HMV Japan K.K. has closed its flagship music store in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, an establishment that once attracted huge numbers of music fans in the course of its 21-year run.
While the firm said it shut the doors on the outlet Sunday night under its management policy, it is believed HMV Shibuya fell on hard times because consumers have turned to downloading music from the Internet. HMV Japan now has 47 outlets.
According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan, the production volume of CDs in Japan reached a peak of ¥587.8 billion in 1998 and has declined since, dropping to ¥245.9 billion in 2009.
The Shibuya store was HMV's first in Japan. It was set up in 1990 under the Japanese unit of the British entertainment retail conglomerate, HMV Group PLC. Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments Co. acquired all outstanding shares of HMV Japan in 2007.