Supermarket chain Morrisons has bought up six HMV stores as it looks to increase its number of small convenience outlets across Britain.
HMV shops in Chesterfield, Newbury, Enfield, Scarborough, Lancaster and Wood Green will be turned into M Locals, and add to the 49 former Blockbuster and seven former Jessops sites which Morrisons has also purchased during the past few months.
“We have either opened or acquired 70 stores just one month into our financial year so we are pleased that we will exceed our 2013 target,” Gordon Mowat, Managing Director of Morrisons Convenience, has said of the purchases. “Our focus is now on opening these stores as soon as we can as well as pushing on to secure even more sites.”
The news could well be the start of many HMV bases changing ownership after the company went into administration last month. It has already been confirmed that over half of the existing stores in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are earmarked for closure in a bid to safeguard at least some of HMV’s assets for the long term.