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HMV
top dog for music/dvd/games
Music shop HMV "Top Dog for Music, DVD & Games" is described as "The UK and Ireland's leading specialist retailer of Music, DVD/Video, Computer Games and Related Products".
The HMV company operates around 200 stores in key shopping locations around the UK, equating to over 1 million sq. ft. of trading space, as well as a successful online store which you can see here: www.hmv.co.uk
HMV always has the latest thing in music, video, and games, and has special events in some of the stores. But as well as being ultimately modern, the HMV company has a long history. You can sometimes see the famous image of "His Master's Voice" with the dog and gramophone player on ancient wireless sets, 78rpm records, and hardback music catalogues.
The symbol of HMV,
His Master's Voice, is a particularly clever piece of art, as the
artist has managed to capture in a painting the idea of high
fidelity sound recording. The dog has one ear pricked up and is
keenly listening to a something in the sound coming out of a
trumpet speaker on an old-style record player. The idea being
portrayed is that sound coming out of the gramophone/phonograph is so good
that the dog can recognise his master's voice. Although in modern
versions of the company logo the dog and speaker have become more
stylised, in the early versions it was clearly a picture of the
dog, (who is called Nipper, incidentally), with an attentive
expression, keenly listening to sound coming out of a gramophone.
HMV's history:
HMV’s very first store was officially opened in July 1921 by
the celebrated British composer, Sir Edward Elgar on
London’s Oxford Street. Since that time, the chain has
become symbolised throughout the world by its iconic ‘His
Master’s Voice’ dog and trumpet trademark. HMV is
dedicated to offering its customers authoritative access to the
widest possible range of recorded Music titles, DVD’s and
Computer Games across all formats. At 50,000 square feet, HMV 150
Oxford Street is the company’s flagship and is the largest
music and home entertainment store in the country, offering a
choice of over 150,000 Music titles on CD and vinyl as well as
comprehensive selections of DVD and Games titles. HMV is part of
HMV Group plc, which as of April 2004 operated 366 HMV stores in
eight countries across Europe, North America and Pacific Asia as
well as 193 Waterstone’s stores principally in the UK and
Ireland. All of the Group’s operations, both in the United
Kingdom and internationally, are wholly owned. The Group was
listed on the London Stock Exchange on 15 May 2002, having been
formed in March 1998 through the acquisition of Waterstone’s
from WH Smith Group plc and HMV and Dillons from EMI Group plc".
Another
account of HMV's history reads as follows: "HMV UK &
Ireland The story of HMV as a retail brand really began in July
1921, when the acclaimed British composer, Sir Edward Elgar,
officially opened the HMV store at 363 Oxford Street. The launch
signalled a transforming moment in popular culture, not least because
the new store was the first to catch the burgeoning demand for
recorded music. HMV pre-empted trends in retailing; the store,
which featured state-of-the-art interior design and merchandising,
was lavish entertainment itself, embellished by "the most
striking illuminated electric motion sign yet seen in London".
All this was innovative at the time, something, which would
establish the bedrock of HMV's rich heritage. No other record
retailer can claim such a significant role in shaping the way
music progressed from the concert hall to the home. The move came
just in time for the rock 'n' roll explosion, which, by the
following decade, was absolutely central to the new youth culture.
Indeed, one chance meeting at the Oxford Street store - on 8 May,
1962 - played a key role in deciding the direction of popular
music: When Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, visited the store to
have more demo tapes made up in its recording studio, it was one
of the HMV technicians, Jim Foy, who, on
hearing the songs, alerted EMI's George Martin, the Beatles'
legendary producer; the rest, as they say, became history. During
these early, pioneering years, the HMV brand became synonymous
with music retailing, and the company was able to expand outside
of its London base to gradually open stores all around the
country. The first major period of growth came in the sixties,
when fifteen new stores were opened in Greater London and the
South East, and then again in the seventies, when a further
twenty outlets were opened around the rest of the UK. Since then,
the trend has been for HMV to steadily open some ten new stores
each year; sizes have generally been getting larger to
accommodate the vast range that HMV is known for stocking, while
the advent of video and, more recently, computer games, has only
served to enhance the demand for increased trading space. In
October 1998, this process culminated in the opening of HMV's new
50,000 sq feet flagship store at 150 Oxford Street, listed by The
Guinness Book of Records at the time as the world's largest
record store. In the 1980s and 1990s HMV continued to build on
the momentum it had created for itself, and flagship-standard
superstores were launched in all major population centres around
the UK, including in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool,
Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Southampton. The UK-based chain
was also able to successfully export the brand around the rest of
the world, and chains were established in eight other territories,
principally in North America and South East Asia. HMV continues to
lead the way in music retailing into the new millennium, and the
launch in 1992 of HMV Direct, its mail order operation, and of
its own web site (www.hmv.co.uk) in 1997,
underlines its commitment to the new technologies and to
embracing the opportunities that lie ahead".
To visit HMV and have a look at the remarkable selection of music on offer, here's the link:
www.hmv.co.uk affiliate program is with Tradedoubler
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