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Canada’s biggest physical music retailer will be shutting its doors in 2017.
An Ontario Supreme Court of Justice approved an application to place HMV into receivership on Friday afternoon.
The approval forces the retailer to shut its doors, which will happen by the end of April.
According to the application approved on Friday, HMV owes nearly $39 million and hasn’t made any payments towards that debt since November 2014.
HMV employs over 1,300 people across Canada, with most of those positions falling within the chain’s retail locations.
Remember when you would have to physically walk into a HMV Canada and use the headphones on the wall to sample CDs.
— Jeremy Thomas (@HRManagerJT) January 27, 2017
The chain already saw a number of stores close and jobs lost when the company restructured after being purchased by HUK 10 Ltd. in 2011.
The significant growth of music streaming and downloading can be blamed for the struggle of HMV and other similar stores in recent years, although the resurgence of vinyl sales has helped some independent music stores.
HMV is expected to start liquidated pricing next week in an attempt to sell off their inventory before the stores close down for good.