Whilst on lunchtime walkabout today, I visited the Leeds City Centre branch of HMV. It is probably one of my favourite shops and most frequented after clothes stores. I had couple of potential purchases in mind (but only at the right price) aswell as a through the sale items to find 'hidden gems'.
Having had a quick flick through the sale racks at the front of the store, I then went up the small set of stairs in the centre of the ground floor (for those of you who are familiar with this shop), expecting to find the number of racks with the items sorted by artist/band. I was then mortified to find that the racks which had been there for 12 years to my knowledge (since I started working in Leeds) had given way to get this........clothing rails. That's right, you heard me correctly, numerous with t-shirts hanging from them and some clothing accessories aswell. I think they were all items which were loosely based around music but to be honest I didn't pay a great deal of attention. I was really shocked to see such a high number of garments in the centre of the shop. I knew that they sold a few t-shirts but from memory they were at the back of the store as they weren't HMV's biggest selling item.
I eventually found that the CD section but my browsing proved unsuccessful today. As I wandered back to work empty handed, I began trying to make sense of the shift round. I guess that the top and bottom of it is that t-shirt sales represent a bigger proportion of HMV's in-store revenue, especially with the sales of CDs decreasing. This along with the introduction of Orange mobile phone sales what they hope will maintain their High Street presence. To me it seems all too weird for what has been synonymous with music ever since it's inception in 1921 to branch out. It is however, a sign of the times, how music sales has moved on and how one music shop has to move forward in an industry which is becoming more reliant on technology and the internet. In a way it is very admirable as it is clearly working. Over the years we have seen other music stores such as Andy's Records, MVC and Virgin Megastore (although it exists in some form as Zavvi) go to the wall because they have failed to move forward.
Where HMV will be as a brand in 10 years time? Will they still exist? If they do, what will they sell? Will they still be on our High Streets, or just a web outlet à la Dixons? The traditionalist in me still hopes that HMV will exist in town centres and that many music fans like me will still be browsing through the bargain bins and shelves, adding to their music collections. That is of course if the CD still exists in 10 years time.
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