music stores in London?

[ceero]

Hey guys, i need a hand. I'm coming over to London for a few days and it's kind of a tradition for me - i go shop for cds in every location i visit. The thing is that nowadays it's almost a bit rare to find good record stores open, i mean Paris closed their biggest one, Amsterdam did, Rome did....
I have been to london 6-7 years ago and i remember this kickass huge HMV store in London i think it may have been somewhere not that far from Picadili Circus - is that still open? I recall that there was also a Virgin Megastore - google is telling me that one already closed down. Any suggestions where to get a good, wide selection of CDs in London, somewhere near the center? I would be especially glad if someone could confirm to me that whether the HMV store is still open or whether it has been relocated. It's a bit hard to google up this kind of information up to date.

Thanks in advance!

[solarized]

I live in Leeds and havent been to London for ages but HMV's are everywhere.
Would recommend a visit to Tower Records as well although I'm not 100% sure it's still open.
There's also Zavvi everywhere as well (used to be Virgin Megastore). There's a load of decent independent places as well. Check out Camden where there's a decent music scene

[Neogenesis]

Virgin Megastores closed down years ago.. Same with many HMVs.. But there is still a big one on Oxford Street that is open. I'm going into Central tomorrow, so can double check for you. But like Solarized said, Camden is a good place to find niche music. They also have a Cyberdog, so check that out!

[Reverse Ghost]

I realize I'm late, but there is Big Apple in Croydon, legendary shop for Bass music.

[ceero]

thanks guy. checked out the HMV at Oxford street, sweet selection, bough quite a lot stuff. A little bit disapointed i havent found one hardstyle cd but i kinda expected that.

[Neogenesis]

Closest I ever got to a hardstyle CD was the Hard Dance Awards compilation many many years ago!