HMV outlines plan to ‘take vinyl back to the masses’
The company aims to be the number one vinyl provider
HMV has outlined its plan to focus more on the vinyl format following the company’s recent financial recovery.
The popular high street music and entertainment chain went into administration in January 2013 after building up £170 million in debt. This resulted in 223 stores and over 4,000 jobs being put at risk.
However following the company’s acquisition by restructuring company Hilco, HMV reported profits of nearly £17 million during 2013 and was recently announced as Britain’s most successful retailer of physical music.
Now, after initially reducing its vinyl stock due to space restrictions, HMV music manager John Hirst told Music Week that the company is focused on “taking vinyl back to the masses”.
He said: “The independent stores still do an incredible job with vinyl. Their share reflects that. But what we do, which the indies don’t, is provide that consistently over 120 different locations all across the country.
“We’ve got to be the number one destination for vinyl on the High Street. While the indies are catering to more specialist customers, we taking vinyl back to the masses.”
HMV recently announced a list of exclusive vinyl releases available at their stores nationwide, boasting records from artists such as Nirvana, Morrissey, The Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath and The Charlatans.
Meanwhile, the company also recently revealed plans to relaunch its online store for the first time since its financial troubles in 2013.