please empty your brain below
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But did you buy anything? The art of retailing is to turn stock back into cash, so did any of the new stores layout and merchandising entice you to make a purchase whilst you were there? You can't turn a profit from people who only look!
Happy Harry (in the UK) | 11.10.13 - 7:37 a.m. | #
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"HMV opened its first shop on London's Oxford Street in 1921. "His Master's Voice" was the record label of the Gramophone Company, purveyors of spiral vinyl, which would later evolve into EMI"
'cept that it wasn't vinyl back then. It was Shellac.
Antipodean | 11.10.13 - 7:38 a.m. | #
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The spiral staircase in the old shop has been replaced by escalators (some out of action on the first day, not the best of launches): that's stolen a fair amount of floorspace, making it feel smaller.
I remember it as packed to the gills with customers and stock when I first browsed (and bought, Harry) in the late '70s, particularly the ground and first floors: perhaps 'elf 'n safe tea regs about width of escape routes also contribute that sparsely-stocked feeling in this reincarnation?
Though spatial memory is fallible, the wide-angle lens view of the photo of the basement (classical, my main haunt) in the 1950s misleads as to the true floor area, I think.
Gordon | 11.10.13 - 8:47 a.m. | #
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As a classical fan, the scant couple of shelves in the new store are a real slap in the face. When I first moved to London, Tower Records was the high temple of classical with pretty much a whole floor. Then when that went, HMV Oxford St (the one over the road) became my haunt with its slightly smaller area. When that store closed, 150 Oxford Street was the best bet with its hermetically sealed classical department in the basement. And now? A couple of metres of Best Opera in the World Ever compilations. I know we live in a capitalist society and if I ran a record shop it would shut within a week, but it really is a bit depressing.
dg writes: Agreed, the classical selection's not great. So I've added an extra sentence to today's post to make this point, ta.
Peter G | 11.10.13 - 10:39 a.m. | #
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"Middle-aged fifty-quid men". A very neat description DG, I like it (and am now sadly one myself).
THC | 11.10.13 - 7:26 p.m. | #
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Why not just walk along Berwick Street which is literally a 2 minute stroll from HMV? There you'll find 4 or 5 good record shops along with that great Soho streets vibe for that feeling of 'this is how things used to be'.
V | 11.10.13 - 11:45 p.m. | #
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78s were not vinyl! They were Shellac. (Right at the end of 78 production in the late 50s, Pye records did press their 78s on a hard type of something which could be vinyl.) EMI stuck to shellac till the end, as did Decca Group labels, Phillips and Oriole, who also pressed the Embassy label for Woolies...
Alex McKenna | 13.10.13 - 11:32 p.m. | #
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