Manchester: HMV remaining open, vinyl dominates shelves briefly

UPDATE 8 APRIL 2013 from CMU:
So, HMV was saved from total annihilation last week by the mighty Hilco. Possibly my language there is a little over the top. Well, anyway, restructuring specialist HIlco (which already owns the HMV Canada business) bought up 132 HMV shops and nine bearing the Fopp name for £50 million on Friday morning. It now intends to reverse the downward trend of the brand in recent years by focussing on music and DVDs again.

Original article follows

Happily for many, HMV Market Street Manchester has escaped closure. A combination of support from the public and some sort of understanding from the building’s landlords have resulted in the landmark store staying open for the foreseeable. I’d be interested to know if any other stores in the UK have had similar good fortune. I’m not sure what this means for Fopp (also owned by HMV), as the Manchester store has also streamlined its shelves and walls.

A weird benefit to the lack of product on the shelves (which will now be restocked as merch is ordered back in) is the amount of vinyl on full display – from a couple of boxes on the floor a month or two ago to the extra shelf space now resulting in full album cover displays.

It won’t be like this for long, and the prices are (presumably unavoidably) overblown, but it sure is pretty for now. Mocambo and Record Kicks funk mingles with Flaming Lips heavyweight reissues and Brainfeeder singles – the reggae section’s pretty sorted (no doubt owing to Mr Womble’s dexterity) and everything else seems pretty hastily distributed, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t like walking back in time a little. Georgia Anne Muldrow up there, getting pride of place she wouldn’t otherwise garner, is a joy to behold.

Congratulations to HMV staff – hopefully the staying-open hasn’t resulted in any job losses whatsoever. Good luck!

Don’t forget Eastern Bloc, Vinyl Exchange, Piccadilly Records, Beatin’ Rhythm and Vinyl Revival are all still going strong in the city centre.

This pic below, announcing the staying-open, is from Ghostly Tom’s Travel Blog, who has some interesting thoughts on the matter.

Read the Manchester Evening News’ original article on the closure from February.