Tower exited the stage years ago, Virgin Megastores has vacated a large number of famous locations, and others like Borders have recoiled from music. The reasons are fairly obvious, though brick-and-mortar survivors are learning the art of physical diversification.

That includes HMV Group Plc, which managed to pull a fiscal year profit partly on the strength of Blue-ray DVDs. Shutdowns of British rivals like Woolworth’s and Zavvi Entertainment Group also helped. For the period ending April 24th, the company boosted net income to 49.2 million pounds ($73.6 million), from 44.2 million pounds ($66.1 million) during the earlier period. Waterstone’s and live-focused Mama Group also suffered restructuring costs. Revenues gained 3.1 percent to just over 2 billion pounds.

CDs remained sour, but recordings are increasingly becoming part of the past. HMV chief Simon Fox outlined several expansion initiatives, including the “evolution of HMV’s product mix” and “growth in live and ticketing,” both diversification steps. Separately, HMV Group chairman Robert Swannell noted that “value is increasingly shifting from recorded music,” while pointing to concomitant shifts towards merchandising.