The end of the Road for over the counter ?

[Ferretfancy]

According to last night's Evening Standard :-

"HMV's flagship store on Oxford Street is to become a Sports Direct branch. The sportswear firm is believed to have paid up to £ 5 million to take on the lease of the 60,000 square feet store. The shop opened in 1984 and was the world's largest record store.
HMV went into liquidation this year, and its owners Hilco are seeking a smaller site on Oxford Street."

If they succeed, I will be very surprised if they carry more than a token classical stock.

[antongould]

You could well be right sir Newcastle's major CD retailer is gradually cutting down on its CD stock and giving over space to instruments etc. - it now displays about 40% of the level of classical CDs it would have, say, four years ago.

[David-G]

You could well be right sir Newcastle's major CD retailer is gradually cutting down on its CD stock and giving over space to instruments etc. - it now displays about 40% of the level of classical CDs it would have, say, four years ago.

Is that Windows in the arcade? I remember it as a lovely shop.

[Serial_Apologist]

It seems that, excepting on-line, or by buying them from musicians at gigs for a tenner, it is going to get more and more difficult to obtain CDs.

[antongould]

Is that Windows in the arcade? I remember it as a lovely shop.

Indeed ....you Mark Knopfler, Bryan Ferry et al....

[gurnemanz]

I vaguely recall going to Windows umpteen years ago when I was a student at Durham, but mostly I remember their ads in Gramophone.

[french frank]

"HMV's flagship store on Oxford Street is to become a Sports Direct branch. The sportswear firm is believed to have paid up to £ 5 million to take on the lease of the 60,000 square feet store. The shop opened in 1984 and was the world's largest record store.
HMV went into liquidation this year, and its owners Hilco are seeking a smaller site on Oxford Street."

I hope that the small independent specialist shops will manage to soldier on - rather as the smaller independent record labels do. But I suppose it's just that the small retailers go under quietly and the big ones hit the headlines.

[salymap]

So the 'flagship store' of HMV isn't the one I remember from the 1950s onwards. It had cubicles with curtains covered in written music, we took our 78s -LPs listened in comfort.

We sometimes bought, sometimes
not but were never hurried. It was a haven at lunchtime but things have changed since then.

Helpful staff too.

[Sir Velo]

Am I alone in thinking this thread was going to be about tightening controls on the sales of pharmaceuticals?

[Ferretfancy]

So the 'flagship store' of HMV isn't the one I remember from the 1950s onwards. It had cubicles with curtains covered in written music, we took our 78s -LPs listened in comfort.

We sometimes bought, sometimes
not but were never hurried. It was a haven at lunchtime but things have changed since then.

Helpful staff too.

Ah yes! saly!

I used to go during the holidays with a school friend. Each listening cubicle was named after a composer, and the curtains were oatmeal fabric with musical examples of the composer in question. We used to collect a batch of 78s from the helpful assistants at the counter, and spend a long time listening to them before buying perhaps just one. They even trusted you to operate the record player yourself.This was in the late forties and early fifties.

The old store is now a branch of Foot Locker, HMV moved across the road for some years before they closed that one down, retaining the huge store at the other end of Oxford Street which is now going too.

[BBMmk2]

Anybody taking a holdiay down in brighton & Hove, might like to sdtroll down George Street, where they might spy that erstwhile shop Fine Records, with it's charismatic owner.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Anybody taking a holdiay down in brighton & Hove, might like to sdtroll down George Street, where they might spy that erstwhile shop Fine Records, with it's charismatic owner.

Bah, didn't get there on a recent stay in Brighton for a conference. Did find some good s/h & charity shop purchases though.

Is the very elegant and fragrant bin-strike over yet??

[BBMmk2]

We were there last night and it does'nt seem to be! Horrible!!

[salymap]

Ah yes! saly!

I used to go during the holidays with a school friend. Each listening cubicle was named after a composer, and the curtains were oatmeal fabric with musical examples of the composer in question. We used to collect a batch of 78s from the helpful assistants at the counter, and spend a long time listening to them before buying perhaps just one. They even trusted you to operate the record player yourself.This was in the late forties and early fifties.

The old store is now a branch of Foot Locker, HMV moved across the road for some years before they closed that one down, retaining the huge store at the other end of Oxford Street which is now going too.

That's it Ferret, we didn't even buy one disc sometimes but they put up with us and we heard some lovely music that way. We are probably the only people here who remember it.

[Padraig]

That's it Ferret, we didn't even buy one disc sometimes but they put up with us and we heard some lovely music that way. We are probably the only people here who remember it.

Uptown today, saly, couldn't help thinking about some of the remarks herein. Different places - similar experiences. I passed the site that used to be where our Saturday afternoon forays for free music took place in the 50s -Beethoven House then, Barnardo's now. My father's piano came from there, and my Chris Barber 78s, as well as my boxed set of LPs of Bach's B minor Mass, a special order and my last purchase from H.B Phillips. I remember it well saly.

http://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/h-b-phillips-impresario-the-man-who-brought-mccormack-kreisler-and-robeson-to-derry