HMV Stores to Live On in the U.K.

The HMV chain of music retail stores in the United Kingdom has been purchased, pulling it out of administration status.

HMV filed for administrative protection – the U.K. equivalent of bankruptcy – this past Jan. while it went in a search of a buyer. Despite having closed 66 of its stores during this time, the company has indeed found a buyer in Hilco, the company that also holds the Canadian HMV stores, has agreed to purchase the remaining 141 stores which are comprised of 132 HMV branded stores, and the remaining nine Fopp locations.

Hilco plans to retain all of the 2,643 employees in the company, and will move away from a plan that would have seen the HMV stores move deeper into tablets and away from music and video.

While no price of the purchase was announced, The Hollywood Reporter stated that some reports pegged the price of the company at £50 million, or approximately $76 million USD.

The 141 stores included in the sale are:

Aberdeen, Ayr, Banbury, Bangor (Wales), Basildon, Basingstoke, Bath, Belfast Donegall Arcade, Birmingham Bullring, Blackpool, Bluewater, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton Churchill, Bristol Broadmead, Bristol Cribbs, Bromley, Bury, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Chichester, Colchester, Coventry, Crawley, Cwmbran, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Dundee, East Kilbride, Eastbourne, Edinburgh Fort Retail, Edinburgh Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh Princes Street, Exeter, FOPP Bristol, FOPP Cambridge, FOPP Covent Garden, FOPP Edinburgh, FOPP Glasgow Byres Road, FOPP Glasgow Union Street, FOPP Gower Street London, FOPP Manchester, FOPP Nottingham, Gateshead, Glasgow Argyle, Glasgow Buchanan, Glasgow Fort, Gloucester, Grimsby, Guernsey, Guildford, Hanley, Harlow, Harrogate, Hastings, Hatfield, Hereford, High Wycombe, Horsham, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Islington, Jersey, Kettering, Kings Lynn, Kingston, Leamington Spa, Leeds Headrow, Leeds White Rose, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool One, Livingston, Llandudno, Maidstone, Manchester 90 Market Street, Manchester Trafford, Mansfield, Merry Hill, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Newport (Wales), Northampton, Norwich Gentlemans Walk, Norwich Chapelfield, Nottingham Victoria, Nuneaton, Oxford, Oxford Circus, Peterborough Queensgate, Plymouth Drake Circus, Poole, Portsmouth Commercial Road, Portsmouth Gun Wharf Quay, Preston, Reading Oracle, Romford, Selfridges Oxford Street, Sheffield High Street, Sheffield Meadowhall, Shrewsbury, Solihull, Southampton, Southend Victoria, Southport, Speke Park, Staines, Stevenage, Stirling, Stockport, Stratford upon Avon, Stratford City Westfield, Sunderland, Sutton, Swansea, Taunton, Thanet, Thurrock, Truro, Tunbridge Wells, Uxbridge, Westfield London, Wimbledon, Winchester, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Worthing, Yeovil, York.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

HMV could be saved by Asda as WH Smith sells CDs, DVDs again

Bottom-patting supermarket Asda could be about to step in for HMV, as WH Smith looks to fill the high street CD and DVD void left by the ailing music and movie chain.

The Telegraph reports that Asda is in talks with HMV's administrator Deloitte to take over the music, movie and game retailer. Restructuring company Hilco has already bought the chain's debt and was the bookie's favourite to take over, but Asda could swoop in for the remaining stores instead.

Asda is reportedly looking to continue selling under the HMV brand rather than simply taking over the buildings owned by HMV.

One of the deciding factors in who gets to rescue HMV is likely to be the support of record labels, film studios and other suppliers. Suppliers are said to have agreed favourable credit terms with Hilco, but are also likely to be on good terms with Asda, which also sells chart CDs, DVDs and games.

Asda could be looking to the HMV brand to rival Blinkbox, the online movie and TV show streaming and download service owned by Tesco.

Pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap 

Ironically, the arrival of CDs and DVDs piled high and sold cheap in supermarkets has been one of the factors contributing to the decline in record shops-- as a great man once observed -- albeit not as much of a factor as online sales and downloads.

Stationer and newsagent WH Smith is reported to be planning a return to selling CDs and DVDs in select locations, to plug the gap left by HMV for movies and music on the high street.

Just 116 HMV stores are set to remain open, roughly half the number open before the wheels fell off. HMV had 223 shops and 4,123 staff when it spiralled into administration in January, with well over 1,000 jobs still under threat.

[Source: CNET]

HMV closing 66 shops, with nearly 1,000 jobs under threat

HMV is bringing down the shutters on 66 shops, threatening 930 staff. After an angry employee hijacked HMV's Twitter last week, the retailer's administrators have finally revealed which stores are to be axed.

The 66 branches of the ailing music, DVD and games chain will close over the next two months. Read on to see if your branch is to be axed.

