British record store chain HMV will reopen on Oxford Street in central London later this year, four years after it closed its flagship address.

“HMV plans to return to the UK’s thoroughfare after a four-year absence with a new lease confirming the reopening of its flagship store at 363 Oxford Street later this year,” HMV said in a statement.

The Oxford Street location, the very first location to open in 1921, had been converted into a sweet shop since it closed. The group is aiming to reopen in time for Christmas, a spokesman contacted by AFP said.

The new sign “will reflect the evolution of HMV’s commercial concept and will showcase a wide range of pop culture items” including vinyl but also items related to film or television or “music technology”.

The record distributor closed its flagship brand in 2019 after the bankruptcy. The channel was bought that same year by Doug Putman, a Canadian businessman, owner of the Sunrise Group, which owns record stores in Canada.

Mr Putman had said he wanted to relaunch the brand, which has faced ongoing financial difficulties in recent years, amid a depression in the vinyl and DVD markets amid the boom in online music listening.

HMV (“His Master’s Voice”) made music history in 1962 when the Beatles signed to EMI, the record company that belonged to HMV until 1996.

The reopening of the Oxford Street store “is the latest sign of the dramatic turnaround” that began four years ago, a statement said. The company returned to profitability in its fiscal year ended May 2022.

HMV is planning the same branch concept at 24 new locations in addition to 14 existing branches, which will be adapted by the end of the year.

In total, HMV currently has 120 stores in the UK.

Speaking of a “new era for HMV,” Mr Putman notes in the press release that 2023 also plans to open stores in other parts of Europe where the chain currently has no presence.