His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up disc gramophone and tilting his head. In the original, unmodified 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The painting was also famously used as the trademark and logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later known as RCA Victor. The painting was originally offered to James Hough, manager of Edison-Bell in London, but he declined, saying "dogs don't listen to phonographs". Barraud subsequently visited The Gramophone Co. of Maiden Lane in London where the manager William Barry Owen offered to purchase the painting if it were revised to depict their latest Improved Gramophone model. Barraud obliged, and Owen bought the painting from Barraud for £100.
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington, is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following the popularisation of its water which was reputed to have medicinal qualities. In the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England. It is named after the River Leam, which flows through the town.
Lucan is a suburban town in County Dublin, located 12 km west of Dublin city centre, on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly in the local government area of South Dublin, with the exception of the North Lucan areas of Laraghcon, Coldblow and Saint Catherine's Park, which are in Fingal. Road access to Lucan is from the N4, and the M50 motorway at Junction 7.
HMV is a British music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by JD Sports and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson.
House of Fraser and Frasers are a British department store chain with 26 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it was known as Fraser & Sons. The company grew steadily during the early 20th century and in 1936 began a period of growth through acquisition which would continue for over forty years. House of Fraser Ltd was incorporated in 1941 and first listed on the London Stock Exchange six years later.
Fopp is a British chain of retail shops selling music, film, books and other entertainment products in the United Kingdom. The chain's stores are operated by Sunrise Records, but with the Fopp brand being used under license from JD Sports.
In the Republic of Ireland, the retail sector provides one of the largest sources of employment in the economy, representing over 12% of the workforce. As of 2017, approximately 40,000 wholesale and retail businesses employed almost 280,000 people in Ireland, with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reporting that 90% of these businesses were Irish-owned.
Golden Discs, officially Golden Disc Group Ltd., is Ireland's largest and oldest home-entertainment specialist retail chain.
Tenpin Ltd is one of the largest ten-pin bowling brands in the United Kingdom, consisting of 53 bowling centres ranging from 12 to 36 lanes, which often have on-site bars serving food and drinks. They are principally located on retail and leisure parks alongside family leisure brands.
John Lewis & Partners, commonly known as John Lewis, is a British chain of high-end department stores operating across the United Kingdom, with concessions in Ireland. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership plc, a holding company held in a trust on behalf of its employees as the beneficiaries of the trust. The brand was established in 1929 by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis.
Dublin Docklands is an area of the city of Dublin, Ireland, on both sides of the River Liffey, roughly from Talbot Memorial Bridge eastwards to the 3Arena. It mainly falls within the city's D01 and D02 postal districts but includes some of the urban fringes of the D04 district on its southernmost side.
Andy's Records was a UK music retailer that traded from 1969 to 2003. Based in Bury St Edmunds, its roots were in nearby Felixstowe and Cambridge.
Hodges Figgis is a long-operating bookshop in central Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1768, it is probably the third-oldest functioning bookshop in the world, after the Livraria Bertrand of Lisbon (1732) and Pennsylvania's Moravian Book Shop (1745). It was moved and expanded numerous times, and arrived at 56 Dawson Street in 1979, and gradually expanded to take its current form of four floors at 56-58 Dawson Street in 1992. It is mentioned in James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses, at the time of which it would have been situated at 104 Grafton Street, and the novel Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, and in other writings.
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were developed, such as eight track tapes, compact cassettes and compact discs (CDs). Today, in the 21st century, record stores mainly sell CDs, vinyl records and, in some cases, DVDs of movies, TV shows, cartoons and concerts. Some record stores also sell music-related items such as posters of bands or singers, related clothing items and even merchandise such as bags and coffee mugs.
Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five upmarket department stores in Ireland, with two located in Dublin, and one each in Cork, Galway, and Limerick. Together with Dublin's Arnotts department store, it is owned by UK-based Selfridges, which in turn is owned by Thai Conglomerate Central Group and Austria's Signa Holding.
Urban andsuburban rail plays a key role in public transport in many of the major cities of the United Kingdom. Urban rail refers to the train service between city centres and suburbs or nearby towns that acts as a main mode of transport for travellers on a daily basis. They consist of several railway lines connecting city centre stations of major cities to suburbs and surrounding towns.
Sunrise Records and Entertainment Ltd. is a Canadian record store chain based in Hamilton, Ontario. Currently owned by Doug Putman, it currently operates in nine Canadian provinces. Originally operating with only 9 locations in Ontario, the chain announced a major expansion in February 2017, under which it purchased leases for 70 locations formerly occupied by HMV Canada. The chain runs approximately 85 locations across Canada.
Douglas Robert Putman is a billionaire Canadian businessman, predominately trading in the retail sector across North America and Europe. Through his firm, Putman Investments, he owns numerous retail chains involving music, entertainment, toys and home goods.
