High street get major boost as iconic brand announces plans to re-open flagship store
The iconic brand is set to reopen its flagship store ahead of Christmas
PA
HMV is set to return to its former flagship store on London’s Oxford Street after four years of absence.
The store was empty for a period of time after the music and entertainment company vacated the site in 2019.
The Oxford Street store was the first ever HMV site to open in 1921 by British composer Sir Edward Elgar.
Since then it has hosted several British bands, including a rooftop gig by Blur in 1995 and the Spice Girls’ Christmas lights switch-on the following year.
HMV's flagship London store will reopen its doors later this year
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The store also saw a blue plaque unveiled by Sir George Martin, the Beatles producer, to mark its place in the band’s rise to fame in 2000.
And in 1962, the Beatles’ newly appointed manager Brian Epstein made a copy of their demo tape at the flagship site.
Following its closure, the music shop became home to many American candy stores during the pandemic.
The famous HMV sign featuring Nipper the dog with the words “His Master’s Voice” will replace the current Candy World sign.
The music store’s sign, which was erected in 2013 but was a replica of the 1950s logo, was removed when the sweet store moved in and HMV’s latest sign will be installed instead when it returns.
Cllr Geoff Barraclough, from Westminster city council, which oversees London’s leading high street, said: “It’s fantastic to see this iconic brand back on Oxford Street, where it stood as a driver of music and pop culture in the capital for so long.
"It’s also particularly pleasing it is replacing one of the many US candy stores which sprang up during the pandemic.
“The return of this famous name is proof that there is a buzz back in the West End."
HMV closed its Oxford Street store in 2019 after the business was rescued from collapse
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"Established retailers want a presence on the UK’s premier shopping street and as a council we want to see the nation’s high street reinvigorated and home to brands like HMV.”
In 2019, the flagship store was one of 27 HMV outlets to close when the retailer was saved from collapsing by music entrepreneur Doug Putman.
Putman said the Oxford Street reopening would be “the launchpad for an exciting new era for HMV”, which would also include new stores in Europe.
He said: “The expansion of our fan-focused pop culture offer is really working for us and the reopening of our flagship represents the culmination of a good few years of hard work.”
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