An iconic high street retailer – boasting 120 shops across the UK – is closing another of its sites, a major blow to the local community. Recent visitors to one of the international music and entertainment retailer HMV’s stores were met with an in-store notice warning that the shop will be shutting for good later this month.
A poster, put up behind the tills of HMV’s Guildford shop, located in the town centre shopping centre, The Friary, read: “We’re sad to say our store will be closing on Wednesday 29 October. “Thank you for shopping with us, the HMV Guildford team.” It also offers advice for shoppers eager to keep buying from the retailer. According to the online HMV store finder, Surrey shoppers luckily do not have to travel far to get their music fix, with the retailer’s Woking store just seven miles away, still open for business. Nevertheless, the news has come as a major disappointment to the Guildford community, with many taking to social media to lament the closure.
“Really sad. So many shops are disappearing off the high street,” one commented, with another adding: “I’m really sad about that. I do love that shop. […] Where am I gonna buy my CDs and DVDs from them now?”
The Guildford closure is the latest in a long line of HMV store closures across the UK, despite the fact that the chain has survived two administration periods in recent years. Owners Hilco, which took the company out of its first administration in 2013, were forced to call in KPMG as administrators again in 2018 – the second time in six years. Hilco blamed a “tsunami” of retail challenges, including business rate levels and the move to digital.
This new store closure comes just months after a site in Oxford was forced to close, followed a few weeks later by another in Lancaster. The Lancaster location, in Nicholas Arcades, had been open for 25 years but was forced to close after the building’s landlord did not renew its lease.
Bosses said in a statement: “HMV first traded in Lancaster over 25 years ago, and whilst we hoped that the landlord’s redevelopment plans would have allowed us to keep trading, this was unfortunately not possible. As we have no intention to stop serving our loyal customers in Lancaster, we are actively looking for a new unit to restart trading as soon as possible and would encourage landlords and agents in Lancaster to get in touch with new potential sites.”
The store closed for the last time on August 10.
HMV joins the wave of high street retailers that have closed stores this year, including supermarket M&S and British retailer New Look. In fact, the beloved fashion brand confirmed on Saturday (October 11) that it will be closing its branch in The Potteries Centre, in Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley. The store will permanently close on October 14.
A spokesperson for New Look said: “We would like to thank all of our colleagues and the local community for their support over the years. We hope customers continue to shop with us at our nearby Stoke-on-Trent Festival Retail Park store, as well as online at newlook.com, where our full product ranges can be found.”
Shoppers took to social media to share their frustration with one saying: “River Island, H&M, New Look, Game… what next? Not all of us can get to the big retail parks!”
Elsewhere, the popular charity shop chain Cancer Research has announced the closure of 88 stores nationwide. The chain explained that it plans to cut its retail footprint in response to rising national insurance contributions, inflationary pressures, and changes in consumer behaviour. A further 100 are planned to close by April 2027.
The Express contacted HMV for comment and a spokesperson said: “The landlord is redeveloping the building that we occupy in Guildford and so unfortunately we have been forced to look for an alternative location. We are actively looking for a new space and hope we will not be away for long”.
