HMV Finally closing down for good?

Ours is slowly failing - sports direct relocated to the designer outlet (ellesmere port mcarthur glen), poundworld closed, blue inc has gone, peacocks and select are closing, there will be no clothes shops at all apart from the ASDA over the road.

There are about 30% of the units probably closed now. The council should be forced to lower the rents to get more tenants in.
 
Local councils with their anti-car stance for a decade or more have to accept some of the blame. They’ve been pushing public transport for at least this long and have routinely got rid of car parks or hiked the prices up in the belief that people will use public transport. They don’t. They just don’t go instead. People buy cars to avoid using public transport. If parking we’re free and plentiful high streets would be bustling with shoppers and there would be a wide variety of shops too. But while it’s an expensive PITA to go shopping at your local high street, out of town retail parks with free parking and Amazon and other online retailers with next day delivery (or delivery that costs the equivalent of two hours parking at the high street) exist then people just won’t go, as simple as that.
 
I'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have. I assumed there would be room for one last high street player, to mop up the non-online sales (in the same way PC World/Currys still trade).

Looks like their time has now come.
 
MissChief said:
Local councils with their anti-car stance for a decade or more have to accept some of the blame. They’ve been pushing public transport for at least this long and have routinely got rid of car parks or hiked the prices up in the belief that people will use public transport. They don’t. They just don’t go instead. People buy cars to avoid using public transport. If parking we’re free and plentiful high streets would be bustling with shoppers and there would be a wide variety of shops too. But while it’s an expensive PITA to go shopping at your local high street, out of town retail parks with free parking and Amazon and other online retailers with next day delivery (or delivery that costs the equivalent of two hours parking at the high street) exist then people just won’t go, as simple as that.
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One the main reasons I shop online is that I work 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 12noon Saturday and my local shops close at 5 or 5.30pm so it far easier for me to just order online with online opening times being 24/7..

If my local shops were open till 8pm or 9pm I would do a lot more local shopping..;)
 
robfosters said:
With the rise of just eat, Deliveroo and Uber eats, high streets are just packed with fast food gaffs as well. My local high street is ridiculous. Mc D’s, KFC, BK, Dominos, Papa Johns, pizza gogo, pizza 2nite, loads of kebab places, curry houses etc, and about 6 greasy spoons. It’s utterly farcical.
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when you have morons who think a pizza is worth £20 then obviously people will provide them with them.

dominoes mark up must be 20,000% - therefore they can afford to pay the stupidly high rates we have on the high street.

haven't ever bought a pizza from a takeaway. i make my own in a wood burner pizza oven. when i want to make one quickly in a conventional oven. they are like only £3 for an asda extra special one which is made using luxurious ingredients rather than cheap tat. people willing to pay £20 for a dominoes pizza (even with a 50% off code making it £10) are the problem not the shop themselves.
 
MissChief said:
If parking we’re free and plentiful high streets would be bustling with shoppers and there would be a wide variety of shops too.
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No. People have been moaning about parking costs for as long as I can remember. One of my local towns (which granted, is a dump) charges about £1.50 for 2hrs parking. However if you're slightly in the know, you can park a little bit further out for free.

It also suffers the common problems of an empty ex-BHS unit, poor shopping offer and under-investment in the traditional shopping core. Is £1.50 really putting people off? Or is there just not a big enough pull in the first place? The town also has a massive Sainsbury's superstore with an integrated Argos, on the edge of the town centre. This has much of the daily needs under one roof and has a decent sized car park. The town centre will never be able to compete which these kind of facilities, they are too convenient.
 
Parking charges schmarking charges. I just paid THIRTY FOUR POUNDS to park for less than 3 hours at the O2. Sneaky sneaky.
 
Fusion said:
No. People have been moaning about parking costs for as long as I can remember. One of my local towns (which granted, is a dump) charges about £1.50 for 2hrs parking. However if you're slightly in the know, you can park a little bit further out for free.

