Another Coney Street shop to close

Another familiar name is to disappear from Coney Street.

HMV is closing, and could be gone by the end of March.

Signs appeared on the windows today (Tuesday) confirming the closure of the record shop, which has been a fixture on the York street for many years.

The HMV group went into administration at the end of 2019. But in February Canadian record store chain Sunrise Records bought it, immediately closing 27 stores.

At that stage it had seemed the York branch would be safe. But staff were told on Monday that the store would be going too.

Praise for superb staff

In a statement the HMV MD Neil Taylor said they had done all they could to keep the Coney Street store open.

He said:

• Following the purchase of the business on February 5, we were led to believe that we could reach agreement with the landlord at this site.

  However, it is extremely disappointing that negotiations have ultimately been unsuccessful.

  However, our door is always open to the landlord as we would love to do a deal that works for us, as well as them, and stay in York.

  I would like to thank all of our loyal customers for their support and also the staff at HMV York for their dedication and hard work.
  

Difficult days

HMV joins a list including Burgins Perfumery, River Island, Swarovski and BHS to close and quit Coney Street.

There have been newcomers: toyshop The Entertainer moved into the building vacated by Currys.

But only today national newspaper the Guardian wrote that:

• In central York, the boarded-up shops are conspicuous – all the more shocking when you consider that tourists spend more than £500m in the city each year.

  Even the retail flagship, Coney Street, looks forlorn.