HMV Oxford Street - Closing Down Sale

[Beef Oven!]

Are there any vinyl shops left in Upper St? My Rega is in the loft and has been for years - surface noise ruins vinyl for me. Different ears, eh. Though I'd like to think we all can tell how carp 128 bits sound.

Btw i have the Wand box on CD right now and it's great - remastered. Some of it shakes the floorboards, which is the highest comp I can pay anything.

PS Talk Talk - fantastic. I bloody hope he's making enough to live. V cruel business. Another convo, obv.

Yes, I went into two very well-stocked ones, both on the right hand sides as you walk down from Essex Road. Very little classical, loads of jazz, rock and a fair bit of avant garde.

Vinyl must be back in vogue coz the prices seemed very steep to me.

I flogged all my vinyl 10 years ago, but a few weeks ago there was a discussion going on in here about turntables. Made me get my Thorens out of the loft and set it up through my active speakers. So I just want to grab a few LPs. I bought 'Larks Tongues In Aspic' and 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' on 200g vinyl, the Talk Talk and I fancy getting hold of some Mahler songs.

I used to have a Rega Planer too (two?), back in the day!

Who's making enough money to live? Hollis? I expect so, he quit the business to be a proper family man and has never looked back. Shame for us, his one and only solo album is utterly brilliant! As you say, another convo.

Love Wand. Got loads of Bruckner, Schubert and Schuman. Saw him in concert too (Bruckner & Schubert).

[Ferretfancy]

I first visited the original HMV shop in about 1948 / 9 with a friend from school. On the ground floor there was a row of small listening rooms, each one with a record player for 78s. There were tasteful oatmeal coloured wall hangings with music notation on them, and each booth was named after a composer. You could select a heap of discs at the central counter, and stay as long as you wanted before buying just one with your pocket money and returning the rest..

I have very fond memories of the old shop and its successors. I think that they made a big mistake in simply becoming a record and video shop, instead of remaining a diverse music shop. You could buy anything connected with music there, even a grand piano ! With the enthusiasm for music we have today, there would have been scope for a central London store selling sheet music, guitars, other instruments etc. perhaps even opportunities for music tuition etc. This is what many of the successful surviving independents have always done.

[amateur51]

I think that they made a big mistake in simply becoming a record and video shop, instead of remaining a diverse music shop. You could buy anything connected with music there, even a grand piano ! With the enthusiasm for music we have today, there would have been scope for a central London store selling sheet music, guitars, other instruments etc. perhaps even opportunities for music tuition etc. This is what many of the successful surviving independents have always done.

A shining example of this is Les Aldrich Music ('music is our thing') in Muswell Hill, London N10 - they've got the lot in a tardis-like shop

http://www.lesaldrichmusic.co.uk/

[Beef Oven!]

I first visited the original HMV shop in about 1948 / 9 with a friend from school. On the ground floor there was a row of small listening rooms, each one with a record player for 78s. There were tasteful oatmeal coloured wall hangings with music notation on them, and each booth was named after a composer. You could select a heap of discs at the central counter, and stay as long as you wanted before buying just one with your pocket money and returning the rest..

I have very fond memories of the old shop and its successors. I think that they made a big mistake in simply becoming a record and video shop, instead of remaining a diverse music shop. You could buy anything connected with music there, even a grand piano ! With the enthusiasm for music we have today, there would have been scope for a central London store selling sheet music, guitars, other instruments etc. perhaps even opportunities for music tuition etc. This is what many of the successful surviving independents have always done.

Very interesting and thank you for sharing. So many things in this forum worth archiving

[MrGongGong]

You could buy anything connected with music there, even a grand piano ! With the enthusiasm for music we have today, there would have been scope for a central London store selling sheet music, guitars, other instruments etc. perhaps even opportunities for music tuition etc. This is what many of the successful surviving independents have always done.

Sadly (Chappells being a prime example) this isn't feasible today
Most people would either want a specialist (of the Paxman variety or the guitar specialists etc) shop OR only use the shop as a showroom to try things out which they will then buy on the internet and have delivered to their house.

