HMV Has Big Plans to Expand Internationally. Thanks, Canada.

HMV, once left for dead by some, is doing just fine, thank you. In fact, the company is not only thriving but expanding.

The story thus far: When HMV’s parent in the UK ran into financial trouble, it spun off its Canadian operations to a company called Hilco Capital. They have two divisions: the first winds down companies for liquidation and death; the other is a recovery operation. In the case of HMV Canada, Hilco put the company on the “recovery” track. Inventory was expanded, under-performing stores were closed and other changes were made.

It worked. HMV Canada is now profitable. The plan worked so well that Hilco bought the remaining HMV assets in the UK and beyond (which were totally bankrupt by this time) and implemented the Canadian strategy. That worked, too. HMV UK is back to being the biggest music seller in Britain, blowing past even Amazon.

The company hopes to open 14 more stores before Christmas as well as put more resources into its website which has more than a million active users so far. That’s just in the UK. HMV will see new stores open in Korea and Dubai. More international expansion is planned.

And to think this international business success started with an experiment in Canada. Cool, eh?

Read more on HMV’s turnaround at The Telegraph.