Monday 21st January 2013 by Michael Baggs | Photos by WENN.com

When HMV announced it was entering administration we were sad, but we weren't surprised. Not only had the store's struggle to survive in an increasingly competitive market been widely covered in the press, but no one in the Gigwise office could remember the last time they had actively shopped in a HMV store.

The last music and DVD retailer on the high street was great when it came to browsing new releases and killing time when the mundane chore of town centres became too much, but rarely were purchases made. No matter what offers the store was running, you knew it would be cheaper online - or already streaming on Spotify, LoveFilm or Netflix. We even know people who have bought things through mobile phones while in HMV stores, choosing items on the high street before opening their Amazon app and ordering them online. The stores clearly weren't working.

HMV obviously offered a huge outlet on the high street for the music industry, but a source of revenue? Unlikely. Physical sales have been declining faster than X Factor viewing figures, and the store did little to prevent this, with over-inflated prices on CD releases, often available for half the price online. Their vinyl pricing was even more shocking, with 2012 album releases such as Lana Del Rey and Of Monsters & Men being sold for £30 - when they were available online for little over a tenner. London's Oxford Street store was selling copies of The Maccabees Given To The Wild for £37 - a ludicrous price for any recording.

Flowers were left outside the Grafton Street store in Ireland after its closure

What HMV stores offered the music industry was visibility on the high street, through promotions, visual displays and simply being on shelves and in sight. Without these stores breaking up the endless H&Ms, Topshops and Schuh stores, entertainment purchases will disappear from the high street shoppers' minds.

So it is time to say goodbye to HMV stores. They were a huge part of our musical upbringing, and if we were to count the hours we spent in them browsing racks in our lifetimes it would total weeks, if not more. For the past few years, they simply haven't worked - even our parents, who have yet to graduate to iTunes on a full time basis, shop online for CD bargains. The stores have offered nothing new in years, and consumers have demanded more immediate access to products at cheaper prices, HMV has done little to satisfy our demands. Our sadness at the loss of HMV, and indeed Blockbuster, is down to nostalgia not a sense of loss.

Just think, after the outcry at the loss of Woolworths in 2008-2009, how often have you longed for the opportunity of a bag of Pick'n'Mix while out shopping? The nation has since shopped safely without a pocket of flumps for nearly half a decade, and that's sadly how it will go with impulse purchases of two for £10 DVDs.

Below: James Arthur meets sobbing fans at Middlesbrough HMV