Sunrise Records is set to become the new tenants of over 70 stores previously owned by HMV.
The music note-shaped hole left behind by HMV’s closing will be filled by Sunrise Records as part of the music retailer's coast-to-coast expansion plan. The first confirmed store location in B.C. will open at HMV’s old storefront at Metropolis at Metrotown. Polo Park shopping centre in Winnipeg will be home to Manitoba’s first Sunrise Records. The new stores will start opening in April 2017.
“We are excited to bring Sunrise nationwide, and would like to thank all of the suppliers and landlords who worked so closely with us to allow us to be a destination for physical music in Canada,” Doug Putman, president of Sunrise Records said in a statement.
Sunrise Records currently has nine stores in Ontario and hopes their expansion will help broaden the profile of indie music and preserve the tradition of tangible music sales. Sunrise says it will be carrying 50 per cent more CDs in store.
“We want to support independent Canadian artists more than ever. We feel it’s an obligation, not to mention we love discovering talented new artists,” Putman said.
Sunrise Records says it is also committed to providing jobs to previous HMV employees.
“We want the HMV people to apply, and we want them to become Sunrise people,” Putman told The Strombo Show on Sunday, February 26. Putman encourages any HMV employees to submit their resumes to [email protected].
The Sunrise acquisition comes on the heels of HMV announcing at the end of January that it would be closing all of its 102 Canadian stores.
