HMV

Going out of business. Got some excellent deals. Selection was a bit picked over but not overly so.

HMV’s the one that bought out Virgin Megastore. I guess it doesn’t have a savior, since I saw a «furniture and fixtures on sale» sign. I feel sorry that an era is ending, but I like to buy music in digital form, so I don’t have to find a place to store CDs (unless it’s a special meaningful case or one not buyable in this region).

When the Virgin Records on Robson was bought out by HMV, I was so disappointed. I had loved the wide selection of Criterion Collection DVDs and obscure CDs at Virgin. But then HMV took over and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I could still find media here that I couldn’t find at regular HMV locations (the tiny ones that are crammed into malls). For example, there was an LP selection upstairs and a giant British TV selection downstairs. Over the years, however, the selection began to decline. Music was replaced by cheap DVDs and other random things that were completely non-​music related. Now the store is shutting down, and I have to admit I am disappointed. It is becoming harder and harder to find locations to buy media these days. I guess I will be forced to use Amazon like everyone else, or frequent local businesses like Zulu (good excuse to visit a fantastic store).

The big music store on Robson will be shutting down soon, so I may as well get a review in before this sucker closes it doors and another ‘super’ retailer gets their hands on this place. The former (dating myself) Vancouver Public Library location of yesteryear has gone through being a music/​entertainment retail chain with HMV being the current one. When coming into this store on the main floor you are greeted by very high ceilings, and all the regular priced goodness of new releases. Everything from the newest tunes that your car cd player craves for, to new dvd and bluray releases, and even video games, and other weird knick-​knacks from printed tees, to magazines.
It has always been a store that was too big for it’s own good. The downstairs had your searching for a long time for what you were really looking for in terms of games and movies, with a seperate classical music section. The upstairs had a great selection of music books, but there were too many times you felt lost in here with no guidance on what you looked for, and eventually walked out with nothing. The prices were not the most competitive with the other big box chains, and usually you would come here to order that one special item, which was usually overpriced.
The building and location have always been a landmark of the city, and for all these years, I still liked coming in here to see if I could snag a deal, usually leaving empty handed. Well, the deals are coming, and since the announcement of the closure, I think everything in here is 10% off, and probably will increase as the weeks go by. You will be missed, but we who live in this city will wait for the next coming of whoever takes your big spot on Robson and Burrard!

The mixture of intense displeasure and general malaise I feel when walking through the doors of HMV are shot through with a lot of my personal feelings on the state of music as an industry. I’ve long held the belief that counter to what anyone has to say, downloading isn’t killing music. You can’t kill music, if (when?) our society crumbles into dust and we’re reduced back to scraping a meager existence from the land and our greatest triumphs in culture and science are reduced to relics from an antique age, there will still be some dude banging out tunes on a log or blowing into a conch or something. So yeah, the fact that the amount of shelf-​space given over to music in this massive store is shrinking faster than a cashmere sweater in the dryer doesn’t matter to me, except that it signals the end of this breed of store. Other, smaller shops that have the advantage of agility can afford to be boutique in their stock, but what can you say about an enormous space like this one that could (and in the past has) held a large and wide ranging selection and now plays it safe and only stocks a fraction of what they could? Fact is that the HMV of a couple of years ago, the one where I’ve spent a fair bit of time and money is already beneath the earth, fossilizing as I write this. I’m not sad about it, but when the inevitable day arrives that it’s not even worth it to stop in for the occasional new release at loss-​leader pricing arrives I probably won’t even notice. The passage of time is unending, and HMV deserving or not is another victim of the inexorable march.

This is a mega-​HMV and has quite a large selection. That being said, it is not carrying much more than the standard top-​40, recently released movie and such. Prices are high, but that is a given, considering the brick & mortar in a very expensive location.

This place is good for browsing around while killing time. They do have a huge selection of cd’s and dvd’s as well as blu rays. In my opinion the dvd’s are grossly overpriced. Like 35 bucks plus for a movie when i could go to amazon or charlies music city (look at my other review) and get it for less then 10 bucks. They do have a section where you can buy movies for 6 bucks but thats limited. They do let you listen to your cd of choice to preview but you dont have to buy them. Their staff are knowledgable and seem to know their stuff. This place used to be Virgin Megastore which i thought was a mistake that they moved out and before that the Vancouver Public Library.

