Publius Ovidius
Well-known member
Wasn't that originally sussex stationers?
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
HMV into admin tomorrow. Who next?
- Thread starter Berty23
- Start date
Wasn't that originally sussex stationers?
portslade seagull
Well-known member
Yeah it was taken over and they must sell the most expensive chocolate bars i've ever seen
Ah cool, shame she's a Leeds fan though!
portslade seagull
Well-known member
And my son supports middlesborough what a mixture ... let them have my ticket for the Leeds match though
Colossal Squid
Returning video tapes
When I think back to the phenomenal amount of money I spent in that place back in the day it's staggering to try and comprehend its current plight.
When I was a student in Winchester I remember the excitement when a brand new branch of HMV opened up in the city for the first time, sending MVC (remember them?) into total panic. I ended up getting a temp job in the HMV over Christmas and it was pretty good fun for the most part. Ms Dynamite was the big thing at the time and I got in trouble for putting her album on the shop stereo because it had explicit lyrics.
Those were the days.
Of course it's telling that I genuinely couldn't tell you the last time I set foot in an HMV store, let alone bought anything from one. The world is a different place now.
As for next to go, we're running out of shops to pick from really. I don't think any of the major department stores will go (John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams) because they serve a purpose catering to the folk who still don't shop online (for whatever reason) and also offer decent in store advice and customer service which comforts the old folk. In fact I recall reading that John Lewis have been enjoying success like never before in recent years, perhaps buoyed by less high street competition.
Things like clothes and shoe shops generally need to remain on the high street because people still like to try things on before buying. The ones of them that fail will be down to poor management. And talking of clothing shops has anyone noticed just how many Fat Face stores there are? I don't remember this brand being around many years and yet even provincial nowhere towns with little more than a handful of shops will have a Fat Face store on the high street knocking out expensive baggy woollen stuff. How are they getting away with it? They are absolutely everywhere.
Surely there isn't room on the high street for both Marks and Spencer and BHS anymore? And given that M&S have diversified and strengthened their brand in recent years whilst BHS shops are barely noticeable on the high street, they're surely the next to fall. BHS caters solely for old people who don't know any better, just like Woolworths did. Too many large town centre sites, no discernible product. It's as good as gone.
When I was a student in Winchester I remember the excitement when a brand new branch of HMV opened up in the city for the first time, sending MVC (remember them?) into total panic. I ended up getting a temp job in the HMV over Christmas and it was pretty good fun for the most part. Ms Dynamite was the big thing at the time and I got in trouble for putting her album on the shop stereo because it had explicit lyrics.
Those were the days.
Of course it's telling that I genuinely couldn't tell you the last time I set foot in an HMV store, let alone bought anything from one. The world is a different place now.
As for next to go, we're running out of shops to pick from really. I don't think any of the major department stores will go (John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams) because they serve a purpose catering to the folk who still don't shop online (for whatever reason) and also offer decent in store advice and customer service which comforts the old folk. In fact I recall reading that John Lewis have been enjoying success like never before in recent years, perhaps buoyed by less high street competition.
Things like clothes and shoe shops generally need to remain on the high street because people still like to try things on before buying. The ones of them that fail will be down to poor management. And talking of clothing shops has anyone noticed just how many Fat Face stores there are? I don't remember this brand being around many years and yet even provincial nowhere towns with little more than a handful of shops will have a Fat Face store on the high street knocking out expensive baggy woollen stuff. How are they getting away with it? They are absolutely everywhere.
Surely there isn't room on the high street for both Marks and Spencer and BHS anymore? And given that M&S have diversified and strengthened their brand in recent years whilst BHS shops are barely noticeable on the high street, they're surely the next to fall. BHS caters solely for old people who don't know any better, just like Woolworths did. Too many large town centre sites, no discernible product. It's as good as gone.
portslade seagull
Well-known member
Weird because I thought the HMV chairman was so say giving it a go to turn them around ... must have been a bad xmas
Fourteenth Eye
Face for Radio
I'm very sad about this.
Buying albums online is all well and good but I have always preferred going into a record shop and browsing and then coming away with some jem.
Also the sale racks were always good for jogging the memory and boosting the collection.
Buying albums online is all well and good but I have always preferred going into a record shop and browsing and then coming away with some jem.
Also the sale racks were always good for jogging the memory and boosting the collection.
Fourteenth Eye
Face for Radio
I guess this means that the rite of passage that is buying your 1st single has gone as well.......but that went a long time ago
Bought by JD Sports along with Blacks in Jan 12. Should be OK for a while.
Nope - seriously sound business under-pinned by a strong wholesale business and plans to grow online.
Owned by Arcadia. Secure unless Green loses interest.
