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

[Milky Tears]

He might do a bit of cleaning in the mornings.

[Wayne]

That's probably more like it.

[Wayne]

I'm sure Ant will be pleased to know that i ordered something from HMV. (And Pip will be pleased to know that i affiliated it)

A Sci-Fi film called 'Android' starring Klaus Kinski for £5.99. (The next cheapest was £12.99!)
Ironically, it's out of stock. But at least i know it's out of stock this time!

[Pip Madeley]

Zavvi are going under...

Music, games and DVD chain Zavvi has gone into administration, Ernst & Young has announced, threatening 3,500 jobs.



The troubled chain has been badly affected by the demise of Woolworths, which forced it to stop taking new orders via its website. Zavvi's main supplier is Woolworths' unit Entertainment UK (EUK), which went into administration on 27 November. All of Zavvi's stores should be open as normal on Boxing day, for its traditional post-Christmas sale.

Since Entertainment UK went into administration, Zavvi has had difficulties in sourcing stock and has been forced to enter new trading arrangements. "This has resulted in considerable working capital difficulties," an Ernst & Young statement said. "Since EUK went into administration, and perhaps before, the impact of problems at EUK on the Zavvi group has been significant. "Minimal deliveries, no returns and worse trading terms are just some of the areas impacted," said joint administrator Tom Jack.

"In the absence of a buyer for EUK, and with dire trading conditions on the High Street, the Zavvi group has seen a material fall in sales and the directors have now been forced to place parts of the group into administration," he added. The administrators intend for Zavvi to continue trading with a view to selling all or part of the business. The group's founding partners Simon Douglas and Steve Peckham said: "We have done all that is possible to keep the business trading, but the problems encountered with EUK, and particularly its recent failure, has been too much for the business to cope with."

The Zavvi group is the UK's largest independent entertainment retailer with 125 stores. It was formed after a management buy out of the Virgin Megastore division of the Virgin Group in September 2007. Tea and coffee specialist Whittards and menswear chain The Officers Club also fell into administration this week.

Another one bites the dust.

I felt quite sad walking round Woolworths yesterday, a store that's been there for as long as I can remember completely gutted, full of bare shelves, as if a party had finished. It's the way things are going, the Internet has changed so much, but I still felt sad.

I was surprised to discover MFI had called in the receivers too.

[Si Hunt]

I would have said that the high street music and DVD retailers would struggle to survive anyway with the Internet. You just can't expect to continue selling a product to people who can get it at half the price without putting their shoes on. However, I expect Woolworths Suppliers and the credit crunch has finished them off.

Si.

[WhiteCrow]

I thought they had gone under a while ago anyway. We had one in Camberley which just dissappeared.

Shame really - one of my favourite sports as a young man was chatting up the girls who worked in such stores. Our Price was my favourite - they had the best girls in there.

[Pip Madeley]

Shame really - one of my favourite sports as a young man was chatting up the girls who worked in such stores. Our Price was my favourite - they had the best girls in there.

You sound like Milky!

Thank God for personal ads eh?

[WhiteCrow]

Thank God for personal ads eh?

Alls fair in love and dating! There's actually a story behind that ... it involves spending too long at University, stuck dating 18-20 year olds (not as much fun as it's sounds) and getting to know a woman around the Electrical Engineering Department who I asked out ... only to find she'd forgotten to mention she was married to someone I worked with.

Dating through the personal ads was sane after that!

[Alex]

I'm remember there were a lot of doubts about how successful Zavvi would be when they first took over Virgin, mainly because of (as mentioned) the rise of online sales. Plus it's incredibly rubbish name too.

I do wonder if HMV will be next, I think that would be a real shame as I love browsing (and getting the odd good deal from there) though admittedly a lot of the time I go there to see what's out lately, before heading home to get it much much cheaper online.

[Larry]

I would have said that the high street music and DVD retailers would struggle to survive anyway with the Internet. You just can't expect to continue selling a product to people who can get it at half the price without putting their shoes on.
Si.

also ipods are certainly going to put a huge dent in the cd sales of HMV and other high street retail shops that's not forgetting the competition they already get from places like Tesco..


out of interest what ever happened to the record shop Our Price.

[Si Hunt]

Why can't you go into a record shop, plug your MP3 player into the wall, and buy a single by clicking a touch-sensitive screen?

