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MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT retail chain HMV may yet return to Ireland, after the company’s UK business was bought out by a company with significant experience in saving distressed retail firms.
Hilco UK this morning confirmed its acquisition of the British HMV chain, including 141 stores – 25 of which had previously been earmarked for closure by administrators Deloitte.
The move – thought to be worth £50 million (€58.9 million) – will save 2,500 retail jobs in the UK.
Hilco CEO Paul McGowan said the firm had negotiated with landlords to revise the terms of the lease for various premises.
“We hope to replicate some of the success we have had in the Canadian market with the HMV Canada business which we acquired almost two years ago and which is now trading strongly,” he said.
“The structural differences in the markets and the higher level of competition in the UK will prove additional challenges for the UK business but we believe it has a successful future ahead of it.”
Hilco has had mixed success in trying to save retail chains in the past: the firm bought Irish fashion retailer A-Wear in October 2011, and sold it five months later after implementing an internal restructuring.
However, it was also the final owner of the failed Woolworths chain which was liquidated in 2009.
The firm said it was keen to see HMV return to the Republic of Ireland, where the chain’s 16 stores were closed two months ago with the loss of 300 jobs.
It said it was in talks with a number of landlords with a view to re-establishing the HMV brand in the country.
The chain is unlikely to return to its flagship premises on Dublin’s Grafton Street, however: the premises were put up for rent earlier this week, a development which may suggest little progress in negotiations between Hilco and the premises’ owner.
The Guardian reports this morning that a site on Henry Street is a more likely proposition.
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Hopefully they come back, I miss HMV. It was always a place to pop into while the other half is off shopping.
And to do 75% of your christmas shopping
I miss HMV, too. Hope it returns.
Bigtime Ciaran . With you there.
This is fantastic news. Nowhere else with a decent selection of Dvd’s and BluRays which isn’t extortionate.
Fantastic, they might get into developing photos too or dvd rentals… or selling fax machines… the music industry is coming to an end… Time to embrace the future…
How is the music industry coming to an end? Are people still not recording and producing music and selling it to the general public? I think you mean that retailing physical music recordings on high rent high streets is coming is in terminal decline.
Yip… sales of physical music discs.. pardon me…
Phew … I thought I’d never get the chance to return this Justin Bieber CD..!
Hate to break it to you but I don’t think they’re taking back Justin beiber cds either.
Justin Beiber album for sale… Will swap for one tin of peas!
If you give me 5 euro’s I’ll take it off your hands, thats my best offer :P
Brilliant. Had a little chuckle there.
I hear Golden Discs are short Bieber albums, trade them there.
Great news! Hope they re-employ all the staff they had, back.
Hopefully the Galway store might open too, they had great staff and are missed.
A great selection of Blue Rays and DVDs in Golden Discs and its Irish owned.
The Hilco CEO is Irish, from Dundalk
Since HMV closed I have bought more Cds and DVDs from the little independent stores. The last thing I want to see is one of those small stores close down. HMVs closure was a real eye opener. Small independent stores need to learn from this and adapt to the changing market. They need to go online with digital downloads like golden discs has done. HMV is great but learn from this and support those local stores aswell because when they go bust, they’re not coming back as some billionaire won’t be buying it.
….little independent stores?
Smaller than hmv stores. Not on a global scale.
Actually that’s true of me too Mark. And my local seller has improved by being willing to order on DVDs and CDs for me.
So lesson learned from HMV there.
Not sure I will be giving them back my custom, after the appalling way they treated their Irish customers and staff.
We would be better off with a new venture opening in that sole store. And supporting Irish business!!!
They will get my custom again. I am not into digital downloading as I prefer to have physical copies of music, movies and especially games as I know then that I actually own the damn thing and not subject to some stupid DRM restriction. They should open up online as well with web only offers along with store only offers to attract customers on both ends. I hope they get their store back in Patrick St. (Cork)
It would be great if this did happen, and if they re-employed all of the old staff who would then accept my €50 voucher…
€50 is an awful lot, I really hope they honour it for you.
Thanks Liz. I’ll sell it to you for face value :)
€25 voucher still in my wallet. Fingers crossed.
