The iconic British pop culture chain His Master's Voice (HMV) will open its second store in Belgium next month. The shop will be located in the shopping centre City2 on rue Neuve, in the heart of the capital.
The retailer welcomed music lovers to its first store in mainland Europe in November last year, specifically at the Wijnegem Shop Eat Enjoy shopping centre in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The company said this was the start of its European expansion. It has now confirmed another location will open, this time in the European and Belgian capital.
"If it's nice, do it twice. HMV Brussels is coming to City2 on Friday 12 April," it noted on social media. To mark the occasion, it is handing out free pop culture gift bags to the first 100 customers to visit the Brussels-based store, which is expected to be twice the size of its Antwerp store with an area of 585 m2. On the opening day, up-and-coming talents will also get the chance to perform in-store.
"We hope that our customers see that we are committed to becoming the best music destination in town, but that they also see that we have worked on our offer to provide assortments they will not find anywhere else under one roof," director Phill Halliday said in a press release.
In Brussels, the store will offer 6,000 different vinyl albums, and over 8,000 different CDs as well as a wide range of music technology. Fans of film and TV will find over 1,500 titles on DVD, and over 2,000 Blu-Ray and 4K UHDs, including collector's editions and items exclusive to HMV. The shop will welcome customers every day, including on Sundays when it will be open between 11:00 and 18:00.
Resurgence
The chain of stores, once British but now owned by Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman, mainly sells CDs, records and merchandise, such as rock band T-shirts and mugs as well as Marvel and Kenjiland gadgets, as well as books, and are places of nostalgia for people who grew up in Britain.
The first-ever store opened its doors in London’s bustling Oxford Street in 1921 and by 2010, hmv had nearly 300 locations across the UK.
Record enthusiasts will be spoilt for choice. Credit: hmv
However, its fortunes started to wane with declining CD and DVD sales, and 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.
The focus shifted to the resurgent interest in vinyl records and expanded the merchandise offering in stores. Today, the group manages over 120 stores, and reopened its famous London flagship on Oxford Street, after a four-year absence. The retailer also organises concerts there.
