|
HMV
HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on London's Oxford Street by the Gramophone Company, who had already established the His Master's Voice symbol on their sound equipment, and from 1909, as its own record label. In the 1960s, HMV became a chain across London, and expanded nationwide in the 1970s. It expanded internationally in the mid-1980s, and opened its 100th UK shop in 1997. In 1998, the retail operations were divested from EMI (successor to the Gramophone Company), to form what would become HMV Group plc. In 2007, HMV bought rival retailer, Fopp, as well divesting its Japanese business. In April 2013, HMV was rescued by Hilco Capital for an estimated £50 million after falling into administration. In February 2019, the Canadian retailer Sunrise Records rescued 100 of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer electronics, record labels, and entertainment retail. The original His Master's Voice painting, alongside a number of duplicates painted by Barraud, are owned by the EMI Archive Trust charity that is based in Hayes, London. History The Gramophone Company / EMI / HMV (United Kingdom-based) In early 1899, Francis Barraud applied for copyright of his original 1898 painting using the descriptive working title ''Dog looking at and listening to a Phonograph''. He was unable to sell the work to any cylinder phonograph company. The painting had been originally offered to James Hough, manager of Edison Bell in London, but he declined, saying "dogs don't listen to phonographs". William Barry Owen, the American founder of the Gramophone Compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterstones
Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and other nearby countries. it employed around 3,500 staff in Britain and Europe. The average Waterstones branch sells a range of approximately 30,000 individual books, as well as stationery and other related products. Founded in 1982 by Tim Waterstone, the bookseller expanded rapidly until being sold in 1993 to WHSmith. In 1998 Waterstones was bought by a consortium of Waterstone, EMI, and Advent International. The company was taken under the umbrella of HMV, which later merged the Dillons the Bookstore, Dillons and Ottakar's brands into the company. Following several poor sets of results for the group, HMV put the chain up for sale. In May 2011 it was announced that A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by the R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunrise Records (retailer)
2428391 Ontario Inc. (trading as Sunrise Records) is a Canadian record store chain based in Hamilton, Ontario. Currently owned by Doug Putman (whose family also runs Everest Toys), it currently operates in nine Canadian provinces. Originally operating with only 9 locations in Ontario, the chain announced a major expansion in February 2017, under which it purchased leases for 70 locations formerly occupied by HMV Canada. The chain runs approximately 85 locations across Canada. In February 2019, Sunrise Records expanded internationally, buying a number of the British HMV and Fopp stores out of administration, as well as returning HMV to Canada and Ireland, and entering the Belgian market. In January 2020, Sunrise Records purchased FYE in the United States. History The company was founded in Toronto in 1977, with a location on Yonge Street. It was bought in 1978 by Malcolm and Roy Perlman. For a period, Sunrise was considered one of the five major record store chains in Canada, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fopp (retailer)
Fopp is a British chain of retail shops selling music, film, books and other entertainment products in the United Kingdom. The chain's stores are operated by Sunrise Records, but with the Fopp brand being used under license from Mermaid (Brands) Limited. History Origins The company was setup by Englishman Gordon Montgomery and began as a one-man stall in Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. The name "Fopp" comes from the title of a song by the Ohio Players on their 1975 album ''Honey''. By 2007, Fopp had expanded to become a chain of over 100 branches in the UK. With the demise of rival chain Music Zone, Fopp became the third largest specialist music retailer in the UK in terms of shop numbers (after HMV and Virgin Megastores). Administration Having taken over rival chain Music Zone following its fall into administration, Fopp found itself with cash flow problems. The company cancelled book deliveries in June blaming a change in location of warehouse from Bristol to Stockport (the ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Giles
Alan James Giles OBE is a British businessman and currently a non-executive director of the Competition and Markets Authority. He is also a non-executive director of Rentokil Initial plc and a member of OFT's Audit and Risk Remuneration committees. Career From March 1999 until September 2006 he was chief executive officer of HMV Group, owner of record shop HMV, which he joined in 1998. HMV Group also owned the UK bookshop chain Waterstones, which bought another book chain Ottakars in 2006. HMV and Waterstones suffered a decline in sales in the financial year 2005–2006. Giles stated that the internet, including music downloading, and supermarket competition, contributed towards HMV's decline in sales. After leaving HMV, he became chairman of Fat Face In typography, a fat face letterform is a serif typeface or piece of lettering in the Didone (typography), Didone or modern style with an extremely bold design. Fat face typefaces appeared in London around 1805–1810 and b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Megastores
Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. The company expanded to hundreds of stores worldwide in the 1990s, but lost a large number of stores during the 2010s, largely with the sale and eventual closing of the European, North American, Australian, Japanese and Chinese stores. By 2015, it operated only in the Middle East and in North Africa. History Branson's early business ventures Richard Branson and Nik Powell had initially run a small record shop called ''Virgin Records and Tapes'' on Notting Hill Gate, London, specialising particularly in "krautrock" imports, and offering bean bags and free vegetarian food for the benefit of customers listening to the music on offer. After making the shop into a success, they turned their business into a fully fledged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
His Master's Voice (British Record Label)
His Master's Voice was a British record label established in 1909. Whilst mainly releasing in the United Kingdom, the label also released in select European and African territories. Sister labels were also created, such as an Indian version, that lasted until 2003. "His Master's Voice" was a trademark of the Gramophone Company Limited (later part of EMI). In 1909, the Gramophone Company replaced the "Recording Angel" trademark with the image of Nipper the dog, listening to "His Master's Voice" on their record labels; thereafter, the records were commonly referred to as "His Master's Voice" (or HMV) records, due to the prominence of that phrase along the upper rim of the labels. The "His Master's Voice" trademark was used worldwide by The Gramophone Company/EMI and affiliated labels, except for most of the Western Hemisphere and Japan, where the rights to the trademark were owned by the Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor and the Victor Company of Japan/ JVC, respectivel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gramophone Company
The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark rights in 1899, using its artwork and creating the His Master's Voice sub-label for its phonographs and releases in 1909, replacing its previous "Recording Angel" trademark. The company had an affiliation with the American Victor Talking Machine Company, who also began using the artwork. In 1931, The Gramophone Company partnered with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries Limited (EMI). The Gramophone Company continued as one of EMI's music labels until 1973, when its legal entity was renamed to EMI Records Limited. The His Master's Voice label continued until 1993, when it was replaced by EMI Classics. History The Gramophone Company was founded in April 1898 by William Barry Owen and Edmund Trevor Lloy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to the north, with Soho and Mayfair to its immediate south. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around 300,000 daily visitors, and had approximately 300 shops. It is designated as part of the A40, a major road between London and Fishguard, though it is not signed as such, and traffic is regularly restricted to buses and taxis. The road was originally part of the Via Trinobantina, a Roman road between Essex and Hampshire via London. It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was notorious for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn Gallows. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use, attracting street traders, conf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nipper
Nipper ( – September 1895) was a British dog. He is best known as the subject of ''His Master's Voice'' (1898), painted posthumously by his second owner, Francis Barraud. The painting became a worldwide entertainment trademark, with Nipper's likeness used across consumer electronics, record labels and entertainment retail. Background Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England, and died in September 1895. He was likely a mixed-breed dog A mongrel, mutt, or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized Dog breed, breed, including those that result from intentional Dog breeding, breeding. Although the term ''mixed-breed dog'' is sometimes preferred, m ..., although most early sources suggest that he was a Smooth Fox Terrier, or perhaps a Jack Russell Terrier, or possibly "part Bull Terrier". He was named Nipper because he would often "nip" at the backs of visitors' legs. Nipper originally lived with his owner, Mark Henry Barraud, in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
