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Business News Retail
Closed HMV stores re-opening, as Sunrise does new deals on rent
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 25 February 2019
Six of the HMV stores recently closed as the retailer was bought out of administration have now been re-opened.
It was announced earlier this month that Canadian music retailer Sunrise Records had agreed a deal to take on the UK chain, which was put into administration by previous owner Hilco shortly after Christmas. That deal initially meant that 100 HMV and Fopp stores would be saved, with 27 closing down due to high rents.
However, of those closed stores, five HMV shops – in Glasgow, Bath, Sheffield, Reading and the Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford – plus the Glasgow branch of Fopp have now opened their doors to customers again.
The shops were seemingly re-opened after Sunrise managed to strike new deals with landlords on rent for the premises. It remains to be seen if further such deals can be done in order to reinstate more shops – particularly the flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.
Of course, all of the remaining HMV and Fopp shops saved by Sunrise are currently still operating as they were when Hilco put them into administration at the end of last year. The big plan to reenergise the business and get them bringing in more money is yet to come.
Recently, Sunrise boss Doug Putman told The Canadian Press that his company was still trying to “get a handle on the market and what is happening here” in the UK. Although he said that there was already a plan to “add a lot of vinyl to the mix”.
