HMV in administration - hope you've no vouchers!

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

He's long gone. I shot him after he chewed up my gramaphone.

he didn't end up in doggy Tesco's burgers did he?

 

[green1]

I'm a bit old fashioned with that. I won't go and try something in a shop unless I'm going to buy it from that shop.

My point is that I'd never buy something like that without trying it first as in trying the one I was actually going to buy. Each one is different due to them being made from wood and you can have two identical ones and one can feel brilliant when you pick it up and the other one complete crap.

 

[green1]

You'd be surprised. Bought new bat for son online. Read the reviews first, make sure build quality was ok. Then specify exactly what sort of bat you want - even down to grip colour, sweet spot position. 3 weeks later, custom made bat arrives. Full return policy but it is excellent and great value

I bought a bat for 270 quid and have never used it (maybe 5~10 balls in the nets). It's from the same company as my last 10 bats and there is nothing wrong with it, it just feels wrong in my hands. It currently resides in the Cellar so it doesn't dry out and will only ever get used if I break 2 bats in a weekend.

 

[ianrauk]

All 16 of the Irish HMV stores have been closed.

 

[MarkF]

"The High Street" per se may very well be en route to total obsolescence.

I disagree. I work all over the UK and what is happening is that far fewer "High St's" will survive, but they'll be bigger & better, there are obvious regional winners and losers. Enough people do and will continue to "shop" rather than go to buy a single specific item, it's leisure time, sociable time, a family or friends day out, usually including drink & food, the internet cannot replace or replicate that.

25 years ago Bradford & Leeds offered a similar retail experience, now Bradford is practically deserted but Leeds is about to become the 3rd highest retail centre in the UK and on a Saturday it's like bloody Oxford St.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

This is now on the website:

crossing my fingers they sent my order out on monday like the email said they had.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 2261116, member: 259"]You'll be OK anyway if you ordered by credit card though, won't you?[/quote]

Not sure, generally that is only for purchases of over £100 I think but I was prepared for this happening and the order is only for £14 so I will see what happens.

 

[Archie_tect]

"Other shopping outlets are available".

 

[DCLane]

Staples is struggling as well; 23 stores closing in total. List so far:

•Barnstaple
•Bedford (Kempston Interchange Retail Park)
•Blackburn
•Cardiff Bay
•Dudley, Merry Hill
•Dundee
•Dunstable
•Grimsby
•Mansfield
•Rochdale
•Salisbury
•Southport
•Swansea
•Wrexham
•Bristol
•Cambridge
•Colchester
•Halifax

 

[PK99]

All the current closures are inevitable given the change in shopping patterns and technology uses:

Comet : Last white goods i bought on line from John Lewis and the item arrived direct from Boch ie no stock-holding cost for JL. Small electronics I click and collect from JL (collect at local waitrose) or Argos.

Hmv: Downloads & amazon

Jessops: i went up to the Ice sculpture show at canary wharf at the weekend, lots of folks taking pictures, very few cameras in evidence, lots of mobile phones.

Staples: mostly commodity products = save time, buy on line. Until recently i was involved in garden design/landscaping, there are a number of suppliers who are nothing more than a website catalogue who port through orders direct to manufactures or specialist wholesalers who deliver = reduced selling cost for them + no stock-holding cost for the website. The same model can apply to office sundries and equipment.

 

[ianrauk]

More HMV news

It found itself in administration just last year, but now video games retailer GAME has stepped forward as one of 50 parties interested in buying HMV assets from Deloitte.
HMV was itself plunged into administration on Monday, which some predicted would mean the end of the 92-year-old High Street retailer.
However, according to the FT, Deloitte has already received around '50 expressions of interest' in a possible sale.
Many in the music industry believe that a slimmed-down HMV across the country - perhaps without its costly larger High Street stores - could become a profitable concern.
Martyn Gibbs, chief executive of GAME, confirmed that the chain's management had approached Deloitte, but would not confirm the number of stores which it was interested in. FT sources suggest the group could be interested in buying up the premises of 40-50 outlets.
“We will constantly review our property portfolio based on what is available,” Gibbs told the FT. “I would not rule out any stores becoming available, be that through an administration or normal property deals.”
He said GAME's sales over the Christmas trading period were ahead of expectations, and was confident it could deliver its target of £20m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by its year-end in July.
GAME Group fell into administration in 2012, but 300 UK stores were salvaged by new owner OpCapita.

 

[ianrauk]

HMV are now accepting gift vouchers again.

And in other HMV news if anyone is interested.
Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony are reportedly set to discount the price of CDs and DVDs for HMV and offer the retailer generous credit terms in an attempt to rescue it from going out of business.
Industry sources say the major labels are desperate to keep the High Street chain alive to avoid cut-throat pricing by supermarkets and internet distributors.
Film giants, including 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Bros, are also said to be involved.

 

[PK99]

HMV are now accepting gift vouchers again.

.

Clear, then, that the administrator expects the business to survive.

 

[ianrauk]

Clear, then, that the administrator expects the business to survive.

I think it always was going to survive in one form or another.
After all the chain still sells half a million CD's a week.

What I see happening is that probably half the stores (unprofitable) will be shut and stores in towns where they have 2 or more outlets will be shut consolidating business into 1 store.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I think it always was going to survive in one form or another.
After all the chain still sells half a million CD's a week.

What I see happening is that probably half the stores (unprofitable) will be shut and stores in towns where they have 2 or more outlets will be shut consolidating business into 1 store.

Yes but the question is are they making any money, its easy to sell stuff cheap, making money on it at those prices is another matter.