The future doesn't look bright for British entertainment retailer HMV, which is reportedly examining options for its 125 Canadian locations, a number of which will possibly close this spring.
Speculation has swirled in the aftermath of a profit warning issued by HMV Group last month, following bleak holiday sales, which spurred the shuttering of 60 stores in the U.K.
Related plans for Canada have not yet been announced, but Sky News business reporter Mark Kleinman speculated the 80-year-old company is weighing a gradual exit from the market it entered in 1988, when it took over the faltering Mister Sound chain.
The closures will likely be announced before an April test of its borrowing rules, which are expected to be tight. And, while the HMV Group will apparently seek to end its leases in shopping malls across Canada, an imminent exit altogether isn't seen as likely.
HMV introduced a "store of the future" format three years ago, which was designed to make locations more browsing-friendly with an enhanced selection of books, electronics and video games. Computer hubs were also set up in some locations to encourage social networking, online research, and on-the-spot downloading.
Meanwhile, as sales of music and movie discs have continued to tumble, their production in Canada is being scaled back.
Sony announced the closure of its Toronto CD and DVD production facility, which was the last Canadian plant run by an entertainment company.
Cinram, a national disc manufacturer founded in Montreal in 1969, was recently forced to announce a refinancing and recapitalization plan as part of its reduction in physical media production.
Still, smaller music retailers continue to persevere across the country, buoyed in part by a revival of vinyl LP sales.
And while the flagship HMV at 333 Yonge St. in downtown Toronto, which opened 20 years ago, may be one of the last such stores standing, its surviving competitor across the street has now taken a boutique approach to selling classical, jazz and blues music with the hope of repatriating an older demographic.
"I think this can still be a destination," Sunrise Records manager Tom Plewman told the Toronto Star, "if people become aware that we're here."
There are no comments yet