Gennaro Castaldo Watch: He's also a bit of a Fopp

Since HMV snapped up a few Fopp stores, and the brand, Gennaro's empire extends to that chain, too, and he's on hand to outline HMV's cautious expansion plans:

Castaldo also revealed future plans for Fopp stores, of which there are two in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh.

"Just recently we opened a new Fopp store in Bristol, a city where Fopp had operated successfully in the past.

"As and when the appropriate sites in the appropriate locations become available we will consider opening new Fopp branches.

"We don't want to have a rapid expansion plan only to have it all fall down again.We would rather allow an organic growth to take place.

"That is how Fopp grew initially and became successful," he added.

The big idea, though, is - yes, really - digital download booths:

Gennaro Castaldo said: "We are looking to stay true to the original spirit of Fopp, but also keen to attract new customers.

"We are particularly mindful of what Fopp customers want and demand.

"If they tell us they would like to see download kiosks in stores then that would be something we would definitely consider for the future."

These were non-starters when they were competing with staying at home and downloading music; now that more and more people are able to download music onto their handhelds and mobiles while on the move, it's even harder to see why anyone would want to go to a shop to download music onto "a memory stick, which they can then transfer to a PC, mobile phone or MP3 player".

The Scotsman On Sunday adds:

The HMV Group hopes in the future to be able to provide facilities which would allow people to download music and films directly on to MP3 players.

There already is facilities to allow that to happen. It's called wi-fi. It's great to see HMV investing in Fopp, but why would they waste money building in obsolete technology?