In my lunchtime quest to score the just-released Huckabees soundtrack today,
I wandered to the last remaining HMV in Manhattan, at 45th St. and 5th Ave.
Lo and behold, they were in the throes of an inventory liquidation sale,
which would appear to indicate that they're finally giving up their
ever-more-tenuous foothold in NYC.  That leaves two Virgin Megastores and
two Tower Records (three if you count the tiny store in Trump Tower) as the
jumbo music stores serving the NY metro area.  And really, how much longer
can Tower hold it together?

I'm not one to sob for any chain that charges upwards of $19 as their
standard CD price, but it *is* a passing of an era, no longer to be able to
count on a brick-and-mortar with huge (i.e. wide *and* deep) selection for
those days when you know what you want and don't want to wait for your
favorite internet retailer to ship it to you.  And of course, a
not-inconsequential side-effect, the art of browsing is nearly dead now too.

Maybe I'm naïve (okay, I'm definitely naïve), but I have to wonder, did it
have to be this way?  Might there not have been a way for HMV to do what the
other chains can't seem to, put together a staff who are excited about the
product they're selling, to provide customers a real service?  Maybe partner
with the floundering major labels to help promote new music, new artists, to
make the experience of buying music as great as it can be?

I dunno.  And I guess we'll never find out.

Christopher