Canadian music chain Sunrise Records acquires HMV

HMV in the UK has been saved from going under. It has been bought by Doug Putman, owner of the Sunrise Records chain in Canada. The businessman actually acquired HMV in Canada a couple of years ago and rebranded them as Sunrise Records, but there are no such plans in the UK.

100 of the 127 stores will remain open, which will result in 455 redundancies. The four Fopp store will continue to trade as is.

Putman, CEO of Sunrise Records, was bullish and gave a ringing endorsement of the physical marketplace: ““We know the physical media business is here to stay and we greatly appreciate all the support from the suppliers, landlords, employees and most importantly our customers.”

He called HMV a “fantastic heritage brand” adding, “I feel really lucky to be able to say that we can continue to call it HMV.”

When HMV went into administration at the end of last year, the future looked bleak but it’s new owner said “We see HMV continuing on in the UK for a long time. We believe it’s a chain that’s going to be around, the customers love it, we get amazing support, which is great. I think this is a very long road ahead.”