If Gary Warren thought he had a mountain to climb at HMV, he is about to take on the Everest of retail challenges in his new job.
The former HMV commercial director has just been appointed managing director of Blockbuster by its new owners Gordon Brothers, which acquired 264 stores on Saturday.
Warren certainly has the right credentials; he spent 25 years at HMV, with 10 years at board level. On his LinkedIn profile Warren describes himself as a “highly successful multichannel senior retail/ecommerce business executive”, and he’ll need to be if he is to lead a turnaround of the video rentals chain, which collapsed in January.
The business studies graduate says he is a “retailer by trade” and that his skills lie in leadership and building relationships. He says he has a high level of knowledge in customer service and his CV includes an extensive period in store operations – both will be critical to the Blockbuster turnaround.
The former HMV director will know a thing or two about physical products migrating online, and will also have a deep knowledge of the visual market. Blockbuster failed under its previous owners because it did not have an online offer to compete with streaming giants Lovefilm and Netflix as consumers migrate onto the web to watch TV and movies. Warren has the expertise in this area – he helped launch HMV.com – and if Blockbuster is to have a chance of survival now, he must prioritise the launch of a streaming offer.
Warren left HMV in June 2011 to “pursue other interests”. During his time at the entertainment retailer he worked at HMV Canada where he was vice president of operations and product from 2001 – 2005. He also held the title of head of ecommerce at former HMV stablemate Waterstones.
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