The Death of HMV

To those of you who may not know what HMV is or why it is dying, allow to me to quickly explain. HMV is was a music and movie focused store that most recently was well known for selling DVD's, CD's, various merchandise and even some sweet vinyl.

Back in it's 'hey-day', HMV had some impressive achievements like how in 2005 they were able to take over a Virgin mega-store to hold the title of the largest media focused retail destination. In 2006 HMV was crowned "Canadian music retailer of the year', in 2009 HMV began including video games in their lineup, and in 2010 they had created their own membership program which had over 300,000 people sign up within four months. So what happened?

2010 also saw the creation of the now insanely popular Netflix, which at the time only seemed like the tip of the digital iceberg. Media as a whole was becoming more easily accessible digitally, and the previously used method of "going to the store" to "buy a dvd" was showing some age. Take Blockbuster or The Beat Goes On as an example: people just don't want to get up and drive to a movie or music store anymore, especially not when they can just Torrent Kanye's newest album or stream an entire season of Daredevil for only $9.99 a month.

Honestly, I'm disappointed with this closure. HMV was more than just a little shop in your local mall, it was a Canadian media retailer that had been selling families' their movie nights for more than 30 years. It was the last remaining example of what media once was: a special occasional event to be shared with those you care about, not two hours of flipping through the trending category from your couch or 'Netflix and chill'. Rest in peace, HMV.