I told my wife HMV’s up for grabs. ‘No ******* way’ she warned
The vinyl junkie who’s saved a British high street legend
DOUG PUTMAN already had enough on his plate – at least his wife thought s o . Wi t h the couple preparing for the birth of their first child, the Canadian businessman mentioned to her as casually as he could that HMV had been forced to file for insolvency in London.
‘Kerrie looked at me and said: “No ****ing way”,’ recalls Putman as he roars with laughter at his wife’s undiluted warning about the merest thought of him bidding for the stricken retailer.
‘We’ve got over 40 different businesses. We’re busy. I’ve also got my first baby coming in March.
‘So her outlook was that timing wasn’t the greatest. I looked back at her and said, “Of course not...I was just lettin’ you know”,’ he laughs again.
But fast forward a month and 34year- old Putman was in London talking to HMV landlords and suppliers about securing the future of the iconic high street music chain.
His name was not even being mentioned in the City as a potential buyer. Instead, House of Fraser owner Mike Ashley was rumoured to be the clear frontrunner.
Putman laughs again. ‘Who is she? Never heard of her?,’ he says, admitting the billionaire Sports Direct t ycoon and Newcastle United owner’s name was unknown to him until last month.
He had been busy in recent years building up Canada’s Sunrise Records, now an 85- store chain which he had bought i n 2014, followed soon after by the purchase of HMV’s Canadian chain. As a result, he is now well acquainted with the music and film divisions of Universal, Sony, Warner and many others.
Putman says Ashley’s mooted interest quickly seemed to evaporate: ‘As it dragged on, it felt like maybe there isn’t a buyer here. Maybe there’s hype of a buyer but not one truly ready to put the money down and do it.’
After five days of poring over the numbers, and with a seemingly clear run at the business, he sealed the deal – with his wife’s approval.
He has committed an ‘ eightfigure sum’ to keep at least 100 of the 127 stores open.
Putman explains: ‘It didn’t make any sense for such a great brand, such a great company, to go away because with the right outlook it can be turned around.
‘My wife will say the thing she loves and hates about me is that I am laser-focused. I don’t think long about things. I process them very quickly and I saw it and I thought, yep, we’ve gotta buy this and that’s just how it is,’ he says, still clearly charged by the experience.
Thankfully, the weeks of heartfelt discussions and weighing up plans won over his wife, who was fully on board by the time the deal was cemented.
We are sitting in HMV’s head office i n Blackfriars, London, which looks very much like it’s missing the kind of love and attention that Putman seems to be promising.
He says he is acutely aware jobs have been lost and that he has a responsibility to the remaining staff. ‘I brought everybody at head office together and said, very honestly, “That was your last bankruptcy. You’ll never see that again.” And that’s the way we look at this business.’
Closed stores include the iconic Oxford Street branch opened by composer Edward Elgar, the pop star of his day, in 1921.
But Putman seemingly has not given up on it being resurrected. ‘The store was losing millions. I was willing to keep it open and lose £500,000 a year,’ he says, adding that it is possible to reopen ‘ any of those 27 stores, every one of them’ if rent drops.
He says he will be urging landlords to recognise that ‘ variety’ is crucial to attracting a broad spectrum of customers to shopping centres and high streets.
‘Landlords get a bad name but they need to make money too. Over the next week or so I’m just hoping that everyone realises that it’s better to have us than not have us, even if you make a little less.’
His ambition is to make HMV profitable within a year – and scotches suggestions this is just a short-term punt.
‘You get people saying you are just trying to get the last few dollars – no. We are here to make this business a sustaining model. Based on the sales and the public reaction, you can see that people want this.’
Crucial to Putman’s plans will be sales of vinyl records. They offer, he says, a ‘huge opportunity’. Vinyl record sales in the UK fell to just over 200,000 in the middle of the last decade but by last year had hit 4.4 million – back to early 1990s’ levels.
‘ Customers are saying very loudly, “Hey, we want more vinyl, give it to us.” And I try never to turn down someone’s money.’
He wants to move vinyl records racks to the front of shops – as in his Sunrise stores in Canada.
Can he raise vinyl sales which are estimated to be less than 10 per cent of HMV’s turnover? ‘I think we can get vinyl to close to 30 per cent,’ he says.
‘I have nieces and nephews that are eight, ten, 12 and they’re asking for it.
‘The younger people are seeing the older ones buy it so it’s cool, it’s hip. When we grew up we had cards , we had vinyl, t here was lots to collect. I think you are seeing a generation that never really collected anything, but want to.’ Another issue to resolve, Putman says, is that HMV stores have become ‘too corporate’.
He plans to meet everyone in head office over the next week to get ‘ candid feedback and ideas’, adding: ‘I try not to come in with a preconceived notion. I try to just listen to people.’
Putman is well aware he is entering the UK retail market at a time when many familiar high street titans are struggling to survive.
‘It’s so great that Amazon is doing well, I’m not against that, I’m happy they are doing well,’ he says of the intense competition from online rivals.
‘But stores that are paying taxes, that are helping the community, are going. At some point you do have to address the elephant in the room. It just can’t go on.’
Yet he seems convinced that we aren’t witnessing the slow death of the high street altogether.
‘I’m thinking there will be more HMV stores in five years, not less,’ he says.
‘Every year I intend to add stores and who knows when the next opportunity is out there to do something else.
‘Europe is a big area but first of all we’ve got to fix things here in Britain and get great here.’