Are entertainment stores like HMV redundant?

The highstreet is doomed, internet shopping is only going to get more popular as the next generation grow up and our mums stop shopping at arogs. I think our town centres will change massivley in the next 20/30 years
 
Calabi said:
So then perhaps the high street will be retaken over by the self employed entrepenuars(cannot spell it) so we end up with lots of interesting little shops that offer people things they cannot get elsewhere.
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All the "interesting" little music stores were all put out of business by the big HMV overlord opening down the street though (at least in my town anyway)
 
For me, they are basically irrelevant. Ten, fifteen years ago it was a different matter of course, but times have changed.

I last visited a HMV, Xavvi or whatever at least three years ago. For me they are overpriced, over crowded and too damn loud. Then again, I do hate shopping, crowds and people in general. :D

I still buy hard copies of games and occasionally albums, but that's all done online now. Singles are now purely MP3 purchases, but only DRM free.
 
Problem with HMV specifically is that they tended not to update their in store pricing when reducing stock online. So you could pick up a DVD boxed set online for £9 which in store would be sitting at £39.99. Partly down to them individually pricing items rather than by shelf/area like supermarkets do and having rather chaotic layouts and being forced into low level displays so people are able to browse. Their produce per square meter must be very low compared to even a standard book store.

I've been in them recently and never once seen anything I couldn't get far cheaper online, it has to win on convenience which when you walk into an HMV you don't get due to having to find the damn thing you are after, which invariably isn't in the area is should be or is only available on the chart display and you've been looking it up under the band name.

I can see many games retailers going the same way, there's far too many stores dedicated purely to console games now, I don't see how they make a profit.

It's a real shame as HMV has a very interesting history behind it, but it's now just a badly run "discount" DVD store.
 
i got a 20 quid voucher for xmas and it had to be spent in store. i must have been in there an hour trying to find something i wanted. some CDs were 15 quid FFS. :mad: i know they have more overheads than online stores but that really is extracting the urine. good riddance i say. even independent stores round my way wouldn't dream of charging that much for a normal CD. they know no silly sod would ever shop there.
 
I said myself in the thread we had a couple of weeks ago about record sales that it was likely that HMV was going to be a casualty this year, evidentally it's the case already.

BBC News Business has a good article today on HMV and how it compares to foreign rivals:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12118619


I can't remember the last time I bought any music from HMV.
I went in the London Flagship store at Xmas to buy some blurays for Xmas presents but decided against it when I realized how much more they are than anywhere online and still managed to get them despite the weather.

WHSmiths... again rubbish!
I wanted to get a copy of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals book; in their sale it's been reduced to 20 pounds. On Amazon it's only 13 pounds!
 
shifty_uk said:
If I want to pay for a DVD or CD, I'll take the 6 mile drive and pick it up for convenience. There's no chance I'd wait 5-7 working days for delivery or pay extra.
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That gets me started on how stupid the music industry is!

I want to listen to an album. I want to be able to download it in a lossless format with a cue file that will allow me to turn it into a duplicate of the retail CD, and decent resolution images of the sleeve etc. They don't need to supply me the CD, the packaging, etc etc etc. They don't need the floorspace or to manufacture it.

Instead I need to either go to a store, or wait on it being delivered, fire up EAC and rip it into a proper lossless archive before I stick the CD back in the packet and stick it up my loft where it's extremely unlikely I'll ever touch it again.

Why won't they sell me what I want?
 
Zowghi said:
I'd have to disagree, for so many reasons. Rarther than go into a big argument just think it sure as hell isnt helping now is it?!
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daz said:
It doesn't follow, otherwise HMV's online competitors wouldn't be doing so well.
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this ^

But also I think file sharing is a good form of advertisement. A vast array of music I listen to was formed on flicking through Youtube or random torrent sites, where i've gone on to really enjoy that artist and buy the albums, or gone to see them live, or bought merch. Plenty of people like me who do the same thing out there, I reckon that outweighs the people who download music, as most people do it because they don't have the money to buy the albums in the first place (like children for example).
 
I have bought a few DVDs/BDs in HMV from time to time but I tend to use online retailers as it's just easier ... and so much cheaper, for example there was a DVD boxset I wanted the other day: RRP £30, HMV £36 Rainforest £16.99 .... guess who got my money ...
 
HMV (Aberdeen) has a comically poor layout, the music section is ridiculously small. They've also managed to fill half the store with seemingly random choices of books and generic tat...
I've never found pricing to be that competitive, even the privately owned music store near it can consistently beat HMV's pricing.
I'd sooner spend money at a store that had an interest in music.

I gave up on them completely after they started with the used games/consoles bandwagon... :rolleyes:

HMV, cheerio. :)
 
memyselfandi said:
I have bought a few DVDs/BDs in HMV from time to time but I tend to use online retailers as it's just easier ... and so much cheaper, for example there was a DVD boxset I wanted the other day: RRP £30, HMV £36 Rainforest £16.99 .... guess who got my money ...
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Do HMV offer online discounts to compete with other online retailers?
 
Bennie-Mac said:
All the "interesting" little music stores were all put out of business by the big HMV overlord opening down the street though (at least in my town anyway)
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Well when HMV is dead (which is pretty much a certainty) those shops or similar ones can reopen again.

I think its a great irony that these shops are going out of business. To get lots of money they have to appeal to the mass market. Which means they have to stock the lots of the most derivative products. All the shops are fighting over these few products that appeal to the most people. The customer doesnt care where they shop to get these mass appeal products they just want them at the cheapest price. The companys stock more of a small group of products getting perhaps more immediate profits but reducing customers reasons to go there.

How on earth did these companys think thats sustainable?
 
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