HMV on Oxford Street was renowned for having exclusive in-store gigs and was the place to go for music, so it will be a welcome return to the West End. Brands are really having to work much harder to make their stores truly omni-channel, and for those like HMV, there is a massive opportunity to be experiential in how they encourage footfall in-store.

The music industry in the UK has steadily been increasing year-on-year for the past eight years now. Technology has helped this growth with the adoption of streaming services, which has given so many more consumers access to a much broader range of music.

Vinyl record sales in the UK continue to rise year on year, with last year being the highest since 1990, so this is a great time for HMV to leverage its brand and knowledge of the music scene to strengthen sales.

HMV should be well placed to build and sustain customer loyalty by using the store to create a community for real music fans, a place where you can listen to the product in amazing surroundings and talk to experts about the product. It will be good to see how it connects up with other related music purchases such as gigs and festivals, and how it may experiment with immersive technology to get customers closer to their favourite artists.