High Street Closure - Nipper the dog is looking for a new home (HMV's Closing Down).

[Ralph]

From the news last Thursday:

HMV struggles in 'severe' market

"Some HMV stores could face closure. Profits at music and book retailer HMV have more than halved as the firm battles against competition from supermarkets and online retailers. The firm made pre-tax profits of 48.1m before exceptional items in the year to 28 April, down from 98.2m a year ago. This was despite sales growing by 3.8% to 1.9bn."

High street music retailers may become a thing of the past...

[Captain Tancredi]

According to my friend, so don't hold me on this, but EMI called in a one million pound debt, which they just couldn't contend with. A last minute buy-out also fell through, so they're still in limbo.

That would tie in with the comment in the official statement about the suppliers and their credit insurers- reading between the lines, it looks as if the money wasn't coming in fast enough to pay their suppliers.

Ralph's comment on HMV is also interesting, not least because their Leeds store is the flagship outlet in a shopping centre which is currently about to be refurbished. It's not beyond imagination that they might pull out of the city centre entirely.

[Paul Monk]

What a shame. I really liked Fopp too. I think losing high street music shops is a shame because the one thing they have over internet shopping is that ability to go into a shop and flick through the racks. Internet shopping is great if you know what your looking for but rubbish for browsing.

Incidentally Redhill still has a branch of Music Zone that's open and trading.

[Wayne]

Incidentally Redhill still has a branch of Music Zone that's open and trading.

Same in Lincoln.

[Perry Vale]

reading between the lines, it looks as if the money wasn't coming in fast enough to pay their suppliers.

That's exactly what happened.

Taking over Music Zone was always going to be risky, imo, but even moreso just before the quiet 'summer' period of trading.

[Lissa]

This came up earlier. We realised that you don't see toy shops in town centres any more. You have your ELC and an out of town Toys R Us but the days of city centre stores are gone. There used to be two or three in Manchester - not one off private shops but chains like Toy and Hobby - and now I don't think there are any. Music and DVD stores look likely to go the same way. At least until the supermarkets are the only ones left selling DVDs, at which point Tescovision and Sainsburyzone stores will start opening.

[Captain Tancredi]

That's not a bad analogy, not least because these days the supermarket chains are also selling toys in the knowledge that parents can bribe their children with a remote controlled Dalek or whatever if they're good while they do the weekly food shop. If the supermarkets can do it cheaper and are just as convenient if not more for CDs and DVDs (because they're selling them somewhere you're going anyway) then you need a reason to go to HMV or Virgin in your lunch hour.

[Pip Madeley]

The real tragedy is the 700 odd people who have lost their jobs.

[Paul Monk]

I'm guessing that the Redhill Music Zone will close now too.

The Fopp website is very to the point.

[Paul Monk]

Just noticed via Pip's link above that Beano's in Croydon, the biggest second music shop in the Uk was closing its doors last December which is a huge shame. Checking Beanos website their not closing but massively scaling back. So not only is it high street chains that are hit but second hand record shops which isn't good. I was saddened to see a while ago, Redhill's second hand music store Hits slowly become a secondhand mobile phone shop.
These are unhappy days.

[Jon Masters]

Hmmm - strange. Having wandered around an HMV and a Virgin Megastore recently I'm not surprised they're doing so badly. Not a single DW DVD at less than RRP, and the first series boxset at 70 !! I know they can't compete with online retailers for price, but at the same time knocking the odd off here and there, or sticking their excess stock of tat in at buy 5 for 30 just isn't enough anymore.
In a way I don't have much sympathy with them either - I'm old enough to remember the independent / small chain music, video , book and games outlets that were crushed underfoot by the huge chain stores and their cheaper prices. What goes around comes around really - I'm not sure I'd ever bother to buy CDs or DVDs in a shop anymore unless there was a real bargain. I suspect the Supermarkets won't do all that well in the long run either - they seem to be overextending themselves in just the same way.
And when are shops like Woolies and WHS ever going to learn that there is no point being a Jack-of all sales if you're doing them all badly? The sooner WHS stops selling the odd DVD / CD / Computer game or toy, the sooner they'll have enough space to stock a decent range of books and stationary.

