Canadian Music Chain Taking Over HMV Location in Square One in Mississauga

Canadian-born music chain Sunrise Records is making good on its promise to start expanding into vacant HMV spaces and recently announced that it’s going to set up shop in Square One.

A few days ago, the brand announced that it will take over 70 previously-owned HMV brick and mortar stores in malls across Canada. That news came closely on the heels of HMV’s disappointing–but perhaps not entirely shocking–announcement that it was shuttering all of its Canadian locations after going into receivership.

Sunrise is preparing to move into 29 former HMV stores, including the Square One location.

You can see the entire list of locations here.

The brand says it will announce other locations starting on March 20.

Although old faithfuls will no doubt miss HMV, the Sunrise news is exciting for a plethora of reasons. Firstly, It’s pleasantly surprising to hear that a Canadian music brand is taking advantage of a major closure and growing its presence nationally. Secondly, it’s encouraging to see a brick and mortar store tackle an ambitious expansion plan when fewer people are buying tangible, touchable albums.

With more and more people using iTunes and Spotify to listen to music, it’s exciting to see a company interested in keeping the market a little more diverse. Although the gamble seems risky, the brand could take further advantage of the vinyl resurgence to provide music collectors with something that they can’t access on a smartphone or computer.

It’ll be interesting to see how consumers respond to a reinvigorated Sunrise in the wake of HMV’s exit.