DonLever Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 TORONTO • The digital music and movie boom has claimed another bricks and mortar victim, with HMV Canada set to close all of its 102 stores in the coming months after 30 years in business. The ailing company, which first opened its once-expansive stores in Canada in 1986, was put into receivership in Ontario Superior Court Friday and the majority of its head office staff was laid off. “The company and major suppliers were unable to reach an agreement, on mutually acceptable terms to sustain HMV’s operations and support a recovery,” said court documents filed Friday on behalf of the company. HMV’s stores in nine Canadian provinces will remain open for several weeks in order to liquidate remaining inventory, the company confirmed Friday. HMV owes its major suppliers, including music labels and media studios, $56 million as of Dec 31. Before the birth of e-commerce, HMV, much like defunct retailers Tower Records and Sam the Record Man, offered customers a one-stop, big-box style shopping experience with a deeper back catalogue selection than small record stores could offer. The Canadian unit was an offshoot of HMV’s U.K. operations, where it had opened its first store in 1921. While HMV is still a going concern in Britain, HMV Canada has operated as a separate company since 2011, when it was sold to British retail restructuring specialist Hilco UK for $3.23 million. Digital music has been around for more than a decade but it only became the primary revenue stream for recorded music globally in 2015, overtaking the physical sales of albums and CDs, according to London-based industry association IFPI. Total industry revenues grew 3.2 per cent in 2015 to US$15 billion, with digital music revenue accounting for 45 per cent of sales worldwide compared with 39 per cent for physical music sales. In recent years, HMV Canada had reduced its CD and DVD inventory and added more vinyl albums, fan collectibles and apparel in an attempt to make up for sliding music and movie sales. It also closed larger stores and leased smaller retail spaces in order to control costs and maintain its footprint across the country. But HMV’s sales fell to $214.4 million in fiscal 2015 from $225 million in the prior year, the court filing said, and sales are projected to slide to about $190 million for fiscal 2016. That is just over half of what HMV’s sales were for the year ending April 24, 2010, when it recorded annual sales of $360 million. As of Nov. 30 the company had assets of $63.9 million and liabilities of $131.8 million. It incurred net losses of about $20 million between fiscal 2013 and 2015, and projects another loss for fiscal 2016, the filings said. Financial Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 There goes another record/cd/dvd store. Remember the old days? In Vancouver we had A&B Sound, Kelly's, and a few other thats faded to the mists. Also, all the department stores had record departments. You went go there to get the latest records of singles heard on the radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaBamba Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I haven't bought a CD or DVD in 10 years. This closer will have absolutely no effect on my life. I'm actually surprised it took this long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 The only boxing day sale I've been to was A&B Sound Victoria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFromHome Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Were they still Open? Next thing you'll know Blockbuster is shutting down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckster19 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylocke Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 It's one of those stores that I like going in to browse, but rarely buy anything. Maybe just a DVD or Pop! figure here and there. Still gonna miss it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 51 minutes ago, DonLever said: There goes another record/cd/dvd store. Remember the old days? In Vancouver we had A&B Sound, Kelly's, and a few other thats faded to the mists. Also, all the department stores had record departments. You went go there to get the latest records of singles heard on the radio. Loved the Sam's on Richards. Was sad when that closed down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLASSJAW Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 good riddance. i remember going in there when i was younger and they would have IMPORTED stickers slapped on every second CD, as if that would justify it costing $7 more than everywhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuckin_futz Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I honestly thought they died a long time ago. Surprised to hear they were still open. When you can fit 5000 songs on an Ipod what do you need a 12 inch disc or a cd for? If you can find this documentary online it's worth a watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 15 minutes ago, Wilbur said: Loved the Sam's on Richards. Was sad when that closed down. I thought Sam's was on Granville St. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 4 minutes ago, DonLever said: I thought Sam's was on Granville St. Doh, thought about it a little longer...it was actually Seymour. Good thing neither of us are playing Battleship, it'd take forever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Heartbreaking, but I'm a bit of a throwback. I prefer having hard copies of my music but that's just not how things are anymore.