Place is a complete ghost town.
If you want to remember what life was like in the 1990’s, this place has it all.

I used to get a natural high when visiting HMV in New York and HK. They had great «imported» CD collections — you know the ones that came from Europe and Asia with the special edition printing, extra bonus tracks and especially the high-​bit Japanese pressing.
Fast-​forward to HMV in Canada and the selections are abysmal. There are a few imported versions, but with the local CD prices that they charge you can imagine how much more they add on.
That’s why I just shop online at Amazon in it’s various incarnations of .com, .uk and .ca sites. You get great pricing for those various marketing gimmicks of limited, deluxe, box sets, and yes imported versions.
They don’t have an edge in this cyber world. Even Future Shop is able to come up with their own «exclusive» edition just to ensure you buy it from them.
And what’s up with the pureHMV membership card that charges to join? I pay HMV money to be able to join just to earn points by, wait for it, shopping at their store.
Don’t be suckered into buying their expensive Blu-​Ray disc pricing. There’s a Walmart for that.
HMV stores in the US has folded. I honestly won’t be surprised if this follows suite. They better come up with no-​bull pricing, fast. Canadians have been taken advantage far too long.

HMV, formerly Virgin Megastore, formerly Vancouver Public Library comes up short. The vast size of the place leads one to believe that it’s a shopper’s paradise, capable of fulfilling your music buying fantasies. Not so. Inventory is weak, boring, and I often walk in just to humour myself looking at the empty placeholders where a Charlatans or Grandaddy CD perhaps used to sit. Granted, CD purchases globally have been dwindling, but to aid matters, HMV moved their CD inventory to the top floor where new releases are expensive, foot traffic is at a minimum and the feel is reminiscent of it’s past days of a quiet section of the public library.
The jazz and classical section downstairs is it’s only saving grace.
I tried to pop in the other night to look for some new releases. I had 5 (not too obscure) CDs in mind, and just finding one would have been a treat. Unfortunately I arrived at 9:50pm on a Sunday, and the doors were already locked prior to their 10pm closing time. Nothing bugs me more than stores that close early, and I’ll buy those elsewhere, thank you.

Well, first of all, it’s huge. They have video games, movies, CDs, a huge classical section, the employees stay out of your way for the most part (which I appreciate), but willing to help when you ask. Gotta love their search engine, much like the Barnes & Noble one in US, where I used to work.
Mainly, I wanted to give them a ⁵⁄₅ because every time I’ve came in to browse for movies, they blast the BEST stuff downstairs. Abba, David Bowie, Queen, and Radiohead.
When they played Abba in the store, I felt compelled against my own wishes to stay in the store, so I could continue to listen to Abba. I don’t even like them much but I just had to hear one more song… and another…
Good marketing tactics, you dastardly HMV, you.

I’m the only hippie-​look-​alike that goes to this store, and it’s not when that other guy’s mother goes. Maybe that’s why I always watch the doormen. God knows they’re watching me.
Anyways, it’s hard to leave without buying something, especially when DVDs are $ 4 – 6. I’m still looking for the same from CDs, but I guess they’re more expensive to produce… Rare stuff is often here, but if it’s not, we go down to Granville and check out the 2^nd hand CD stores. There’s quite a good chance you’ll find it there.
Amazing selection, from Classical to Rap, Blues, Pop, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Softrock, Folk & Reggae (upstairs), World/​International, Christmas, Alternative.
I resent the 2 for $ 20 sales, because I only want to buy one CD at a time, and don’t want to pay 12.95.
Stuff I found there: Before the Flood — Bob Dylan and the Band
Woody Guthrie
Kraftwerk
War — The World is a Ghetto
reasonably priced vintage operas (highly-​prized recordings) some for as low as $ 19.95 (double CD)
McCartney in Red Square (DVD)
Elton John 60 (DVD) on sale for about $ 16
Open till 10 pm most nights.

