By Leanna Pankratz (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 11, 2012
The Robson Street HMV store offered a different kind of sale this holiday season. The once bustling location is now busier than ever, with merchandise flying off the shelves to the tune of up-to-50-per-cent-off discounts – all heralded by large red and yellow signs that possess a twinge of sad desperation.
The closing down of HMV in Vancouver is just another victim of a global decline in CD sales, and the rise of the digital music age. Thirty per cent of Canadian music consumers prefer to buy online, and that number is steadily increasing. Another factor that plays into the issue is the problem is rent. Vancouverites are already familiar with the city’s obscenely high rent fees, such fees that prevent such 50,000 square foot locations from keeping up – particularly when their product is one that is struggling. Customers are not buying CDs anymore. The presence of iTunes’ pick-and-choose-for-99-cents-each option just looks remarkably more convenient than 15 dollars for an eleven song compact disc where one might only listen to three tracks frequently. The CD is going out of style – following in the footsteps of the vinyl record and the cassette tape.
Meanwhile, employees at HMV’s flagship Robson Street location are looking more than a little jilted – advertising up to 70 per cent off sales that are essentially the death knell of their livelihood. “I’ve basically come to terms with the fact that I’m losing my job,” sighed an employee who chose to remain nameless. “Some of us are being scattered to different locations, but I certainly don’t plan on leaving downtown. It’s too bad, really.” This anonymous employee is not the only one. The store’s closing means that 60 CD and DVD salespeople will be without jobs at the end of January.
In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, HMV Canada’s president, Nick Williams, stated that some of the employees will be moved to BC’s various remaining locations – nine in total. “[But] clearly we won’t be able to do that for everyone.”
“It kind of looks like the store has been violated,” stated one teenage boy perusing the CD category labeled “Hip Hop.” He indicated to the shelves that only grow emptier – never to be restocked. “The deals are crazy! People are tearing CDs off the racks!”
“I find it very sad, actually,” said HMV customer Frank. “Living downtown, this is one of my favourite retail locations in the city. It’s huge! Three stories of exactly the things I like to buy most,” he said. “I just can’t get into the whole iTunes thing. When I buy music, I like to hold it in my hand, and have the satisfaction of actually having bought something to add to a physical collection. Call me old fashioned, but that’s me.”
“While it’s too bad that the store has to close, it seems to be a reflection of what customers want when it comes to CDs versus digital, and in the end, that’s what retail is all about, right?” answered a female shopper when asked how she feels about the music giant’s last hurrah. “I’m just enjoying the opportunity to buy music for 70 per cent off!”
“Everything must go!” yelled a man wearing a bright yellow sign.
