UK music retailer HMV will be launching a store in Antwerp on 23 November, the company has announced. The firm, owned by Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman, mainly sells CDs, records and merchandise.
The musical chain’s first-ever store opened its doors in London’s bustling Oxford Street in 1921. By 2010, HMV had nearly 300 locations across the UK, only for its fortunes to wane with declining CD and DVD sales. The company sought creditor protection for the first time in 2013 and again in 2018.
Rescue came from Canada after Putman’s music company Sunrise Records & Entertainment paid £900,000 for the ailing HMV brand, which still had 114 stores at the time of acquisition.
Putman shifted focus to the resurgent interest in vinyl records and expanded the merchandise offering in stores. Today, the group manages over 120 stores, including a location opened in Ireland earlier this year.
The firm is now embarking on a "wider expansion" across mainland Europe, initiated with Belgium.
A 300-square-metre store is set to launch in the Wijnegem shopping centre in Antwerp, with HMV promising an impressive array of 2,500 vinyl albums, 3,500 CDs, alongside a broad range of music technologies.
More stores following Antwerp are in the pipeline, both within Belgium and internationally, according to Putman.