In England, stores will close in:

• Ashton-under-Lyne
• Barnsley
• Bayswater
• Bexleyheath
• Birkenhead
• Birmingham Fort
• Blackburn
• Boston
• Bournemouth Castlepoint
• Bracknell
• Burton-upon-Trent
• Camberley
• Chesterfield
• Croydon Centrale
• Durham
• Fulham
• Huddersfield
• Leamington Spa
• Leeds White Rose
• Liverpool Speke Park
• London Trocadero
• Loughborough
• Luton
• Manchester Market Street
• Moorgate
• Orpington
• Rochdale
• Scunthorpe
• South Shields
• St Albans
• St Helens
• Stockton-on-Tees
• Tamworth
• Teesside
• Telford
• Wakefield
• Walsall
• Walton-on-Thames
• Wandsworth
• Warrington
• Watford
• Wellingborough
• Wigan
• Wood Green
• Workington

In Scotland:

• Dumfries
• Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird
• Edinburgh Gyle Centre
• Edinburgh Ocean Terminal
• Edinburgh Princes Street
• Edinburgh St James Centre
• Falkirk
• Glasgow Fort
• Glasgow Silverburn
• Glasgow Braehead
• Kirkcaldy

In Northern Ireland, these stores will go:

• Ballymena
• Belfast Boucher Road
• Belfast Forestside
• Coleraine
• Craigavon
• Derry
• Lisburn
• Newry
• Newtownabbey

In Wales, only the Wrexham branch will close.

Although not named in the list of doomed shops, HMV's flagship Oxford Street store is also thought to be under threat. The 50,000 square-foot shop could raise around £6m if sold to interested parties, said to include H&M, Zara and JD Sports.  

As many as 100 of HMV's 220 branches were reported to be under threat earlier this week, so 66 store closures is better than feared. That is, of course, small comfort for those staff who face losing their job -- fingers crossed they can find something before stores close their doors over the next couple of months.

Around 190 jobs have already been lost at HMV's head office and distribution network, prompting a disgruntled employee to hijack the company's official Twitter feed with angry tweets. The mystery whistleblower called it a "mass execution of loyal employees" and lamented that the company had been "ruined".

HMV went into administration last month. Restructuring expert Hilco has bought the company's debt, and could now take full control of the chain to ensure it survives -- albeit in drastically reduced form.

[Source: CNET]

HMV Canada owner takes control of HMV UK in attempt to rescue troubled chain

HMV's 91-year long tenure on the British high street might not be coming to an end after all, as HMV Canada's owner has mounted a rescue attempt. The rescuer in this instance is Hilco, which previously picked up Polaroid's brand and paired it with famous insolvency specialist Lady Gaga. BBC News is reporting that Hilco scored a cut-price rate on the £176 million ($278.8 million) corporate debt and has already received cheering words from the film and music industry. After a bout of uncertainty, HMV has also said it'll once again accept gift cards in its stores.

[Image credit: London Express / Getty Images]

[Source: Engadget]

HMV gift cards to be accepted again from tomorrow

Attention, shoppers: HMV is accepting gift cards. Yes, the troubled music, video and games shop will this week once again let you use your vouchers to pay for stuff.

Branches of HMV will accept gift cards from tomorrow, Tuesday 22 February. Great news for anyone who got a gift card for Christmas or recently received vouchers as a refund.

More than 50 potential buyers have expressed interest in saving the ailing chain, with Hilco, the restructuring specialist that bought HMV Canada in 2011, currently reported to be the favourite. HMV's suppliers, including record labels and film studios, are reported to be willing to offer Hilco favourable credit terms. It seems HMV could weather this particular storm after all.

If HMV is sold to new owners in the coming months, they could then decide not to honour old vouchers. In that unlikely event, you could try and claim your money back from your credit or debit card provider -- check out our guide to your options.

The question of gift cards caused a right old kerfuffle when administrators Deloitte decreed vouchers had been suspended. One disgruntled customer in Dublin was so short of gruntlement he simply helped himself to games of an equivalent value to his useless gift card and marched from the shop. But as frustrating as it is to be out of pocket, it's not the staff's fault.

Also in trouble on the high street is Blockbuster, currently in administration, and in danger of following Jessops and Comet into oblivion.

[Source: CNET]

HMV shops could be bought by administration survivor Game

HMV could be thrown a lifeline from an unlikely source: Game. The video games retailer survived administration last year, but is considering buying branches of HMV as the music chain crashes into oblivion.

Game boss Martyn Gibbs says it's interested in buying a selected number of stores, but hasn't confirmed numbers. He probably has two that he wants but doesn't fancy anything for the third.

HMV has around 235 branches. Sources say there are around 40 HMV branches in places where there's no branch of Game, so they could well be targets.

Game isn't the only player interested in HMV. The Financial Times reports there have been as many as 50 expressions of interest in buying the company. 

