Kingston HMV saved from closure (From Surrey Comet)
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Kingston HMV saved from closure
1:00pm Thursday 7th February 2013 in News By Nazia Dewji, Reporter
Kingston HMV inside the Bentall Centre
Kington’s HMV has been spared closure for now.
Last month the 91-year-old music retailer announced it had appointed administrator Deloitte to deal with its finances.
The move follows the rise in online shopping and downloading.
Although the Kingston based shop in the Bentall Centre has not been marked for closure, 66 other shops across the country including Walton and Wandsworth will be shut down within two months.
Joint administrator Nick Edwards said: "As part of our ongoing review of HMV’s financial position, we have now completed a review of the store portfolio and have identified 66 loss making stores for closure.
"We continue to receive strong support from staff and are extremely grateful to them for their commitment during an understandably difficult period.
"All other key stakeholders remain very supportive and I continue to be hopeful of securing a future for the restructured business."
More than 900 employees are set to lose their jobs.
The chain currently operates 220 stores across the UK.
DB says...
2:31pm Thu 7 Feb 13
In the past, the only two towns in SW London/Surrey that were big enough to support a large music retailer were Kingston & Guildford.
That was when the only way to buy music and video was on hard copy from an actual retailer. So who on earth thought, that against a background of massively falling demand, it would be a good idea to open stores in places like Woking & Walton?
As always, I feel sorry for the people who have last their jobs, but this was never really going to work.