Photo: Wenn

Administrators for embattled high-street music chain HMV have reportedly had four offers to buy Fopp, but have declined to name the interested parties.

Deloitte, administrators for HMV who still own the remaining seven Fopp stores in the UK, chose not to name the parties interested in buying the stores, but the Guardian reports they are believed to include trade buyers and private equity firms.

But Hilco, the company that owns HMV Canada and is the store’s biggest creditor, is thought to be close to closing a deal that will see it ‘cherry-pick’ the best of the Fopp stores along with the best located HMV stores from the 222 remaining in the UK after the sale of six stores to Morrisons.

Fopp’s founder, Gordon Montgomer, who now runs Rise Music in Bristol, told the Guardian: “It is a great brand. If you look at the blogs everyone says HMV lost its way, but there are a lot of people who love Fopp.

HMV has so far had to make nearly 1,500 staff redundant

“If you are off the pitch (high street) in music towns like Edinburgh, Manchester, Cambridge, Nottingham, Glasgow, you have to make yourself a destination. Fopp has a great reputation for selling music, with more left-field catalogue than HMV.”

Job losses at HMV are now approaching 1,500 and the number of stores set to close stands at 103.

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