Hope for the best. Expect the worst.
Best of luck Barry with that voucher.
Two of them in mine, too – fingers and toes crossed :)
They’ve lost any goodwill towards them with the voucher debacle.
It’s also not a viable business in the long run anyway – this a stay of execution at best.
It’s very viable if they run it correctly. If its the big mish mash it was before they went it will fail but if they go down the route of their fopp business in the uk or tower here there is a future, they just need to focus on their core business, music and film, do it well and cater for vinyl, which is making a massive comeback and has higher margins than CDs.
I don’t think so. Were that many people really affected by the voucher issue at all and for how much per person? I think that the voucher issue was a wake up call for consumers and were probably better off as a result.
Yeah, if they modelled the new shops like fopp or better yet open a fopp in Ireland. Love the one in Manchester.
I also don’t get why some people derive so much satisfaction from the shutting down of HMV and other retailers. Fair enough, download all you want, and that’s the future, but if people still want to buy dvds and cds, that’s their choice.
Goodwill to who? The voucher decision was nothing to do with hmv, it was a Deloitte decision. So You’ve lost your goodwill towards Deloitte? As have I. They’re not in the business of making friends, they don’t care about customer satisfaction.
This is great news though. HMV is the last of the music retail giants, it’ll be a huge plus to have them back. It’s crazy how hard it is to buy music without them.. Lets hope it works and they can reopen as many as possible. Hilco’s takeover of HMV Canada was really successful.
Hopefully this happens. Grafting street & Dundrum not quite the same without it!
Grafton*
AUTOCORRECT!!!! *shakes fist*
Hilco may have saved Awear, the problem there is you can’t download a pair of jeans and a top for Saturday night. I believe the days of HMV and stores of its like are coming to an end due to the download market, be it illegally or not. Yes, they will still have their loyal customers but whether its enough remains to be seen.
I’d like to seem them back. I like physical product and I’d rather buy from a real music shop that employs Irish people than from Amazon.
Sadly, I don’t think there’s enough of us. I like my box sets, my limited editions, the bonus discs and all that McGubbins, but I’m in a minority; most folks like me are of a certain age and not getting any younger.
Still, best of luck to the new folks.
Fingers crossed they dont come back.
As popular a comment as your team
No way, I’ve sold all my gift vouchers on donedeal :(
It’s a new owner so technically they would still be within their rights not to honour the vouchers, just as the administrators were…
Wouldn’t be the worlds greatest PR move to do that just as they return…..I would expect they would honour them purely to start on the right foot
Damn I just bought some vouchers on donedeal
Give it a proper vinyl section and I’m happy.
Yes Joseph, a good vinyl section is a must this time.
Really hope they come back and re-open in Blanch and Liffey Valley, loved popping in there to pick up the latest Blu-Ray Steelbook exclusive and always competitive on new releases, so lets hope it opens up again soon!
Excellent they have been missed..hope their back soon
Im soooo happy words cant explain
With online sales and this economy they’ll be mad. Bad business sense. Virgin made the right move years ago.
Virgin made the right move alright by going belly up ad selling for £1
They better. New Alic In Chains album out next month.
What a stupid comment to make !
It’d be good to see them back again, but I think they’ll probably need to rethink what they’re selling in order to stay in business. For the last few years all they seemed to stock were DVD boxsets and Apple hardware.
It would be great if the grafton street branch came back, tower records is pure hardship to shop in. :(
Great. We need more museums in Ireland
As a retail business they’re unnecessary in the modern era. Their bread and butter business is mainstream pop albums. The classical CD market is better served by amazon, house and dance better served by specialist stores and real alternative music is being sold online. This would be a stay of execution at best. They morally should honour gift vouchers, but I suspect that they won’t.
I really no longer see the point of HMV unless they could impossibly undercut digital vendors. Now that can happen with games as GameStop are often cheaper than Origin (Simcity) or Steam, but I don’t see how a fragile company just back from the dead can do the same as a vast computer games retailer.
Wouldn’t give them any of my money. Buy something and it closes down and leaves me screwed again, not a hope
have your say