It also suffers the common problems of an empty ex-BHS unit, poor shopping offer and under-investment in the traditional shopping core. Is £1.50 really putting people off? Or is there just not a big enough pull in the first place? The town also has a massive Sainsbury's superstore with an integrated Argos, on the edge of the town centre. This has much of the daily needs under one roof and has a decent sized car park. The town centre will never be able to compete which these kind of facilities, they are too convenient.
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braehead, silverburn, fort and the forge have fully rammed car parks. so people do go there in there droves. parking is free.

the alternative is to go into the city centre and be stuck in traffic, traffic lights and pay £10 for parking. it makes zero sense. shopping centres on the outskirts are much more attractive.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
braehead, silverburn, fort and the forge have fully rammed car parks. so people do go there in there droves. parking is free.

the alternative is to go into the city centre and be stuck in traffic, traffic lights and pay £10 for parking. it makes zero sense. shopping centres on the outskirts are much more attractive.
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Glasgow can afford to have successful out of town shopping centres and (what I presume, haven't been in some time) a thriving city centre, due to its size and catchment area. Large city centres have a unique offer, and aren't ever going to be completely displaced. I'm thinking more of the much smaller cities and towns which aren't terribly well off- they would probably still struggle, even with free parking. Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh etc have enough of an offer to succeed despite high parking charges (infact, the high charges are just a reflection of demand. Same with office space cost, property prices, etc).
 
Fusion said:
Glasgow can afford to have successful out of town shopping centres and (what I presume, haven't been in some time) a thriving city centre, due to its size and catchment area. Large city centres have a unique offer, and aren't ever going to be completely displaced. I'm thinking more of the much smaller cities and towns which aren't terribly well off- they would probably still struggle, even with free parking. Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh etc have enough of an offer to succeed despite high parking charges (infact, the high charges are just a reflection of demand. Same with office space cost, property prices, etc).
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glasgow city centre is slowly dying.

they are trying to revive it into a pedestrian only zone but the work has actually caused a lot of business's to close as sauchiehall street has been closed off for like a year in some form of another. which has a knock on effect. then there was 3 fires too. (nightclub and art school twice).

there was a flagship store which shut down within a couple of years of opening. the only thing the city centre offers is the party life. it's students spending money there mostly along with workers than anything else. it's so cheap to eat at lunch time due to catering to students. evenings is 4-5 times the price in the same place.

the west end is thriving because that is where the money is.
 
Was in hmv for the first time in years buying Xmas presents. £10 for the new MR bubble album Vs £20 for 3 at Asda... No brainer really. Saved my money and then called in at Asda when leaving town! Not surprised they have gone under again with better offers elsewhere.

Donny market car park had free parking after 2pm during the Xmas period which I was very surprised with. It's definitely one of the reasons actual shopping is dying. Charge to park then fight to get round the shops Vs click and deliver next day. No fuss. Same day delivery is a thing for some things but as soon as it's for nearly everything then I'm gonna say town centres will be all but gone :-(
 
I also avoid due to parking and traffic. My local town centre is Stockport and it's dreadful for getting into (poor public transport, large parking charges, crazy one way systems) so I avoid at all costs. Did most of my shopping on Amazon for those reasons. Went to "town" once before Christmas to pick something up and spent 2 x £1.50 in parking as I had to move the car which involved going to the local shops first to get change - parking machines don't take card and don't give change as usual!

Stockport Council are spending a fortune on regeneration currently and just won the carbuncle award for the worst new building in the UK 2018 which says enough about their ability to plan or regenerate!
 
Yeah councils have the blood of the high street on their hands with high rents and parking charges.

Will be a shame if HMV do disappear but their business mode isn’t sustainable.

I mean they have offers like 2 for £20 on DVDs, in 2018 who wants to watch a sub HD film?
 
It’s staggering all of the posts on here about on physical shops.

The one thing that these shops have that no online retailer can offer and is free to implement... good custumer service.

It’s beyond belief that most stores I go into don’t even acknowledge me or offer any real assitance.

If you provide a good service at a reasonable price people will come back. It’s nothing new but it’s very rarely done.

As for the free parking research has shown this is simply not true.
 
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