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLASSJAW Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Just now, Coconuts said: Heartbreaking, but I'm a bit of a throwback. I prefer having hard copies of my music but that's just not how things are anymore.. where do you live? plenty of physical media shops exist. if you're near victoria ever, check out Ditch Records Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Just now, GLASSJAW said: where do you live? plenty of physical media shops exist. if you're near victoria ever, check out Ditch Records Nanaimo, there's a few locally run places I can still get music but having HMV at Woodgrove has always been kinda nice? I can go there for the newer stuff and I've found some more obscure stuff there too. Metal can be a pain to find. There are places you'll still find the big names but places dedicated to music obviously have more of a selection. Next time I'm in Vic I'll def give em a look though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 This reminds me a little bit of the story about how Netflix killed Blockbuster. I find it amazing how these massive companies either do not or can not evolve beyond their primitive (yes I'm calling CD's and movie rentals primitive, definitely hard copy rentals) technology when the writing is more or less right on the wall in the form of trends. I remember buying piles of singles at HMV. Piles. A&B Sound too, even lined up for their incredibly pointless Boxing Day sales when I thought I needed to save %10 on 5 new albums. Now I happily enjoy Spotify, and am exposed to different artists at the click of a button. This internet stuff is amazing, and even though I know little of how to run a huge corporation, it still surprises me how a giant company like HMV couldn't get a finger or 2 in it when they had the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Neilsons Towel Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 This one hits me close to home. My Wife is the Store Manager at one of the local locations. She is on Maternity Leave and now has no job to go back to after 9 years with the company. It's the only job she's ever known as she started right out of school. Sad day for us. Perhaps people should think of that when they make fun of it closing. Closing 102 stores means a lot of good people are losing their jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofsurrey Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 6 minutes ago, Roger Neilson's Towel said: This one hits me close to home. My Wife is the Store Manager at one of the local locations. She is on Maternity Leave and now has no job to go back to after 9 years with the company. It's the only job she's ever known as she started right out of school. Sad day for us. Perhaps people should think of that when they make fun of it closing. Closing 102 stores means a lot of good people are losing their jobs. Sorry to hear that. That really sucks. Hoping she lands on her feet quickly when she re-enters the workforce. Congrats on your new addition to your family. We all need to hug the ones we love each and every day. So much sh...t in this world. Lost a few people in my life this week, one to the big C and the other in a Car accident. We all joke around on here without thinking about who / how we can be offensive. I know i have been guilty . Luckily Warhippy called me out on it. I heard what he had to say. I needed to hear it. thanks to him for saying it. Again, sorry about your wife's job loss. That really sucks. Wishing she lands an even better job soon when she wants to re=enter the job market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Neilsons Towel Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 5 minutes ago, Green Building said: This reminds me a little bit of the story about how Netflix killed Blockbuster. I find it amazing how these massive companies either do not or can not evolve beyond their primitive (yes I'm calling CD's and movie rentals primative, definitely hard copy rentals) technology when the writing is more or less right on the wall in the form of trends. I remember buying piles of singles at HMV. Piles. A&B Sound too, even lined up for their incredibly pointless Boxing Day sales when I thought I needed to save %10 on 5 new albums. Now I happily enjoy Spotify, and am exposed to different artists at the click of a button. This internet stuff is amazing, and even though I know little of how to run a huge corporation, it still surprises me how a giant company like HMV couldn't get a finger or 2 in it when they had the chance. They made an attempt. HMV has been selling music online much like iTunes the last few years, and also started carrying more diversified stock in hopes of bringing in more diverse clientele. Not too much more a Music store can do to stay relevant. Other than downloading music from them online with per song fees or memberships (which they were doing), what more would you suggest they had done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 2 minutes ago, Roger Neilson's Towel said: This one hits me close to home. My Wife is the Store Manager at one of the local locations. She is on Maternity Leave and now has no job to go back to after 9 years with the company. It's the only job she's ever known as she started right out of school. Sad day for us. Perhaps people should think of that when they make fun of it closing. Closing 102 stores means a lot of good people are losing their jobs. It sucks to read that one of our own has been affected by the stores closing, but Towel, if your wife has held a managerial position for 9 years she undoubtedly has acquired enough transferable skills to find a new position in any direction she fancies. Every business needs management, and with a family to help provide for motivating her then there's no reason for her to do anything but hold her head high. I'm sorry your wife is losing her job, and I hope you guys will land on your feet once the initial sting goes away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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