HMV used to be one of the most exciting shops in the country, offering CDs, DVDs and other entertainment options to its customers. The proliferation of online streaming all but caused the death of such physical media, however, with the store seeing shops close up and down the country.
There was a fear from many that the same was happening in Guildford when it was confirmed that it would close its doors for the final time on the 29th of October. The good news is, however, that the company is looking for a new home in Guildford, so HMV will live on in the town.
About HMV
Those of a certain age will know all about HMV and the company’s place on Britain’s high street, whilst younger readers won’t know a huge amount about it. In 1898, an artist called Francis Barraud painted a work entitled His Master’s Voice, in which his late dog, Nipper, stood listening to a phonograph. The painting and its rights were sold to the Gramophone Company a year later, allowing it to put the symbol on its sound equipment. Ten years after that, the company created the His Master’s Voice record label, opening its first dedicated shop on London’s Oxford Street in 1921.
It took until 1966 for the company, by the time better known by the acronym HMV, to start expanding the retail side of the business. Numerous new shops were opened across London, seeing it become established as the country’s leading retailer that specialised in music. By the 1990s, HMV had 320 shops around the country, strengthening its place on the high street courtesy of numerous different mergers and acquisitions. The advent of MP3 players and, eventually, online streaming resulted in HMV entering administration keeping a few shops open around the UK.
The Guildford Store
Whilst many young people are more than happy to listen to music via the countless different streaming apps that exist, as well as the likes of YouTube, there is a desire from many to ensure that they still have physical media in their lives. That has allowed HMV to keep going, even if on a much smaller scale than the company that existed before. The store in Guildford was based in the Friary Centre for decades, but at the start of October, posters were put up around the shop confirming that it would be closing on the 29th of October, permanently leaving its previous home.
HMV has a brand that has existed in Guildford for a long time, having initially opened up on Swan Lane before moving to a different location in the late 1990s. Then, in the 2000s, it was on the move again, seeing the shop in the Friary Centre opening up. When the company confirmed that 27 stores were going to close in 2019, the Guildford branch was successful enough to remain open and miss being part of the cull. There is obviously a sadness from the store’s regular users, who will miss being able to pop into HMV and buy the likes of CDs, LPs and band memorabilia.
Why It’s Closing
A spokesperson for HMV confirmed that the store in Guildford was going to close, but allayed some fears that it would be departing the town’s high street for good. They said,
The landlord is redeveloping the building that we occupy in Guildford and so unfortunately we have been forced to look for an alternative location. We are actively looking for a new space and hope we will not be away for long.
At present, the exact location that the shop is going to move to is unknown, so there is the slight possibility that no new venue will be found and HMV will not reopen after all. Of course, those that have long spent their time and money in the shop will be only too aware of the fact that they will be wanting to see it come back to Guildford before too long. If you fit into that bracket then it is very much worth taking the company at its word.
The fact that it is because of building redevelopment that it’s closing, rather than not enough customers spending money there, is certainly suggestive of a shop that is likely to find somewhere else to open. The problem for HMV, though, will be finding a store that is the right size and with the right location in the town.