St Helens HMV to be axed (From St Helens Star)
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St Helens HMV one of 66 stores to be axed
10:18am Thursday 7th February 2013 in News By Stephen Mather, Senior reporter
Ten jobs will go at the 'loss making' HMV in St Helens.
HMV in St Helens is to be one of 66 stores to close within four to six weeks, it has been confirmed.
Sources have told the Star that a conference call was held earlier this morning with administrators Deloitte, informing staff of the news.
It is understood that 930 staff will be affected across the UK at the entertainment retailer, with ten jobs to go in St Helens, based at Church Square Shopping Centre.
Deloitte says the stores will close because they are "loss making".
The closure will represent the latest hammer blow to the town centre and follows on from the axing of film and game store Blockbuster on Bridge Street.
HMV currently operates from 220 stores in the UK. The Warrington and Wigan stores will also close.
But illustrating that this does not just affect town high streets, is the fact that five HMVs are listed for closure in Edinburgh and others in cities such as Manchester, Leeds and London.
Nick Edwards, Joint Administrator, said: “As part of our ongoing review of HMV’s financial position, we have now completed a review of the store portfolio and have identified 66 loss making stores for closure.
"This step has been taken in order to enhance the prospects of securing the business’ future as a going concern.
“We continue to receive strong support from staff and are extremely grateful to them for their commitment during an understandably difficult period. All other key stakeholders remain very supportive and I continue to be hopeful of securing a future for the restructured business.”
Nick Edwards, Rob Harding and Neville Kahn were appointed Joint Administrators of HMV on 15 January 2013.
The 66 stores identified for closure are:
Ashton-under-Lyne, Ballymena, Barnsley, Bayswater, Belfast Boucher Road, Belfast Forestside, Bexleyheath, Birkenhead, Birmingham Fort, Blackburn, Boston, Bournemouth Castlepoint, Bracknell, Burton-upon-Trent, Camberley, Chesterfield, Coleraine, Craigavon, Croydon Centrale, Derry, Dumfries, Durham, Edinburgh Fort, Edinburgh Gyle Centre, Edinburgh Ocean, Edinburgh Princes Street, Edinburgh St James, Falkirk, Fulham, Glasgow – Fort, Glasgow – Silverburn, Glasgow Braehead, Huddersfield, Kirkcaldy, Leamington Spa, Leeds White Rose, Lisburn, Loughborough, Luton, Manchester 90, Moorgate, Newry, Newtonabbey, Orpington, Rochdale, Scunthorpe, South Shields, Speke Park, St Albans, St Helens, Stockton-on-Tees, Tamworth, Teesside, Telford, Trocadero, Wakefield, Walsall, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Warrington, Watford, Wellingborough, Wigan, Wood Green, Workington, Wrexham.
Comments(16)
peaches46
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12:39pm Thu 7 Feb 13
suttonboy
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1:07pm Thu 7 Feb 13
anthonywilson
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1:29pm Thu 7 Feb 13
The HMV Store in St Helens always seemed to be reasonably busy.
The biggest mistake in business terms that HMV have made was not developing an on line store in terms of the UK equivalent of Apple's iTunes. If they had gone down this route years ago to remain more competitive many stores would have closed though with similar consequences for many town centres.
A huge rethink is needed in terms of what town centres are for and who they serve as potentially more decline is inevitable given the growth of internet based retailing. Potentially there are many other types of stores who will switch to focus on internet shopping in the near future at the expense of the high street store.
pitbullboxing
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1:37pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Sankey
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3:04pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Johnboi
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5:57pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Stay positive people :)
pitbullboxing
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6:17pm Thu 7 Feb 13
smith&weston
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6:50pm Thu 7 Feb 13
djhilton71
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8:32pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Bridge Street in Warrington is quite frankly a ghost town.
saintsfan
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8:40pm Thu 7 Feb 13
I didn't think we would keep ours as although people do go in there, me included, it hasn't been busy enough in recent years to convince me it is going to survive. I won't know where to buy stuff from now. I always prefer to buy in shops and have been supporting the town centre since I moved back here in 2007. But it would seem that too many local people don't support it but instead either shop online or elsewhere and until local people use the town centre then it will struggle.
I'm concerned for BHS next. It looks decidedly underused. They need to reinvent the store somewhat. I know they are subletting to other clothes shops but something more is needed as I wouldn't be surprised to see that go. BHS is struggling nationally.
Where the Council do have a responsibility is towards managing the town centre. Yet in spite of there being some sizeable premises standing empty - including the former Chloes now that the Chinese restaurant has shrunk back to Warrington - they have just given permission to McDonalds to build a two storey drive thru. That is such bad management. The Council isn't responsible for HMV: the buying public is. But the Council IS responsible for the overall management of the town centre and it is doing a decidedly poor job.
pitbullboxing
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9:01pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Sankey
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9:19pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Jack60
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11:13pm Thu 7 Feb 13
zakk89
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1:29am Fri 8 Feb 13
xsuex
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9:14am Mon 11 Feb 13
And to the chap who doesn't know where to shop for music, there is the music shop above boots, where music zone used to be, its 10 times cheaper than HMV but probably has less choice, its either really old stuff for a pound or brand new stuff!
Arkay1 says...
10:53am Thu 7 Feb 13