HMV Finally closing down for good?

Raymond Lin said:
If they close, the only other place to get physical media would be WH Smith and supermarkets, which they generally only stock Top 40 stuff.

If HMV had embrace their online aspect a lot more, close down more stores to just big cities earlier, they might just survive. I mean didn't the whole Virgin/Zavvi saga teach them anything?
Click to expand...

There is still GAME.. I bought FarCry 3 from them the other week.
 
GAME were said to be in trouble recently as well weren't they, a bunch of stores closed down?
 
The same "they haven't moved with the times" argument seems to be coming up in here, but HMV have had an online shop that's cheaper than their stores for ages. Its just a fact that physical stores cost more than an online shop, and the products will have to be sold at a higher price.

Its no longer a case of shops closing because companies haven't moved with the times, closing stores is now part of moving with the times. The highstreet is dead.
 
MikeTimbers said:
In high street the older retailers have been replaced by mobile phone companies, pound shops and pawnbrokers. I don't see that as progress.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the state of the high-street around where I live, it's quite sickening, with betting shops being the only thing missing off your list.

There was a BBC Panorama (I think it was Panorama) a few weeks ago on the rise of the poundshops. The summary at the end of the show pretty much alluded to the fact that the number of pound/bargain shops is only going to continue to grow on British high-streets now. 2013 is likely to be a boom year for the number of openings and competition between rival stores will be big.


mrk said:
GAME were said to be in trouble recently as well weren't they, a bunch of stores closed down?
Click to expand...

GAME were rescued by new investors taking over the company, closing many stores and restructuring the company.

Of course that doesn't work everytime though, as OpCapita who are supposed to be great at turning businesses around failed with Comet.
 
Addicted said:
About time to be honest, if you can't price competitively then why trade at all.
Click to expand...

Because these days, price competitively = sell at 20p a unit above cost from a warehouse in the middle of nowhere employing hardly anyone. Nobody can compete with that.

People complain constantly about price but seem more than happy to pay Valve even more than HMV charge for new releases in order to simply 'rent' a non physical copy? And where do you think price goes when even more competition vanishes from the market? Hint: It isn't down.
 
Last edited:
bluDawg said:
They are too overpriced, I wont miss them if its true.
Click to expand...

This.

I don't think it's just them, most shop based companies cannot compete on prices against online based companies as they have so many more overheads. One thing that staggers me is Waterstones, £20 for a new hardback :eek: can get them between £7.50-12 on the net.

I think high streets and shops in general will take a real batternf over the next decade or two and I wouldn't be vastly shocked if in 20 years or so high streets start dying off. Will probably be replaced by superstores the likes of your Asda and Tescos who can sell everything.
 
[TW]Fox;23469788 said:
Because these days, price competitively = sell at 20p a unit above cost from a warehouse in the middle of nowhere employing hardly anyone. Nobody can compete with that.

People complain constantly about price but seem more than happy to pay Valve even more than HMV charge for new releases in order to simply 'rent' a non physical copy? And where do you think price goes when even more competition vanishes from the market? Hint: It isn't down.
Click to expand...

HMV stores don't even try to compete though, more often than not Blu-Rays in store can be anywhere from £10 more to often times double the price you can find it online, who's honestly going to buy it in store when the difference is that huge?
 
I don't use HMV very often but the last few times I've been in picking up the obligitary physical CD album Christmas gift they were the same price as play.com for most of the chart stuff.

No idea on Blu-Ray's but then as a format I cannot understand where the value is. £10-£20 on something that has a life of about 2 hours? Once you've seen it you've seen it, I know some people like doing it but personally once you've watched a film and know what happens its most of the interest gone. Whereas the replay value of a game or music CD is much higher. Rental is the way forward for films IMHO.
 
Last edited:
Can't remember the last time I actually went into an HMV store and bought something. Will miss wandering into a store when bored on lunch breaks and browsing, but not a lot else about them.
 
[TW]Fox;23470038 said:
I don't use HMV very often but the last few times I've been in picking up the obligitary physical CD album Christmas gift they were the same price as play.com for most of the chart stuff.

No idea on Blu-Ray's but then as a format I cannot understand where the value is. £10-£20 on something that has a life of about 2 hours? Once you've seen it you've seen it, I know some people like doing it but personally once you've watched a film and know what happens its most of the interest gone. Whereas the replay value of a game or music CD is much higher. Rental is the way forward for films IMHO.
Click to expand...

It's no different, repeated viewing or listening is because what ever it is has triggered an emotional response in you.

Films don't do that to you, but they do it to other people, the reasons why we watch or listen to the same thing over again is the same though.
 
In my opinion this is just a symptom of a more long-term problem of an economy which was overly dependent upon consumer spending based on credit and now that spending is reducing the high street are taking a tumble. Really though, economies are flexible, more unemployment should encourage firms to hire (as long as there isn't excessive welfare obviously) and as has been said reduce rents.
 
I'll imagine someone will buy them out, retail stores will close and they'll remain trading as an e-tailer like Zavvi.
 
This is a bit of a shame. Admittedly I only go in for the Xmas sale on box sets, but amazon tend to demolish them on price anyway there...

I still buy physical a lot. I like it. But I can order through someone like them much cheaper usually.

kd
 
The problem with a lot of these high street chains is they just have too many stores, I mean before GAME had troubles there were 2 even 3 of them in a small area, even after the changes we still have 2 GAME stores in Nottingham less than 5 minutes apart, there's no need to have that many retail stores and all the staffing that requires. 1 per city should be plenty.
 
Damn it!

What can I do with 30698 points on Pure HMV? What are they worth? The cashier in-store said that they can't reward at the checkout (unlike Sainsbury's Nectar) and that I have to redeem on their web site. Would be a shame not to redeem, as I paid £3 for the card itself 3 years ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom