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HMV to close all stores in Canada
Last physical store with a selection of music is closing in my town and across Canada. Walmart is the last man standing. Kind of liked browsing and discovering new things. I am becoming obsolete.
1996: Toronto
2003: St. Paul
2005: Thunder Bay
2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa
2009: Chicago I, Chicago II
2010: Boston
2011: Toronto I, Toronto II, Winnipeg
2012: Missoula
2013: London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo
2014: St. Paul, Milwaukee
2016: Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto I, Toronto II
2022: Hamilton, Toronto
2023: St. Paul I, St. Paul II
2024: Vancouver I, Vancouver II
2003: St. Paul
2005: Thunder Bay
2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa
2009: Chicago I, Chicago II
2010: Boston
2011: Toronto I, Toronto II, Winnipeg
2012: Missoula
2013: London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo
2014: St. Paul, Milwaukee
2016: Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto I, Toronto II
2022: Hamilton, Toronto
2023: St. Paul I, St. Paul II
2024: Vancouver I, Vancouver II
Post edited by erebus on
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I bought my Backspacer CD on release day from the only HMV store where I live and at the time the astronaut drummer in space shirt was available for $10 w/ the purchase. I didn't buy it thinking that it would be available in the shop - ouch.
That is my only regret from my purchase of Backspacer.
HMV was the place to go just in case they had something that others didn't.
But not shocked. With digital media pretty much taken over everything I haven't seen amazing deals or specials there in a while, and I used to shop at the Spring Garden location for years. This time back in '98 they were running that sweet Pearl Jam contest to see them in Phoenix. Loved HMV's promo on Yield. After Yield, I never seen any Pearl Jam promo setups again here in Canada. It was sad.
With HMV closing down the local ma & pa records stores will br taking over, but many continue to jack up their prices. It's hard to support the local record stores when they sell the same product 25% more then what's on Amazon. Still blows my mind that single CD's are still selling for over 15 bucks.
These days if you wanna buy the physical audio / video media it's either you support & buy directly from the artists official website or Amazon with Prime.
Back in the day when there were more stores I found it cheaper to buy cd's at A&B sound and Future Shop.
The one thing HMV was good as was imports. Import versions were often hard to find and contained extra tracks from the north american version.
I guess I won't miss it too much.... but given how grim best buy's bluray and cd sections are.. maybe I should of made more of an effort to support it. Records are becoming easier to find than cd's these days.
"Me knowing the truth, I can not concur."
1996: Toronto - 1998: Chicago, Montreal, Barrie - 2000: Montreal, Toronto - 2002: Seattle X2 (Key Arena) - 2003: Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle (Benaroya Hall) - 2004: Reading, Toledo, Grand Rapids - 2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City - 2006: Toronto X2, Albany, Hartford, Grand Rapids, Cleveland - 2007: Chicago (Vic Theatre) - 2008: NYC X2, Hartford, Mansfield X2 - 2009: Toronto, Chicago X2, Seattle X2, Philadelphia X4 - 2010: Columbus, Noblesville, Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford - 2011: Montreal, Toronto X2, Ottawa, Hamilton - 2012: Missoula - 2013: London, Chicago, Buffalo, Hartford - 2014: Detroit, Moline - 2015: NYC (Global Citizen Festival) - 2016: Greenville, Toronto X2, Chicago 1 - 2017: Brooklyn (RRHOF Induction) - 2018: Chicago 1, Boston 1 - 2022: Fresno, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, NYC, Camden - 2023: St. Paul X2, Austin X2 - 2024: Vancouver X2, Portland, Sacramento, Noblesville, Philadelphia X2, Baltimore
Many folks interviewed on CTV News were not shocked at all. One dude said he's not surprised when CD's are still selling in there for over 20 bucks. I do miss the imports I used to score @ HMV when Sams closed many year's back. But still it was expensive to shop in there. When your up against digital media, reduce the price on those cds & dvds man.
Sad state for my town, it's the only record shop - next one is 5 hours away.
Personally I love the interaction in a record shop: The physical hands on, flipping through CD's or records, the dialogue with the employees, trivial suggestions back and forth with other browsers, not to mention the personal time. The intangible value of a record shop is worth more than the few dollars I could save by purchasing online. I will miss the romance.
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
I guess I'm kind of counterarguing that it's not only Amazon. Even before the time of Amazon, other plays did a better job. I suppose HMV outlasted them but they went into a giant hole to do it :(
I guess the real answer is that physical media isn't popular enough to warrant being sold in stores anymore. At least not bigger operations with lots of floor space, and high rent/lease costs. People in my age group primarly have their collections establish. You don't have a new format (cd) that everyone's rebuying they're collections on. In the early/mid 90's you had the older demographic buying into the new format, and the younger generation buy everything for the first time. Now you've got the older generation who doesn't need to buy a new format, and a younger generation that's gone mainly digital.
I don't think there's anything that stores like HMV could of one. Physical media is becoming a niche product, and that's what they sell :( Warehousing outfits like Amazon have much lower overhead and can order from suppliers on demand. Makes it easier for them I suppose.
The escalator going up anticipating a possible Pearl Jam find was exciting. That is how I discovered and own gremmie out of control on tape. It got to the point the staff told me when I came to the top of the escalator "sorry", nothing new.
I agree that most people our age have their collections established by now but damn I feel for others that are just starting.
I'm actually suprised at the # of Victoria people that post in these forums, given that our city isn't superbig. What I wouldn't give to have been old enough to go to the show's at harpo's lol....
www.headstonesband.com
www.headstonesband.com
And true about local indie shops. Many of the ma & pa shops raise the prices on vinyl which have me turning to online shopping where I can find it way cheaper, including postage.
I still don't understand why HMV, Music World & Sam The Record Man etc.. continued to sell new CD releases for over 16 bucks knowing digital online downloading is cheaper and affecting their business.
if they didn't sell them for over $16 then they wouldn't turn any profit. walmart can afford to sell cd's cheaper as that is not their sole business. it's a very very small part of it. but their selection is terrible. we just have to admit that the big box cd shop is done. it's no longer viable. it's sad, but true.
I used to love heading downtown and having my choice of HMV, Sam the Record Man, Musiplex, and I can't even remember how many others. A&B Sound was an amazing store too.
all things must pass.
www.headstonesband.com