, and they sell everything for list price. Nobody pays list price! They have occasional sales, but I just find it easier to use Amazon.