HMV to close final US store: CEO Giles blames series of poor real estate deals for failure in the States.(News)

HMV's American dream will be finally confined to history this weekend as the door closes for the last time on New York's Fifth Avenue on its last remaining US store.

But group CEO Alan Giles says he will not be shedding any tears as HMV follows in the footsteps of other UK retailing institutions such as Marks & Spencer and WH Smith by completely turning its back on the US market. "In some ways we're relieved," concedes Giles, who acknowledges HMV's bid to repeat its success in the UK across the Atlantic was flawed from the very beginning by sky-high rental costs and poor decisions on where to open stores.

"In our case it's about the fact we had very poor real …