With HMV teetering on the edge of doom there may be a shining light at the end of its dark tunnel as news is spreading that UK supermarket giant Asda is reportedly looking at rescuing the classic high-street brand by buying the music chain, courtesy of its US owners Walmart.
According to The Sun via an unnamed source a deal is on the cards but must be made within the next two weeks for Asda to buy the ailing retail chain.
US company Hilco already took control of HMV’s debts, after taking over HMV Canada last year. Such a deal will see Asda take the chain off Hilco’s hands.
Such a purchase could see the 2,400 employees across HMV’s 120 remaining retail stores stay in jobs and business and could seriously boost the megastore’s future.
Asda, along with other major retail supermarkets, have been widely criticised for being partially responsible for the downfall of stores such as HMV and Game as their bulk buy, sell cheap ethos has taken over in the pricing wars for entertainment and gaming in the past 10 years. We’ve seen supermarkets pushing entertainment specific businesses (remember Fopp and Virgin?) into a corner for the best part of the last decade now.
What Asda would do with the HMV chain is still up in the air but with such an iconic British branding at risk we can only hope to see HMV continue on in some form.