4,000 jobs are at risk if the 91-year-old music and movie chain doesn't make it. Administrators Deloitte were called in at the start of the week, suspending online sales and refusing to accept gift cards -- prompting anger from the many gift card-holding customers left out of pocket. If you do have a gift card, you're at the back of the queue to get your money back from HMV, but if they were bought with a credit or debit card you could get your money back; check out our guide to your legal rights and what you can do.

Game has itself circled the drain in recent times, entering administration last March and closing a whopping 300 stores. The gaming chain was bought by investment firm OpCapita and is now in much better shape; after a better holiday season than expected, it's set to hit this year revenue targets.

Not every shop is so lucky: Comet, Jessops and Blockbuster have all entered administration in the last few weeks.

[Source: CNET]

HMV stops online orders as potential buyers circle

HMV has powered down its HMV.com website, halting online orders entirely, as the longstanding retailer enters administration.

Although its high street shops are still open, HMV says its website "has been suspended following the appointment of the Joint Administrators", going on to confirm, "No purchases can be made online until further notice."

HMV is continuing its post-Christmas blue cross sale in an effort to generate more cash, but for the time being it seems any bargains you snap up will have to happen over the till.

It's possible HMV will reopen its site further into the administration process, though when now-extinct retailer Comet went the same way last year (also turning to administrators Deloitte), it similarly put the kibosh on online orders.

The 91-year-old company has sparked anger by refusing to accept gift cards or vouchersfollowing the news that it was looking for a buyer. If you had an outstanding order with its online service, it's unclear what will happen to your purchase -- I've contacted Deloitte about this, and also to ask whether the site will reopen, and I'll update this story if I hear back.

HMV could have a future, meanwhile, as Deloitte says it's been contacted by parties interested in buying the ailing chain, Sky News reports. It's not clear who would be keen to snap up the firm, but as a major high-street name HMV's business could hold some appeal, even though the existing management wasn't able to make enough cash to keep it afloat.

[Source: CNET]

HMV gift cards: you're 'at the bottom of the pile'

Know your rights, as The Clash once sang. As HMV crashes into adminstration, threatening 4,000 jobs, many irate customers have been left out of pocket with gift cards and online orders under threat. But what are your rights as a customer?

Technically, once it enters administration a company no longer exists in its present form, so it doesn't have to fulfill promises like accepting vouchers. Unless administrators Deloitte decide to honour HMV's gift cards, you may find yourself out of luck. 

Fortunately, finances guru Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com offers advice on rescuing your gift cards as well as bargain-hunting at the troubled HMV.

Gift cards

HMV isn't accepting gift cards at the moment, but the administrators could change their minds and accept them -- as was the case in Comet's final sale.

Don't get your hopes up, though; the chain has no obligation to honour your gift card. Martin Lewis explains, "Those who have gift cards are now effectively in that list of people the firm owes money to, but sadly are at the bottom of the pile. So while it is possible if the administrators get money they could give a few pence per pound back, it's unlikely."

The good news is that you could get your money back if you bought the vouchers on your credit or debit card thanks to section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, or what's known as 'chargeback'. For full details check out MoneySavingExpert's article about HMV.

Bargain hunt 

If you're not affected by the gift card issue but you're hoping to take advantage of HMV's sale, Martin Lewis warns "I'd caution against buying online, as HMV could take your money and then later legitimately choose not to fulfil it -- and give you no refund. Buying in-store is safer as you get the goods immediately."

It a case of buyer beware, however, as you won't be able to return goods that turn out to be faulty. "If HMV were to cease trading, you would therefore be left in the cold. In practical terms, this isn't likely to be too much of a problem for CDs or DVDs, but for higher-end electricals like games consoles, it's worth bearing in mind."

[Source: CNET]

HMV extends massive sale to raise cash, stay afloat

His Master's Voice is singing a sad, sad song -- the dog-tricking disc-flogger is selling off a huge amount of stock on the cheap, reportedly to raise quick money for creditors. Extending its 'big sale' for at least another month means a whole basement of bargains, but is the retailer in real trouble? Go to HMV.com today and you'll see it plastered with 'big sale' banners, which have been up since Boxing Day. Retailers all cut prices on stuff they didn't flog before Christmas, but the sales usually end come the first week of the new year.

HMV this week announced another flog-off -- a Blue Cross Sale -- that starts this Saturday, seamlessly continuing its new year sale for another month with 25 per cent promised off "a wide range of titles and products" Apparently it's "not [its] standard January sale, but trying [a] new tack to generate cash to meet bank covenants", according to ITV News' Laura Kuenssberg. "Not good," she adds sagely.

"We thought we'd freshen our promotional mix up a bit and try something a bit different that will hopefully stand out from all the other sale offers on the high street right now," an HMV spokesman told me.

[Source: CNET - Click here to read the full story]