Yesterday I went into an HMV. While the main HMV in Britain has gone under, Canada's branch of the company is separate, and still afloat, since it's apparently made many better decisions about what sorts of things to sell to make up for its falling CD sales.
And yesterday's visit showed just how much it's changed. I actually had trouble finding the CDs. Okay, they did have the new releases at the front of the store, but beyond that, I could only find books, DVDs and t-shirts. The main racks of CDs have been pushed to the back of the store.
I felt really conspicuous back there. I think that's partly because of the natural guilt one feels when looking for any product that can only be found at the back of a store. But there's also the fact that everyone else in the store is at the front. It's just me and the occasional salesperson on the way to the storeroom.
It's bad enough that I'm the oldest guy there. There was a brief interlude a few years ago where all the young folks had abandoned music stores, so even someone in their late thirties could feel at home there. But now it's worse: the young people are at the front of the store buying ironic Green Lantern t-shirts, while the strange old guy is browsing obscure CDs at the back. I never thought I'd see the day when it's easier to buy condoms than CDs.
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