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hmv
iceman26 - 14/1/13 at 09:26 PM

http://news.sky.com/story/1038002/hmv-poised-to-call-in-administrators

not good for 4000 staff

but Get them vouchers spent if you still can

MsD - 14/1/13 at 09:33 PM

Cant understand this. Everytime I go into HMV its really busy; and its not just our local store as they all seem to be the same!

It has been rumoured for a couple of years though..

Mark.

scootz - 14/1/13 at 09:36 PM

Simon - 14/1/13 at 09:39 PM

From link:

"HMV is run by Trevor Moore, who recently took over having held the chief executive's post at Jessops."

Need one say anymore!

HMV has too many staff, too slow checkout and not really competitively priced. It probably is quite profitable, though I suspect its wage bill and premium shopping centre sites don't help.

ATB

Simon

Ninehigh - 14/1/13 at 10:20 PM

The one at Cheshire Oaks went ages ago, yet people were still asking where it was this christmas so it couldn't have been doing that badly

coyoteboy - 14/1/13 at 10:24 PM

I just don't see the point in them, they don't offer anything I can't get online. There's literally no point at all in visiting one.

steve m - 14/1/13 at 10:33 PM

"I just don't see the point in them, they don't offer anything I can't get online. There's literally no point at all in visiting one."


have to agree, as its a buyers market now, and the dreary shop thing i so 2000s

morcus - 14/1/13 at 11:31 PM

The problem I've always found with HMV, is it's always full of people not buying anything and getting in the way. When I lived in Glasgow about 5 or 6 years ago I used to buy alot of singles and movies from them and everytime I went I'd have to fight my way through hoards of people who were never buying anything. Then the market fell out of music so you can't actually get anything if you do go there now, you have to order it so might aswell do that from home, not like it was when you could go out for an album and just look around till you found something that took your fancy.

It comes to something when your 25 and already giving a 'back in my day...' story.

craig1410 - 15/1/13 at 01:29 AM

I feel for the staff but I agree with the sentiment above - it is much easier to just shop online for this sort of stuff. I can't remember the last time I bought music in physical form, much of my music purchasing happens when I hear a track when out and about via my phone and iTunes.

As for computer games and accessories, much the same deal. Last time I bought a couple of games (around £75) for my Son for his birthday I was surprised to find that they use the real covers on the shelves with the discs etc removed. They then put the discs in at the checkout and present you with an opened box. I know it doesn't *really* matter but when I can get the same thing at Game a few doors along and in a shrink wrapped box (they use separate boxes on the shelves) then why should I accept the opened box. I took them back a few moments later much to the disgust of the shop manager who was a bit stroppy. Not bought anything from them since.

As someone above said, there seem to be loads of people in the (prime location) stores playing games and passing the time but the checkouts are very quiet. The times they are a changin'...

JoelP - 15/1/13 at 08:21 AM

A recession will always weed out the crap businesses. Its a shame for the staff when they are folding this fast and there arent loads of easy jobs for all to move on to, but in the long run its a good thing for the uk that the shite businesses fold and get replaced by more efficient ones.

jossey - 15/1/13 at 08:54 AM

As Morcus said Hmv is a browsing experience at lunch times more than anything. Have an hour to kill have a look at new albums n movies which you can buy from play.com for half the price.

I'm sure it is different on a weekend but that's what I see on a weekday. I guess it must be hard for a company who won't price tach something you can buy £20 cheaper two doors up.

American Style of sales.... Stack em high sell em cheap. If your over priced n think you in breakable your not.

Comet....
Jessops....
Game.....
Hmv.....

None if these places I would have thought of as the cheapest place to get good quality goods.

I may goto comet to look at a fridge ill order online cos its £300 cheaper
Use game to trade old games for new
Jessops no chance the camera I got was double the price there.
Hmv just not cheap enough....

Until these big companies realise this it will carry on.

Look at the likes of screwfix, toolstation, play.com, primark, pound land etc these are reporting huge profits.... It's just not about the high street warranties n experience anymore it's about moneyyyyy.....

On that note I remove myself from the soap box and return to work...


Dj

Peteff - 15/1/13 at 09:32 AM

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
I just don't see the point in them, they don't offer anything I can't get online. There's literally no point at all in visiting one.