[Paul Monk]

Your Victor Meldrew avatar seemed so appropriate after reading that, Jon.

[Richard Beeby]

Both HMV and Virgin are trading very poorly year on year at the moment. I've recently been interviewing people from both organisations who tell of some very difficult trading times for both chains. HMV seem to have put a lot into their multimedia strategy but on the back of supply issues of the Wii and the PS3 being prettly much an over-priced non-starter, this was a strategy that may not pay off.

There's no escaping that the four big supermarket chains are squeezing the traditional high street stores out of the market. The latest crazy stat is that 1 in every 8 spent is spent in a Tesco store!

If we want to stem this tide, perhaps we should stop spending our hard earned cash in these places unless we want to create a Tescopoly! (Interesting website by the way at www.tescopoly.co.uk!!!)

[Rob McCow]

HMV have bought up the Fopp brand and taken six of it's most profitable stores off the hands of administrator's Ernst & Young.

Fopp was forced to close down earlier this month with the loss of 700 jobs. It had massive credit problems which stemmed from it buying up the Music Zone chain.

HMV's spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: "Those stores actually were profitable and the Fopp brand - there's a lot of customer interest in it, it was very appealing, and I think it was working strongly across the country, but some stores were purchased and maybe didn't fit in with the original plans."

"Where those members of staff are available we'll certainly be looking to rehire them which hopefully will mean up to 70 jobs are saved."

The six stores should open as soon as possible in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London's Covent Garden, Cambridge, Manchester and Nottingham, reports BBC 6 Music

So, now HMV are infected by the taint of Music Zone! This is going to be a disaster. If this runs true to form, expect major bad news from His Master's Voice in the next year!

[Paul Monk]

So wil they run them as Fopp with the same discounts and everything? They've been a bit cautious with only buying the six stores though.

[Milky Tears]

Looks like another one is about to bite the dust:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6956536.stm

[Ralph]

Just spotted this on "DVD Times" and just to warn anyone who might be buying from them:

"Well respected DVD retailer, ChoicesUK, have appointed adminstrators. While the online retailer is currently still trading and open for business, we would suggest caution when considering placing new orders until the situation is resolved.

Our current advice, for customers with outstanding orders placed via credit card, is to not cancel immediately to give ChoicesUK a chance to stabilise. If, however, you have placed an order with a debit card, it may well be worth considering cancelling due to the lack of protection offered by your bank.

We will post updates as we have them and hope that this situation is resolved quickly and ChoicesUK return to full trading capacity quickly. They're a quality on-line retailer and it would be a shame to lose them altogether."


I'm sorry to hear this as I found their service very good.

[Wayne]

Thanks Ralph. I've bought a few odds & sods from Choices, but i won't be getting anymore unless things get resolved.

[Pip Madeley]

ChoicesUK needed to lower their prices.

[Jon Masters]

I hope Choices manage to sort this out and maintain their on-line service even if they scrap everything else. I've found them to be a very dependable Internet retailer.

[Lissa]

Apparently, Choices UK and CD WOW have both been bought so they should be safe for now.

[Alex]

They haven't gone bust, but Richard Branson's sold off all the Virgin Megastore stores and they're going to be rebranded with the name "Zavvi".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6998606.stm

With a name like that, I predict all will be closed by next summer.

[Milky Tears]

and the three Fopps nearest my house (Glasgow Union Street/Byres Road and Edinburgh) reopened at the end of last month. It's all good.

[Wayne]

Same with the Nottingham Fopp. Although i rarely use anything but e-tailers these days anyway.......

[Rob McCow]

Zavvi? Sounds like an exotic princess. Or a cussword.