How old is hmv store

Ever hear the one about the Indian who went to Africa and accidentally started a whole new genre of music? From the s and into the s, hmv had continued to expand its roster of record releases beyond the staples of classical and popular music that had proved to be its most lucrative thus far, and by the late twenties had launched a series of label variations catering to different styles of music. Having already established ties to Africa in the late twenties, with engineers from the Indian recording studio sent to capture three recordings of West African music in , it became obvious that there was a large, untapped market not only for the discovery of new types of music, but for the distribution of it too.

Thus, P. Over the coming years and right into the s, the Cuban influence grew and began to influence local musicians, who blended the rumba styles with their own to create a style known as Congolese rumba or Rumba Lingala, after the local language. Eventually, that would evolve into Soukous and Kwassa Kwassa, types of dance music that would later become hugely popular both across Africa and in France, and would influence a wide range of musicians as diverse as Orchestra Baobab and Vampire Weekend.

The rest of the s was an eventful period back in London too. But then, in , disaster struck and the hmv store on Oxford Street burned to the ground in a huge fire. It took almost two years for it to be rebuilt, but was finally re-opened in by conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, with the brand new addition of a small recording studio that would soon play a big part in the history of British music.

By then, however, the nation had bigger problems. The dawn of the Second World saw the newly-reopened hmv store on Oxford Street designated as an air-raid shelter thanks largely to its proximity to Bond Street tube station , while the Hayes factory and its employees turned their technical expertise to developing and manufacturing radio equipment for the war effort.

As peacetime ensued and nations began to rebuild, the hmv store on Oxford Street was once again buzzing with life, and in Nipper even made his very first appearance in a Looney Toons cartoon albeit as the victim of a piece of moustache-based vandalism by Daffy Duck. By , the company had a new chairman in Sir Joseph Lockwood, who would eventually wind down the production of gramophones in favour of ramping up production of the increasingly popular vinyl records.

Then in , the hmv studio at Oxford Street would play an important part in the careers of four young musicians from Liverpool who would go on to become even more famous than Sir Cliff. As for the hmv label, in it was converted into a label exclusively dedicated to classical music, with Nipper and his Gramophone now adorning recordings of the works of everyone from Mozart to Mendelssohn. Just a year down the line, however, the high street — and indeed the nation — was struggling.

Then in , hmv — and Nipper — would face their biggest challenge yet, and almost disappeared from the high street forever.

On October 28 the debut album from the Sex Pistols made its arrival on our shelves, and boy did it cause a stir. Boots refused to stock the album entirely, and in Nottingham, the manager of a Virgin Records store was arrested on obscenity charges for refusing to remove the album from the shelves.

The backlash against the album was so huge that it led to the creation of the Obscene Publications Committee, which would go on to ban the sale of all records by Crass, Dead Kennedys and others. The s kicked off on a brighter note and in a nationwide search was conducted for a new mascot to represent Nipper, run in conjunction with newspaper The Daily Mirror.

The winning dog, a Jack Russell cross named Toby from Doncaster, would go on to represent Nipper for the rest of the decade, serving in the role for nine years and meeting plenty of celebrities on the way. That same year, hmv also began to sell Compact Discs for the first time. The CD format had actually launched two years earlier in , but EMI had been slow to adopt the format since it meant paying royalties to rivals Sony and Phillips.

The new store ushered in an era of large-scale live events and signings — most of which went smoothly, although some did cause their fair share of chaos. A appearance at the store by teen pop sensations Bros attracted more than 5, screaming fans, who completely blocked off the whole of Oxford Street. The event had to be abandoned after 20 minutes and it reportedly took two hours to restore traffic flows to normal. Several more would open in the following years, including one at 72nd and Broadway and another in Times Square.

The event was even marked by the creation of a new game starring Nipper himself. In hmv passed yet another milestone, opening its th store at Fort Retail Park in Birmingham, with the ribbon cut by Robbie Williams and the occasion marked by live performances from both Williams and Van Morrison. The following year, hmv also became the first music retailer to launch a transactional website, allowing music lovers to choose from over , CDs, cassettes and vinyl records to buy online.

After a bidding war, it was announced that some of the stores will be saved by the Canadian entrepreneur, Doug Putman,. Despite the rescue, fears over the long term future of the famous HMV brand are unlikely to go away.

The place where you bought your first CD. HMV: A tragedy or fresh start? Image source, PA. HMV on brink of second collapse. But to make them stand out, an iconic logo was needed. Image source, Getty Images. A couple looking at radios in the window of HMV in A woman at the first listening booths in HMV in the s.

The s saw rivals come to bite at its heels. The retro signage was reinstalled when HMV moved back to its original flagship store in Related Topics. Published 16 January The painting shows a dog, Nipper, listening to his late master's voice emanating from a gramophone. An early shop display shows Nipper in his usual pose. The first HMV shop was opened in London in Sir Edward Elgar, an early adopter when it came to making recordings of his own music, records a session for HMV in Why, it's none other than the great Yehudi Menuhin, after recording Elgar's violin concerto.

Oh, and Nipper as well. As the HMV shops became more and more successful, listening booths were installed so that customers could try before they bought. This shot comes from the London HMV store in Classical music has always been an important part of HMV, as this in-store performance from cellist Nina Kotova showed.

The recent recession and a changing digital marketplace have seen many physical retailers struggle, and HMV has been no exception. After confirming that the administrators were being called in, speculation has been rife about what will become of the chain.