// The 10 store closures HMV recently warned of has now been reduced to 5, after securing new deals with landlords
// Of the 5 remaining stores at risk of closure, 2 have been confirmed to shut down at the end of January
// The remaining 3 remain at risk of closure unless a new deal with landlords is reached
Five HMV stores which had been at risk of closing will now remain open after the music retailer was able to secure new agreements with landlords.
However, the five other stores out of the original batch of 10 remain at risk of closure.
HMV warned that three stores could still shut at the end of January unless new deals can be reached.
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The two remaining stores will shut at the end of the month.
HMV previously confirmed that its Bury St Edmunds, Fopp Glasgow on Byres Road and Nuneaton stores will shut at the end of the month.
The retailer said that some stores were no longer viable due to “extortionate” business rates in certain locations.
The HMV stores that had been at risk of closure, but will now remain open are: Glasgow Braehead, Edinburgh Ocean Terminal, Reading, Sheffield Meadowhall and Grimsby.
The three stores still under threat of closure are Bristol Cribbs, Worcester and Merryhill.
Its Birmingham Bullring and Leeds Headrow stores are the two that will shut down at the end of January, HMV said.
The HMV Vault, which opened in Birmingham in October last year, and its store at the St John’s shopping centre in Leeds, will not be affected.
HMV said it was also relocating in Lincoln and Plymouth, with new stores opening in both cities at the start of February.
“The closures are no reflection on our superb staff and where we are not able to come to a new agreement or relocate staff within the business elsewhere, unfortunately this does mean some of our staff will lose their jobs,” HMV said in a previous statement.
HMV was purchased in a rescue deal by music mogul Doug Putman in February last year after it crashed into administration for the second time in five years in December 2018.
Putman, who runs the Canadian retailer Sunrise Records, closed 15 stores after taking control of the business.
One of the 15 stores that shut include the famous Oxford Street flagship in London, where it had a presence since 1921.
with PA Wires
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