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HMV could avoid extinction

Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 09:53 by David Aiken

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After more than a week of doom and gloom surrounding the future of HMV, it now seems that the retailer might be pulled back from the brink.

Hilco, the company which is in charge of HMV's Canadian operations, has purchased the 176 million of debt that was stifling the British chain, according to BBC News.

Apparently, Hilco is now in negotiations with Deloitte, which was called in as an administrator, to see whether it will be able to shoulder total control of HMV, in an attempt to restructure it and return it to profitability.

At the time of writing, HMV's website, which used to allow customers to carry out safe shopping online and also redeem things like gift cards, remains out of action, with a notice from Deloitte greeting anyone who attempts to visit it.

Some HMV high street stores are still open and earlier this week it was announced that it would once again be honouring gift cards, which were temporarily suspended following the arrival of the administrators.

Hilco's takeover bid could well be successful, in part because it is reportedly getting backing from a number of HMV's suppliers within the music and movie industries.

Most had assumed that HMV might go the way of Woolworths and disappear from the high street altogether.

Of course, Woolworths itself has been allowed to survive thanks to its incarnation in the e-commerce space, allowing loyal customers to do business with the brand, via safe shopping online.

It would be sad to see HMV become an online-only retailer, but things are looking up for the company and if Hilco does get a chance to work its managerial magic, we might not see its demise. Whether or not every employee will be able to hold onto their job is another matter.