They may as well all close down on the basis of that, what can't you get online now ? I sometimes like to go and browse and have something tangible to buy without all the hassle I will have when it arrives broken or similar. (dvd player that packed up after 6 months is probably my only problem so far but it's put me off buying electronics online)

Ninehigh - 15/1/13 at 10:11 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jossey
It's just not about the high street warranties n experience anymore it's about moneyyyyy.....


Aren't we already complaining about the automated phone things? Just want to speak to a person?

Isn't it going to go the same way with shops, just wishing you could pick something up, pay for it and walk out rather than the only physical connection to the company being a courier?

Slimy38 - 15/1/13 at 10:14 AM

Clothes and shoes are the only thing I don't like buying online, so I'm hoping Next, Burton etc don't go the same way. Everything else is an online or supermarket purchase. And even supermarkets are online now!

JoelP, while the administration is fast, HMV has been struggling for years so they must have known it was going to happen eventually. I almost criticise their staff for not making plans earlier. Every time our place has the merest mention of redundancies my CV is doing the rounds. I bet it'll be hard enough finding shop work nowadays, if you're competing with 3999 other people then you've got no chance.

I think the concept of 'shopping centres' is also fading, last shopping centre I went in had no variety with just endless repeats of the same sort of shops.

Unfortunately as proven by a very recent post on here, it also means that the human race is becoming more reclusive, and relationships are getting harder to find.

jossey - 15/1/13 at 11:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
quote:
Originally posted by jossey
It's just not about the high street warranties n experience anymore it's about moneyyyyy.....


Aren't we already complaining about the automated phone things? Just want to speak to a person?

Isn't it going to go the same way with shops, just wishing you could pick something up, pay for it and walk out rather than the only physical connection to the company being a courier?



I agree that it does contradict what we want in the buying experience but price drives so much of the market at present, it is very difficult to make the decision to pay sometimes 50%-100% more just to have that smooth experience of buy pay go home n use.

It's a shame really but online drives huge savings to use but with that the decreased human interaction. Even to the point that sometimes you can have huge issues to get a phone number of a seller on amazon and many online sites.

puma931 - 15/1/13 at 11:39 AM

Too many browsers and nobody buying anything...


quote:
Originally posted by MsD
Cant understand this. Everytime I go into HMV its really busy; and its not just our local store as they all seem to be the same!

It has been rumoured for a couple of years though..

Mark.


[Edited on 15/1/13 by puma931]

David Jenkins - 15/1/13 at 02:54 PM

My musical tastes run to classical & jazz. A while back I used to be able to walk into HMV, go upstairs and get a reasonable selection at not-unreasonable prices (mostly Naxos CDs). I often walked out with 4 or 5 items. There used to be quite a number of other shoppers whenever I went in, mostly of a 'certain age'.

A couple of years ago they 'modernised' and put everything on the ground floor, and the jazz/classical mixed up with the other music, DVDs & games. A room-full of jazz/classical CDs got turned into 1 rack in a dark corner. Went there once, found a pathetic selection, got pee'd off with the over-loud and annoying music and have never been back since.

I shan't miss them...

Just a shame that so many may lose their jobs over the management's loss of direction...

[Edited on 15/1/13 by David Jenkins]

chillis - 15/1/13 at 04:49 PM

I first used the internet for xmas shopping back in the '90's, it occurred to me then that 'the high street' had a limited life, selling the stuff most people don't want at prices they can't afford - with the internet you can get pretty much whatever you want, whenever you want and more cheaply due to the reduced overheads, the downside is you usually cannot go and see the product to check out the quality, but I guess thats the risk that has to be taken for the lower prices.

morcus - 15/1/13 at 08:37 PM

The real shame is in my home town and many others across the country, all the local record stores were put out of business by HMV and other massive chains. I used to go to my local record shop most weeks during sixth form on free periods to buy Albums and singles. They shut down not long after HMV openned so I had to buy my stuff there, to begin with they had a large selection but fairly soon our branch pretty much dropped Vinyl sales and they left them in the sleeves so they were usually damaged.

Last time I went to HMV the music was relegated to the back shelves that you couldn't get to because the place was full of kids mucking about with displays of Ipads.