HMV confirms three stores are closing with job losses expected

HMV has warned of possible job losses as it fights to keep open stores across the country in the face of high rents and business rates.

Three HMV stores are closing this month, the music retailer confirmed, while a further 10 stores could be axed if new deals with landlords are not secured. The nationwide closures would also result in job losses, HMV said.

Closing down signs have been put up in many of the stores, which are also holding “everything must go” sales.

The beleaguered music retailer, which last year was saved after falling into administration, confirmed that HMV Bury St Edmunds, Fopp Glasgow on Byres Road and HMV Nuneaton will shut at the end of January, with new tenants already lined up to move into the properties.

In a statement, HMV said the stores were no longer viable due to “extortionate” business rates in certain locations.

The announcement came as the department store chain Debenhams said it was due to close 19 of its stores between 11 and 25 January, with a further 28 reportedly set to close in 2021.

HMV said it was also relocating in Lincoln and Plymouth, with new stores opening in both cities at the start of February.

“There are currently 10 stores where negotiations with landlords are ongoing and we are hopeful of securing new deals,” a HMV spokesman said. “The closures are no reflection on our superb staff and where we are not able to come to a new agreement or relocate staff within the business elsewhere, unfortunately this does mean some of our staff will lose their jobs.”

The 10 stores that are subject to negotiations are in Birmingham Bullring, Cribbs in Bristol, Edinburgh’s Ocean Terminal, Glasgow Braehead, Grimsby, Leeds, Merryhill near Dudley, Reading, Sheffield’s Meadowhall mall and Worcester.

Fans of HMV expressed their displeasure on social media at the closures, with one saying the move was “disgusting”.

HMV was purchased in a rescue deal by music mogul Doug Putman in February 2019 after it crashed into administration for the second time in five years in December 2018.

Putman, who runs the Canadian retailer Sunrise Records, closed 15 stores after beating off a bid from Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley.

In October Putman opened the Vault, which is the biggest music and movies outlet in Europe. The Birmingham store, which is the size of a supermarket, stocks 80,000 CDs and 25,000 vinyl albums. The company confirmed the Vault would not be affected by the closures.

Putman previously said he hoped to reopen the stores that were closed when he bought HMV last year, including the Oxford Street flagship in London.

Speaking to the Guardian in February, Putman said he was optimistic that these outlets could be reopened: “Where certain stores have closed, our public have really rallied around and I credit that with some of the landlords coming back to us. They can see how much support we are getting.”

Putman said he was in talks with landlords of several of the stores that were closed. As well as Oxford Street, these included the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Meadowhall in Sheffield, Westfield in White City, west London, and Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, all prime locations.

At the time, Putman also pledged to invest at least £10m in reviving the chain and wants to make his shops part of local communities.