Second time Play has been in the shit. No surprise.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
He was hardly going to say things were dying. He probably got a decent sum of money himself, in the process.
portslade seagull
Well-known member
Yeah like most things the managers always come out of it with a nice pay check and smelling of roses whilst joe public gets the basic pay-off
withdeanwombat
Well-known member
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,272
Part of HMVs problem is that there hasn't been a new format or games console to drive sales like DVD replacing VHS and everyone updating their collections or a new X box or PlayStation. Bluray is starting to grow but not the major format killing off DVDs just yet but getting there.
This really left shopping for gifts, or in the sales for HMV to try to use to survive - but obviously this wasn't enough.
How often do people go into town just to look round the shops nowadays or HMV type products? Far easier and often cheaper online
This really left shopping for gifts, or in the sales for HMV to try to use to survive - but obviously this wasn't enough.
How often do people go into town just to look round the shops nowadays or HMV type products? Far easier and often cheaper online
Spider
New member
- Sep 15, 2007
- 3,614
Seemed to me that HMV were absurdly slow in reacting to the internet stores in terms of pricing. When I first started collecting DVDs about 12 years ago was when the model was moving from the old fashioned charge RRP for titles to the situation now where almost all films go down to about £4. Back then, you could buy stock titles online for about £7 whilst HMV were still trying yo rip people off charging RRP for anything not in the sale. They finally adapted their prices to a simple £5, £7, £10 structure but it always felt like the damage was done.
As for chart titles, I genuinely don't understand what the point of their pricing here is. I know they have bigger overheads than online/supermarket, but what is the point of them bothering to put things on the shelf if they're consistently going to charge £5-10 above what everywhere else is charging for new releases. The market for ripping people off who don't know better has all but disappeared (even WHSmith has had to start competitively pricing its DVDs which is seriously saying something), but HMV still charge way above their competitors for new releases, so it's not surprise to see that they are simply not competing.
Also, the online HMV is pretty good - but it certainly used to be the case that it was run by a different company.
As for chart titles, I genuinely don't understand what the point of their pricing here is. I know they have bigger overheads than online/supermarket, but what is the point of them bothering to put things on the shelf if they're consistently going to charge £5-10 above what everywhere else is charging for new releases. The market for ripping people off who don't know better has all but disappeared (even WHSmith has had to start competitively pricing its DVDs which is seriously saying something), but HMV still charge way above their competitors for new releases, so it's not surprise to see that they are simply not competing.
Also, the online HMV is pretty good - but it certainly used to be the case that it was run by a different company.
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,272
I expect a lot of people were still doing this, but buying them online when they got home rather than in the shop.
Bevendean Hillbilly
New member
That's the thing though.
HMV don't stock rare grooves everything in there you can get easier and cheaper on your iPad.
I went into HMV before Christmas...I mean before the Christmas rush to buy mum a Michael bubble cd..and there were more staff than customers on two daytime visits.
RIP though. They're part of the furniture and I'll miss them.
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,272
I would think a lack of product range meant that Amazon and others were easier as they were one stop shopping sites for virtually everything. Also a lack hype and publicity compared to the other online marketplaces didn't help their cause. Maybe they just paid too much in taxes and couldn't be price competitive online.
Albumen
Don't wait for me!
3 things to blame:
1) Tax dodging amazon
2) Kids/people that illegally download to steal from the artist
3)
Unfortunately this is going to hit the small films that rely on the bowsers marketplace. It's sad
1) Tax dodging amazon
2) Kids/people that illegally download to steal from the artist
3)
Unfortunately this is going to hit the small films that rely on the bowsers marketplace. It's sad
Lewes' best seagull
New member
- Jan 31, 2008
- 1,145
Odd that we have got to page four without mentioning the advantage that some companies have by seemingly choosing not to pay corporation tax. It's no wonder HMV (and many others) are going under when Amazon, Play etc. can not only undercut their prices thanks to a lack of rent prices and fewer distribution costs but now through these immoral offshore tax schemes.
Soon enough the only companies left will be those who can survive in this cut-throat market place. In other words - those without a conscience. Add globalisation and the invasion of American chains we will soon live in a world where every street will be plastered with the same bland chains that 'cater to our every need' as the next town over.
EDIT: My thunder has been stolen by the two above, but my ranting point still stands.
Soon enough the only companies left will be those who can survive in this cut-throat market place. In other words - those without a conscience. Add globalisation and the invasion of American chains we will soon live in a world where every street will be plastered with the same bland chains that 'cater to our every need' as the next town over.
EDIT: My thunder has been stolen by the two above, but my ranting point still stands.
Giant Seagull
That was textbook
Robert Dyas