HMV

Oh, how I’ve missed you. Long gone from the U.S., I make a point of visiting HMV whenever I come across one in Europe. While they can be overpriced, I fondly remember lunchtime visits to their 5^th Avenue shop in NYC, where they’d often have concerts scheduled & I’d see bands like The Chieftains or The Wolfe Tones play free sets to promote a new release.
Now of course, there’s a Starbucks or some such in its place, so I go to Amazon or Best Buy, which while arguably cheaper, doesn’t bring the pleasure or immediacy of a visit to HMV or Tower. Granted, It’s still a bit frustrating to go & not find something you’ve got your heart set on, but there’s rarely a time when you’ll leave empty-​handed.
There’s a great selection of Irish & even local music to choose from. Give it a look.

this shops is brillaint for cds but the films and there box sets are very dear.

I haven’t bought anythins here for years because cd’s, dvd’s and basically anything is cheaper off the internet. But I do pop in form time to time to jsut look around… Its a shame because it used to be such a fun thing to do to go into town and buy a cd… I really can’t understand why they are still in business… I’m sure they have been hit hard and have had to rethink things… and to their credit it has worked as they are still going and people are still going most importantly… just not me.
This store is huge with three floors to play with and a pretty good book and local music section also… Its fun to go in and kill time and just browse.

HMV… does anyone know what that stands for? I have been sitting here trying to work it out without the help of Google but I can not for the life of me think what it could be? Must just be a big corporate mess made up of random letters from peoples names.
Anyway having said its name probably came from a boardroom it is obvious that HMV is a massive multi national brand but I thought I better just give it a thumbs up for the offers, deals and service that HMV continually dishes out.
I mean DVD’s and CD’s for £3, it would be rude not to. But having said that its usually films that have been on ITV 15 times in a month that are on the bargain shelf.
The staff are always really quirky in HMV, they have this thing about hiring individual looking people, this must be in a done in an attempt to mask the fact the every store is identical. But I must compliment the quirky characters that work in HMV, they are always really helpful, whether it is in helping you find you’re a copy of The Notebook, ehhh or I mean Anchorman or having a bit of chit chat at the checkout.

This is a big shop. Like, really big. I have the same problem with it as Suzy B does in that I mostly go in for DVDs and so I have to trek the whole way to the top floor (I say trek. There are escalators. I’m just very lazy.)
Their range of DVDs is vast, and you can usually find what you’re looking for (or if you’re me, you can find something, whether you intended to buy or not!), and the staff on that floor I find to be particularly lovely and usually up for a bit of banter (which is exactly how record shop staff should be fyi)
The music selection is a little more limited, focussing mainly on chart and very popular stuff. Not that this is a bad thing, it just gets a little frustrating sometimes if you’re looking for something a little more obscure.
This store have also been known to host gigs and other such events. It’s great to see that even though its part of a massive chain of stores, this branch is in touch with the local scene.

I’m a total film addict so as you can imagine this store totally appeals to me. The one really irritating downside is that to get to the movies you have to go all the way to the top floor, which is more than annoying if you’re only in for a quick browse, apart from that though this store is great. They have a brilliant range of books as well which is great for a book lover like me. I picked up one of Leonard Cohen’s books in here as well as a book about the stories behind Nirvana’s song lyrics, the first costing £7 and the latter £5. Great value! Although I did come in to buy The Phantom of The Opera which they didn’t have in stock, which is very unusual for them. All in all HMV is a great shop which will usually stock anything and everything you may be after. They also offer a great rewards points system if you sign up for their card.

Oh HMV, how much of my money you have I can only cry when I think about all the money I have spent in your pink themed cathedral to consumerism. As I write this review I look up to my shelves and see them literally heaving under the weight of a couple of hundred CDs and about 400 dvds and many of them came from this very HMV shop. I studied film at Uni so I could kind of justify it to myself but it was a complete waste of money if I’m honest with myself.
This is by far and away the biggest and probably best place to get DVDs and CDs and stuff in Belfast. Its always pretty impressively stocked and you can pick up some pretty out there music, but it kind of lacks any real depth of selection when it comes to movies. But then again I may be overly picky.
The staff are pretty sound and always helpful. That being said, I know they secretly judge you when you buy stuff. I don’t care though, my music and film taste are awesome.

This HMV store is well stocked and is unparalleled in Belfast city centre for music, Dvds, music books, games and accessories for all of the above.
I recently got Cathy Davey’s new album here, which was great as she is a small enough singer songwriter from Dublin. Thumbs up for stocking that.
Another great thing about this store is the range of music books they have on offer– I bought a Brian Eno book for a Christmas pressie last year. There is a quality selection of music books on a wide range of genres. I also got a comedy book here recently, Charilie Brookers Screenwipe which was a total score at £2!
The staff are really friendly and helpful and you can also get a discount card.

As much of a large chain it may be HMV is one of the very few places in the city that you will find a comprehensive collection of various types of music all under one roof.
Besides the floors of computer games, tshirts, pop musak and electronic items there is also a wide array of harder to access music. I managed to track down an old Miles Davis album that I couldn’t find anywhere else (there is simply nothing better to aid in your writing stints than the random soulful sounds of Mr. Davis)
Aside from that you have the usual rigmarole of the charts and other mainstream artists. The store however also has a fantastic range of series boxsets, many of which I assumed had long been deleted.
It is a massive chain however it’s certainly one of the best within the city.

A particular favourite of mine is this store. Situated slap-​bang in the heart of Belfast, HMV specialises in Cds, DVDs, Games etc The sort of thing you buy all the time. I have not been in a store that has such a huge variety. Though the items are more expensive than on the internet (that is unless they are on sale), I still find myself drawn to this shop and meandering around in search of a bargain. It is usually my first choice if I need to get a birthday present for someone. The staff are very knowledgeable and can often be found helping some old lady find a DVD with «the man that was in that boxing one a couple of days ago but this one he is wearing a suit»…
I don’t know how they don’t just push her down the escalator.
Another part which I adore is the book selection which not many people would think of HMV as a good book store, but it has a bunch of kooky books, biographies of important people and Cheryl Cole, and many other titles which you can’t seem to find anywhere else, all for quite cheap too.
If you need anything in the way of CDs, DVDs, Games, Books etc, make this shop the first place to go to. Chances are they have it and if you’re lucky, it might be on sale!