I know there is a distaste for some for megastores, but I like this HMV for this reason. I am actually able to find what I am looking for their. It beats searching FutureShop for a title that they may not carry. If I can’t find at this store, it is likely that I won’t find it elsewhere. I also like that they have a good selection of electronic, world music and Francophone titles that you would find it hard to find elsewhere. Prices at HMV do fluctuate, so I look for the 2 for $ 20 or 2 for $ 25 deals. Although there is some serious sticker shock on some back catalog music titles, overall I would recommend HMV for its wide selection.

Size matters. That’s what HMV thinks, and they’re probably right. They’ve got a lot of stuff, and I would be willing to bet that I could find popular, but slightly old stuff, in stock.
Do I enjoy shopping here? Not so much– but that’s just the generic corporateness of it. Maybe they can’t help it. Prices are pretty average. Location is good. Staff? I’m not really a fan– usually they’re clustered together talking amongst themselves. Whatever. I wouldn’t go here to seek out their advice.

hmv, is this music mega store or a disease?! who came up with the name for this place? this place is yet another huge mega store type like virgin that has music and so much more. just like most of the places out there that are actually still in business it’s just another place to get lost in and hope you come across what your looking for. these days i still find it much easier to get what you want online easier and sometimes faster unless you need it the day of.
back when this was a virgin store i came here with a plan to find transformers the movie on video. at that time it was only available in canada and on vhs. well i found it and was stoked but these days it’s everywhere, on dvd and not so rare.
if your a music fan you’ll love to look around and see all they have to offer but try to find a map!

This makes me sad whenever I see it. It’s hard to disassociate images of Richard Branson jumping from the swinging wildly from 788 Hornby’s most recent incarnation.
Everything looks the same. The listening stations have yet to move and the décor is unremarkably the same. But all this comes as little surprise since most media conglomerates seem interchangeable anyway. It would really come as no surprise if the next entrant through this space’s rotating doors is a Tower Records.

I agree with Laina B — I liked this place better when it was the Virgin Megastore. But ah well, what’s gone is gone… I guess. This place gets the job done though, so that’s good.
I went here with a burning desire to purchase the French Canadian film, «Good Cop, Bad Cop» (a hilarious action film — check it out). It took forever to find and I eventually had to ask someone where it was. It ended up being in the foreign section, but at least they had it! On top of that, they were having a massive deal on CDs, DVDs, and video games. There were three different price levels: 2/​$ 20, 2/​$ 25, and 2/​$ 30. It made for a pretty awesome shopping experience considering I figured that the price for the movie would be $ 25 bucks anyway.
I almost was tempted to purchase the French/​English widescreen version of the Back to the Future trilogy (only $ 19.99!), but held back. I was pretty excited to see it, as I am a huge BTTF nerd…
Overall, this place is good. I do miss the Virgin Megastore though… so that knocks them down a star.

Eh. This place is ok. I liked it better when it was a Virgin Megastore (stop hatin’!).
They’ve got a ton of stuff, but none of the stuff that made shopping at Virgin fun. I kinda like the non-​music stuff at music stores, but HMV has very limited, and boring, non-​music options. Over-​priced band t-​shirts, stupid plastic purses that I doubt even Hot Topic would want to carry, and other non-​useful stuff. Obviously, one does not usually go to a «record store» to look at these non-​music items, but still.
The merchandise is the same as what you’d find a Virgin or a now defunct Tower. Which is to say it’s better than Sam Goody, but it’s not Amoeba or Easy Street or fill in the blank with your favorite local record store.
But jeez! The prices are high! It was one thing when I was buying Canadian with a somewhat better USD, but anymore, that stuff is expensive! And I’m not getting anything there that I can’t get in the US, so unless it’s something special, or on sale, I don’t find it necessary to buy a lot here.
An example of something you SHOULD buy here — a French/​English version of «Dark City» and it was only $ 5!
So, yeah, they have some good sales. But not any new releases.
All in all, a decent place to check out, but don’t go in looking for anything special other than the latest new release.