
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
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