Four years after closing its doors, HMV’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Street is set to make its return.
The store — located at 363 Oxford Street — was one of the 27 HMV branches to close in February 2019, after the company fell into administration. The brand was later rescued from collapse by Canadian music entrepreneur, Doug Putman.
Following its closure, the historic site, which launched the brand in 1921, was converted into one of the many American Candy stores that popped up throughout the city at the start of the pandemic.
Now, the famous location is set to return later this year and will be rebranded with the company’s new design. This will include an updated HMV logo and a newly-launched ‘HMV Shop’ concept.
The new concept will also be expanded to 24 new sites across the UK and Europe, and retrofitted to half of all pre-existing stores.
Currently, HMV has 120 shops open in the UK, including a location in Shepherd Bush’s Westfield shopping centre, the specialist Fopp store in Covent Garden and the 25,000sq ft Vault in Birmingham. The latter remains the largest entertainment store in Europe.
“The expansion of our fan-focused pop culture offer is really working for us and the reopening of our flagship represents the culmination of a good few years of hard work,” said new owner Doug Putman. “We are also opening stores in Europe this year, so while it is the culmination of one phase of work, more excitingly we see it as the launchpad for an exciting new era for HMV.”
The new store is expected to stock a vast range of the items that first put HMV on the map — including vinyl, films, TV box sets, pop culture merchandise and music technology.
Councillor Geoff Barraclough, Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development also discussed the relaunch in a new statement: “It’s fantastic to see this iconic brand back on Oxford Street, where it stood as a driver of music and pop culture in the capital for so long. It’s also particularly pleasing it is replacing one of the many US candy stores which sprang up during the pandemic.”
“The return of this famous name is proof that there’s a buzz back in the West End,” he continued. “Established retailers want a presence on the UK’s premier shopping street and as a council we want to see the nation’s high street reinvigorated and home to brands like HMV.”
Since its opening in 1921, the store played home to numerous milestones in pop culture. This included a rooftop performance from Blur in 1995 to launch their ‘Great Escape’ album. The following year, the store also hosted the Spice Girls, who visited to switch on the Christmas lights.
In other HMV news, last September, the brand launched its record label called 1921 Records. The first artist to be signed to the label was Newcastle singer-songwriter, India Arkin, who was discovered after playing in the HMV Live & Local programme.
Additionally, back in 2021, the company celebrated 100 years since it first launched. The celebration saw 10 new stores set to open around the UK and hosted a special in-store concert by Ed Sheeran.