When HMV went into liquidation in January, many people assumed that was the end for nationwide chains of music stores. But in April, HMV was bought out for an estimated £50 million by Hilco. This week, HMV has re-opened its flagship store at 363 Oxford Street. Here, Hilco chief executive and HMV chairman Paul McGowan explains HMV's future.
When Hilco bought HMV in April, lots of business people told us we were making a mistake. We were told nobody wanted to buy physical music any more, and that those who do only bought CDs from supermarkets. Our experience told us that was wrong. Three years ago, Hilco bought out HMV in Canada and we've seen over there that if you get people excited about going into your shops, they'll buy music. We're aware that HMV made mistakes. The stores had stopped being fun places to go into. Once they got into debt, with no plan to bring things forward again, HMV lost its mojo. We rescued 141 branches when we took over HMV and we want to see more stores re-open, where possible. We're re-opening stores in Watford and Swindon, for instance. These are the five ways HMV will change:
Posted on: 08/10/2013Categories: News from RotD
