UK retail institution HMV will close its doors. Administrators have been called in to shut 240 stores effecting 4000 employees.
HMV Pitt St Sydney
HMV started in London in 1921 but its origins goes back to the late 1890 with the invention of the gramophone. In 1902, the first record company The Gramophone Company was founded. The Gramophone Company started HMV with that first store in Oxford St, London in 1921.
In 1931 The Gramophone Company merged with Electric and Musical Industries Limited and took on the shortened version of that name to become EMI.
In the 60s the retail company went into a period of rapid expansion and doubled in size over a six-year period to become the UK’s largest music retailer. By the 1990s, there were over 300 stores across the UK and Ireland.
EMI sold off HMV in 1998 and in 2002 the company floated on the London Stock Exchange. The company expanded further and now had stores across North America, Asia and Australia. The first Australian store was opened in 1989 in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. In 2005, Sanity took over the Australian operation but started to close stores in 2007. The flagship Pitt Street Mall store in Sydney was the first to go. To last store to close was the Brisbane store in 2010.
HMV UK will go into administration at the opening of business today after being refused the £300 million business loan it needed to stay afloat.
