HMV Finally closing down for good?

paradigm said:
But would you actually buy it from said shop, or would you go out to try the one you like, then order it for 20-30% less from somewhere else?

I know which I do.
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Tbh, I would probably, depending on the price, buy from them or John Lewis.
Better customer service and usually better warranty options.

Also, so many people depend on the in store knowledge and "expertise" for a purchase.
 
HMV has always been more expensive than anywhere else, even back in the earlt 80's when I worked 9 - 5 in London and used to pop down to Oxford Street in my lunch break, their LP's were always £5.99 or £6.99 compared to £4.99 everywhere else. That was offset to some extent by the range of stock but they never relaxed this policy, even in the High Street "boom" years when there were 5 or 6 places to check if you wanted music or movies.

The rot set in when MVC collapsed though I reckon that was after they started taking in part exchange. Went overnight from being a fairly smart shop, to racks of tatty dingy looking used stuff.

With Comet and Jessops gone, looks like HMV not far behind and Honda laying off in Swindon, what is the Business and Employment Secretary doing about it? If ever someone sounded totally plausible in opposition to become absolutely useless in Government, it is Cable. So much for the "private" sector...

For starters, they should be dropping VAT back to 15% to try and encourage people to spend money in the shops.
 
Local councils have their part to play in this.
High rates on the buildings increase the bottom line, then they hammer parking charges which put people off from going into town in the first place.
Plymouth city centre is actively anti-car, they pedestrianised most of the town centre about 20 years ago, and recently they've pedestrianised nearly all of what is left (they've left roads for trucks to supply the stores and not much more.)
The highstreet shopping experience is just too expensive.

As for HMV I didn't know plymouth still had one, the last time I was in the town centre it had been turned into a barclays branch.
 
honestly vern the two things that would need sorting are the business rates that are charged on the high street and also the whole internet tax shenanigans.

even if they only sorted the rates that would save many shops who are just about breaking even.

as for honda laying off 800, thats been off set with jaguar/landrover announcing they will be taking on 800 (maybe more) yesterday, so id say a great many of the 800 from honda will walk back in to a job hopefully.
 
SB118 said:
Local councils have their part to play in this.
High rates on the buildings increase the bottom line, then they hammer parking charges which put people off from going into town in the first place.
Plymouth city centre is actively anti-car, they pedestrianised most of the town centre about 20 years ago, and recently they've pedestrianised nearly all of what is left (they've left roads for trucks to supply the stores and not much more.)
The highstreet shopping experience is just too expensive.

As for HMV I didn't know plymouth still had one, the last time I was in the town centre it had been turned into a barclays branch.
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There is this.

If you don't live in the town center you not only have the increased price of the product vs internet, you've got a couple of quid parking, petrol.

Short term thinking and greed from the authorities.
 
It's a real shame to see them go. I can't help but feel there is little added value in going to a shop like HMV. Row upon row of empty boxes that tell you little more than you already know, versus being able to listen/watch previews online. Then as said they have high rent on the property, high council tax, high utility bills, high wage bills because of high staff numbers. Other costs in order to play music in stores from PRS.

The cost price of a CD/DVD/BD is about the same as the retail price. Stores rely on buying volume in order to get a % taken off this price but they are probably only making 30% GP on many items which means they must have consistent high turnover.

Not really sure what the answer is.
 
Werewolf said:
With Argos, I suspect Homebase will the millstone around it's neck, as a retailer Homebase seems to be worse than HMV in prices, and in how quiet they are...
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Homebase are closing our local store, and they're sticking a giant Next on it. About 3 miles down the road from our other giant Next.

I think you're right, although I don't think they'll die in the same way as Jessops or HMV. I suspect they'll quietly close their doors and go shuffle off into the night.
 
randal24 said:
Homebase are closing our local store, and they're sticking a giant Next on it. About 3 miles down the road from our other giant Next.

I think you're right, although I don't think they'll die in the same way as Jessops or HMV. I suspect they'll quietly close their doors and go shuffle off into the night.
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and this is whats wrong with retail, multiple stores near each other, its like its the same idiots bouncing from company to company with the same ideas about dominating the high street with stores expecting them to make more money. :rolleyes:
 
The funny thing was that even the things with 25% off were still more expensive than elsewhere!

and that is rather amusing that the boss used to run Jessops. I wonder how he got where he is today? Nepotism probably.

In fact i blame most of this country's economic collapse on nepotism. :p
 
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People saying HMV didn't move with the times. This is true. They were also hamstrung by things like, you know, having to actually pay tax.
 
oldbag said:
I'm surprised dixons/currys still exists tbh.
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They will be next :(

Bring back small chain highstreet stores that offers superb customer service inside a shop no smaller then your local newsagent.

i do not need to go inside a massive currys store the size of a football pitch with soo much room/area to actually play a game of footy due to lots of empty space!
 
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atpbx said:
There is this.

If you don't live in the town center you not only have the increased price of the product vs internet, you've got a couple of quid parking, petrol.

Short term thinking and greed from the authorities.
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But dig a little deeper and you'll find that local authorities have been forced to hike parking charges because they're receiving less and less from the government each year. I suspect this is why unit rental fees are as high as they are these days also.

So if the above is true, ultimately we're still sneezing from the cold the government has been giving us for over a decade now and the blood from the death of retail in it's current form is solely on their hands. Yet, aren't we told it's the company's faults for not being able to survive?
 
Our local shopping centre is looking a little sparse at the moment.

What with Clinton Cards closed, JJB Sports, Game, Woolworth (now a pound shop though), soon to be HMV it does seem a little bleak.
At one time you could not see an empty market stall but now, even on a Friday and Saturday, you can see huge gaps in the rows - also you can see where some traders have used empty stalls to spread out their merchandise, which is usually clothing. The second hand "flea" market, held on Tuesdays, seems to be more packed than the traditional market. Marks and Spencer announced that they were closing their store (moving out of town) and noted that the rents being charged was a big factor as to why they are doing that - the new store seems to be almost complete but lacking a food section, as they are adjoining Sainsburys.

Our local "out of town" retail park has seen the closing of the usual stores and only a month or so ago I noticed that Staples have shut up shop.

In another local retail park amidst all the empty units there is now only Matalan open. It is deserted apart from one small section full of cars, which reflects the shoppers and staff at that store. Recently there used to be two other stores with them "Topps Tiles" and "Bensons for Beds" but they have gone.

I am not surprised that any of the above have closed but it is still sad times for those who lose their jobs.
 
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