Group keen to return to putting on events, with Ed Sheeran booked to play free concert next month
The owner of music and entertainment chain HMV said it was planning to open 10 new stores this year but warned there would be many more vacant shops on UK high streets unless the government fixed business rates.
The music and film retailer, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, said online sales had more than doubled over the past year, with sales tripling in some weeks, but Doug Putman, the toy entrepreneur who bought 100 HMV stores out of administration in 2019, said overall sales for the group were “heavily down” as stores had been forced to temporarily close during the Covid-related high street lockdowns.
