Jobs hope for HMV staff

STAFF at the Oldham branches of HMV and Waterstones today breathed a sigh of relief after a company spokesman hinted that they would not be affected by shop closures and redundancies.

The music and books retailer HMV Group is battling tumbling sales, and warned that 60 stores will close in the next 12 months.

Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for the group, which has outlets in the Spindles Town Square shopping centre, said: “We are actually talking about a relatively small number of stores across HMV and Waterstone’s chains — less than 10 per cent of our combined estates, which are likely to be located primarily in large-city conurbations and may be in close proximity to each other, thus resulting in a degree of duplication in relation to local demand, which isn’t really the case with Oldham.

“The vast majority of HMV stores around the country will not be affected and we will look to ensure that the specialist offer and service that we make available to our customers in these locations is maintained. Likewise, we will look to redeploy any affected staff where we possibly can.”