HMV – the place to be and to be seen at in the 90s and early 2000s – will be no more by next week (Sep. 30).

The closure of its last outlet in Marina Square will mark the departure of HMV in Singapore.

At least for the time being. While there are plans of a reopening, HMV's general manager didn't say where or when.

The music store has been staring into the barrel of the Spotify/iTunes gun for some time as music acquiring habits have shifted from hard to soft copy since the turn of the century.

HMV, the landmark

Back in its heyday, HMV was the biggest music store in Singapore when it opened its flagship at Heeren in 1997. This was when the shopping mall was known for its youthful exuberance, unlike its current tai-tai incarnation (Robinsons).

The 25,000-sqf store spanned three freaking levels. Gen X headbangers would gather at the metal section on Level 2 while Level 1 (the fountain, remember that fountain?) was normally used to organise autograph signing sessions (yes, there was actually something for the singers to sign on back in the day).

It was a rite of passage for hordes of impressionable secondary school students, who usually couldn't afford to purchase compact discs so they bought one and shared it among themselves (Yes, the sharing economy was a 90s concept). But mainly, they were there to "sample" the music, check each other out and, simply, hang out and while away time.

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HMV was not only the place for the musically-inclined, it was also a beacon of juvenile love.

Back in the halcyon days of MIRC, teenagers partook in many testosterone-charged blind dates, strolling through aisles of CDs while the latest music blared overhead. It didn't matter that most couldn't hear each other. It was THE experience that mattered. The journey would usually end at Level 4 for some neoprint action or the basement, where Marche's rosti beckoned.

In fact, nobody ever said: "Let's meet at Heeren later." It was always: "See you at HMV."

And then P2P happened

The turn of the century was always remembered for the Y2K bug and the beginning of the end for music stores.

Napster came along in 1999 with its peer-to-peer file sharing service for MP3 files and changed the entire game. Sure, one could download music/files from MIRC, but that was often unreliable and depended on the operators' mood swings. Sean Parker's Napster offered people to trade (one could download and upload) music for free.

Then in 2000, Metallica came knocking on Napster's doors with a lawsuit that set off a chain of events that caused the music sharing network's demise in 2002. But three years of free music had a profound effect on music stores.

Spotify and iTunes then emerged from the storm, offering the masses with affordable music without the clutter and plunging the knife even further. Online shopping also hit HMV hard with Amazon offering the public competitive prices without requiring them even to step out of the house.

HMV shrank its Heeren store in 2002 and then again in 2006. And 12 years after its grand opening, it bade goodbye to the Heeren and shifted its operations to a 12,500-sqf space (half of what it was in 1997) in 313@Somerset, which subsequently closed in 2013. Its other CityLink mall store closed in 2011, and operations shifted to its Marina Square outlet in the same year.

In recent years, HMV took to selling books, T-shirts, video games and DVDs to stay relevant. Its old charm, however, was all but gone.

Not the only one

In the past decade, many music stores like Tower Records, Gramophone and Sembawang Music Centre also shuttered their doors.

And the impending closure of HMV's last outlet in Marina Square could well be an end of an era that was filled with cultural and pop milestones but ultimately couldn't keep pace with technology.

Yes, HMV did say that they are planning to "reopen a new store in near the future". However it needs more than just books, T-shirts, DVDs and CDs to survive now.

It needs to recapture its position as the landmark and make people say: "See you at HMV" again.

Top photo by Sandra Leong via Flickr