Lancaster’s HMV branch served the city for more than 25 years before closing on 10 August 2025. The landlord that declined to renew its lease, Frasers Group, is the same company now operating Sports Direct from that unit.
HMV had survived everything the retail sector threw at it across two decades. Two national administrations, a global pandemic, the long slide in physical music sales. In Lancaster, the store at St Nicholas Arcades outlasted almost every shift in how people buy and listen to music. What it could not outlast was who bought the building.
Frasers Group acquired St Nicholas Arcades from European investment firm Patrizia for approximately £10.5 million in September 2024. HMV was a sitting tenant at the time. Less than twelve months after that deal completed, the store was gone.
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Why Did HMV Close in Lancaster?
Frasers Group, the company behind Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannels, GAME, and USC, has a documented approach to the shopping centres it acquires. Trade publication Drapers reported at the time of the Lancaster purchase that Frasers’ strategy in buying retail property involves placing its own brands in the units to generate returns on those assets. The 160,000 sq ft St Nicholas Arcades, known locally as St Nics, draws close to four million visitors a year and generates £1.3 million in annual rent. It was purchased with that model in mind.
Once Frasers owned the building, HMV’s future in Lancaster was tied to whatever the new landlord had planned for the space. The answer came in late July 2025.
HMV published this statement, reported by Beyond Radio on 29 July 2025:
“It is with regret that following a decision by the landlord to not renew the shop’s lease, we are unfortunately having to close the HMV shop at St Nicholas Arcades, Lancaster. HMV first traded in Lancaster over 25 years ago, and whilst we hoped that the landlord’s redevelopment plans would have allowed us to keep trading, this was unfortunately not possible. As we have no intention to stop serving our loyal customers in Lancaster, we are actively looking for a new unit to restart trading as soon as possible and would encourage landlords and agents in Lancaster to get in touch with new potential sites.”
HMV’s trading performance in Lancaster had no bearing on the decision. The closure came from a landlord with other plans for the space.
What Is in the Old HMV Unit Now?
Select Fashion, which had traded in the unit directly next door to HMV, announced its own closing down sale in September 2025 and shut in October. Construction crews moved into both vacant units by November.
In December 2025, Frasers Group opened a new 7,000 sq ft Sports Direct across the combined former HMV and Select Fashion footprint. A company spokesperson confirmed the details ahead of opening: “We’re pleased to be opening a new 7,000 sq ft Sports Direct store, located in St Nicholas Arcades, Lancaster. Set to open by the end of 2025, the dynamic new store will offer customers the world’s best sports and lifestyle brands, while also bringing other brands from Frasers Group’s ecosystem, including USC and GAME, to the location.”
Tony Johnson, manager of Lancaster BID (Business Improvement District), had already confirmed the incoming tenant to Beyond Radio in November 2025, saying the aim was to be open before Christmas. Lancaster BID marked the launch on social media: “A new business for your Christmas needs in St Nicholas Arcades. Sports Direct is here.”
In March 2026, the standalone GAME unit that had been trading separately within St Nics also closed. GAME is itself a Frasers Group brand. Its Lancaster stock now sits as a concession inside Sports Direct.
What were three separate retail units across the same stretch of St Nics, HMV, Select Fashion, and a standalone GAME store, is now one Frasers-owned flagship carrying Sports Direct, USC, and GAME.
How It All Unfolded
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | Frasers Group acquires St Nicholas Arcades from Patrizia for approximately £10.5 million |
| 29 July 2025 | HMV announces closure; final trading day confirmed as 10 August |
| 10 August 2025 | HMV Lancaster closes after more than 25 years in the city |
| September 2025 | Select Fashion (next door to HMV) announces its closing down sale |
| October 2025 | Select Fashion closes |
| November 2025 | Conversion work begins inside both empty units |
| December 2025 | Sports Direct opens in the combined former HMV and Select space |
| March 2026 | The standalone GAME unit in St Nics closes |
What HMV Was to Lancaster
The store first traded in the city on Market Street before relocating to St Nicholas Arcades, where it became a fixture of Lancaster city centre retail for over two decades. For a city the size of Lancaster, a dedicated music and entertainment retailer was a genuine draw rather than a convenience stop.
During Lancaster Music Festival in 2023, Beyond Radio reported that The Howling Clowns performed inside and outside the HMV store, with the crowd spilling from the shop floor out into the arcade itself. HMV was not simply a place to buy vinyl records or a blu-ray. For Lancaster’s music community, it was somewhere people actually gathered.
Where Is the Nearest HMV to Lancaster?
The two closest open branches are:
- HMV Preston, Fishergate — approximately 20 miles south of Lancaster, around a 20-minute train journey
- HMV Blackpool — the other nearest open branch
For those not wanting to travel:
- hmv.com carries the full range of vinyl, CDs, film, and merchandise
- Gift cards are valid at every UK HMV branch and on the website
Is HMV Returning to Lancaster?
HMV’s July 2025 statement included a direct appeal to local landlords and agents to come forward with available sites. As of May 2026, no confirmed new location in Lancaster has been announced.
The obstacles are practical. Finding a unit suited to a physical music and entertainment retailer — large enough to carry vinyl, merchandise, and pop culture product, with business rates that are workable — is not straightforward in any UK city centre right now. HMV managing director Phil Halliday confirmed in October 2025 that the company had planned to open up to ten additional UK stores during the year, but paused those plans following the Autumn Budget. From April 2025, employer National Insurance contributions rose from 13.8 to 15 percent, with the threshold at which employers start paying lowered from £9,100 to £5,000. That hit margins across the retail sector and tightened the case for new lease commitments.
HMV is not in difficulty as a business. The company reported revenue of £177.9 million, an 18 percent year-on-year increase, with pre-tax profits of £5.28 million per Companies House filings. Sunrise Records, the Canadian company that bought HMV out of administration in February 2019, has continued opening stores in Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands through 2025. The Oxford Street flagship, closed since 2019, reopened in November 2023. The brand is in a stronger position than it has been in years. Lancaster is simply waiting on the right unit at the right cost.
Quick Reference
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| When did HMV Lancaster close? | 10 August 2025 |
| Why did it close? | Frasers Group, the landlord, chose not to renew the lease |
| What is there now? | A 7,000 sq ft Sports Direct with USC and GAME sections inside |
| Who owns the building? | Frasers Group, which also owns Sports Direct, GAME, and USC |
| Nearest open HMV? | Preston, Fishergate — approx. 20 miles south, around 20 min by train |
| Are gift cards still valid? | Yes, at all UK branches and on hmv.com |
| Is HMV returning to Lancaster? | Actively looking; no confirmed site as of May 2026 |
Frasers Group purchased St Nicholas Arcades in September 2024 with HMV still trading inside it. By the following August, HMV was out and a Sports Direct was being built in its place. The landlord that had charged HMV rent then replaced it with brands it already owned. As of May 2026, the invitation HMV put out in its closure statement, asking Lancaster landlords and agents to make contact, remains publicly unanswered. For a store that hosted live bands during Lancaster Music Festival, served the city’s music buyers for more than two decades, and closed not through failure but through a property transaction, the silence from St Nicholas Arcades is notable.