[Ferretfancy]

A shining example of this is Les Aldrich Music ('music is our thing') in Muswell Hill, London N10 - they've got the lot in a tardis-like shop

http://www.lesaldrichmusic.co.uk/

I was going to mention this excellent shop. Have you been to it lately ? A little while ago the shop was in financial difficulty, but a man who had been buying records there for donkey's years offered to buy the business. His only stipulation was that there should be no changes whatsoever, and apart from the installation of a couple of armchairs for the customers that is what has happened.

[amateur51]

I was going to mention this excellent shop. Have you been to it lately ? A little while ago the shop was in financial difficulty, but a man who had been buying records there for donkey's years offered to buy the business. His only stipulation was that there should be no changes whatsoever, and apart from the installation of a couple of armchairs for the customers that is what has happened.

This is Mr Rosenblatt of the Rosenblatt Concerts at Wigmore Hall. A wealthy man with his heart in the right place, I'd say

[amateur51]

HMV's resurgent Bond Street tube store has a sale on at the moment, some giood DVD bargains plus a few CD ones too.they're banging out Trifonov's Carnegie Hall recital disc and Uchida's much-praised Schumann disc for £7.99 each BUT if you buy them together you get them for a total of £15 Not bad for two recently released top flight discs.

[Serial_Apologist]

HMV's resurgent Bond Street tube store has a sale on at the moment, some giood DVD bargains plus a few CD ones too.they're banging out Trifonov's Carnegie Hall recital disc and Uchida's much-praised Schumann disc for £7.99 each BUT if you buy them together you get them for a total of £15 Not bad for two recently released top flight discs.

Thanks for the tip, ams!

[clive heath]

Will also miss the Oxford Street East shop as apart from many valued purchases, it was the ideal place for spotting the Lesser Oddie. (How the saintly Humble put up with him.........?)

[VodkaDilc]

I was surprised to see Closing Down signs on the Oxford branch today (City of, not Street).

The last time I spoke to the staff there, before Christmas, they seemed optimistic that they were secure. Nothing in the local papers yet, as far as I know. Is this the end of HMV? A shame for those of us who like to buy physical CDs and DVDs in real shops.

[Flosshilde]

Two branches in Edinburgh (not the Princes St one) are closing. The report I saw said that the new owners were planning to close over a hundred branches (can't remember exactly how many), but I got the impression that it was rationalising where there was more than one branch.

[VodkaDilc]

I was surprised to see Closing Down signs on the Oxford branch today (City of, not Street).

The last time I spoke to the staff there, before Christmas, they seemed optimistic that they were secure. Nothing in the local papers yet, as far as I know. Is this the end of HMV? A shame for those of us who like to buy physical CDs and DVDs in real shops.

I've just done some 'on-line research' and was directed to the Oxford HMV Twitter page (I'm really treading on new ground today), where it seems to suggest that they will be moving to a new, smaller shop at the end of February. Good news, I suppose. The current Cornmarket branch is very spacious, so presumably too expensive to keep going.

[Ferretfancy]

I was surprised to see Closing Down signs on the Oxford branch today (City of, not Street).

The last time I spoke to the staff there, before Christmas, they seemed optimistic that they were secure. Nothing in the local papers yet, as far as I know. Is this the end of HMV? A shame for those of us who like to buy physical CDs and DVDs in real shops.

A shame indeed. Buying online is all very well,and I do use it, but it isn't really possible to browse and consider in the way you can in a shop. I have many fascinating recordings bought on impulse while browsing, now opportunities to find surprises are being curtailed. I guess I'll have to visit Gramex more often, and they usually offer a cup of tea !

[amateur51]

A shame indeed. Buying online is all very well,and I do use it, but it isn't really possible to browse and consider in the way you can in a shop. I have many fascinating recordings bought on impulse while browsing, now opportunities to find surprises are being curtailed. I guess I'll have to visit Gramex more often, and they usually offer a cup of tea !

Sometimes even a biscuit if Roger's feeling flush