HMV opens biggest ever store as owner plans for expansion

THE owner of HMV said the company will return to opening new stores over the next year, just eight months after it shut a raft of high street shops after being rescued from administration.

Doug Putman, who purchased the music retailer in February, said the business will pump cash into new sites and refurbishments.

Belfast’s HMV store is the last remaining on the island of Ireland.

Mr Putman said that the retailer is “under-indexed in London”, adding there is room for expansion in the capital as the company eyes new locations for its growth strategy.

He revealed his ambitions ahead of the launch of HMV’s largest ever store, which is being called hmv Vault, at Dale End in Birmingham.

The shop, which the retailer said will be the largest entertainment store in Europe, is due to open today after a “multimillion-pound investment” in the new site.

The store, which will stock more than 100,000 LPs and CDs, has been constructed with a large performance area at its centre and will be launched with a live performance by former One Direction singer Liam Payne.

Mr Putman said introducing more live music and “local bands particularly” to stores is a core part of the strategy to bring more people to HMV’s high street sites.

He said his new strategy for the company will see the “first 20ft of stores transformed” to feel less corporate, more focused and cleaner than before. The transformation of stores comes after the new owner, who runs Canadian record store business Sunrise, closed 15 stores after taking control earlier this year.

HMV was purchased in a rescue deal by the music mogul in February after it crashed into administration for the second time in five years last December when previous owner Hilco failed to make the business sufficiently profitable.

Mr Putman said he faced a “long list of issues” ranging from trying to secure new leases with landlords and improving the relationship with suppliers after he took control.

He added that “unsustainable” business rates are a particular burden and called for a reduction to help high street retailers.

“You have to hope someone wakes up sooner rather than later over rates,” he said.