The fact I have to ask that may answer why at least one high street music retailer hasn't survived. You have to keep up with times.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

They've been in deep Dolcis for ages, apparently, if this report is anything to go by.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...m-1063532.html

Zavvi was created last year when Sir Richard Branson sold Virgin Megastores to Zavvi's chief executive Simon Douglas reportedly for ?1.

The group has 125 stores in the UK and Ireland and employs around 2,500 people.

It is thought the Virgin Group could become liable for millions of pounds of debt if Zavvi does go under as it has guaranteed the group's orders with Entertainment UK.

It is understood to have underwritten around 60 days of credit for Zavvi, which ends next month.

Deloitte and Ernst & Young both declined to comment and Zavvi could not be contacted.

The reported problems at Zavvi are the latest fallout on the high street from the collapse of Woolworths.

ONE POUND!!! And it could have a damaging effect on the whole Virgin chain, by the sound of it.

[WhiteCrow]

out of interest what ever happened to the record shop Our Price.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Price

Yeah I miss those girls in their tight t-shirts ...

Basically they got rebranded as V-Shop then Sanity, then the whole thing failed.

[Jon Masters]

Are Zavvi taking the piss ?

I wandered into Crawley's to have a look at their "massive clearout" sale - what a joke. There were possibly two genuine bargains in the whole DVD section on huge boxsets (complete Brett SH - $45, complete Morse $30) and racks full of their 'crap movie' DVDs for $3 (which are always at $3 coz no-one wants them). Otherwise I could have been standing in HMV - DW DVDs at $19.99 (Tegan Box set $30!!), Stargate Boxsets at the knockdown price of $30, all 3 Spider Man movie boxset $30.

I left with my pennies intact

[Lissa]

Zavvi still hopes to be sold as a going concern - the administration is to protect them during a time when they haven't got enough stock to run their business properly and would therefore be at risk from a creditor calling in a debt. They can't be seen to be having fire sales as Woolworths is/was because that might scare buyers away. Zavvi sounds like a basically viable business that had unforeseen problems when Woolies collapsed. They aren't going to cut their own throats by giving their stock away.

[WhiteCrow]

Adams childrenswear is going as well.

Not surprising they were briefly in administration in 2007, when my wife used to work for them. They closed a few stores down, including hers but managed to continue.

Although you'd think with the Woolworths Ladybird clothes line going, they'd have lost a major competitor, although I guess they still can't compete with George.

[Captain Tancredi]

Are Zavvi taking the piss ?

I wandered into Crawley's to have a look at their "massive clearout" sale - what a joke. There were possibly two genuine bargains in the whole DVD section on huge boxsets (complete Brett SH - $45, complete Morse $30) and racks full of their 'crap movie' DVDs for $3 (which are always at $3 coz no-one wants them). Otherwise I could have been standing in HMV - DW DVDs at $19.99 (Tegan Box set $30!!), Stargate Boxsets at the knockdown price of $30, all 3 Spider Man movie boxset $30.

I left with my pennies intact

I thought much the same in Leeds yesterday, although to be fair I was only really looking for reduced box sets and they were still a pound or two cheaper than HMV. As well as what Lissa mentions, if they owe Entertainment UK for a chunk of their stock, they really need to get a reasonable price for it otherwise they won't have enough to pay the administrators of EUK once Zavvi reach the end of their credit terms. It's unfortunate and doesn't seem to be down to bad management, but the collapse of the Woolworths empire left them without stock to put on their shelves at the busiest time of the year.

It's a shame that the online business has had to close down as that's the area which probably would have been most attractive to a potential buyer, but what might be interesting would be if one of the supermarket chains (big enough to take a hit to begin with and dictate terms) decided to take a gamble.

[Paul Monk]

I didn't know you shopped in Crawley, Jon? Thats not too far away from us. I quite often go there for the shops. In fact I went there on New Years Eve to check out the sales and went away empty handed. Well apart from sweets and magazines for the kids.
Zavvi was very disappointing as was HMV. HMV especially usually have excellent sales.

[Jon Masters]

I didn't know you shopped in Crawley, Jon? Thats not too far away from us.

Zavvi was very disappointing as was HMV. HMV especially usually have excellent sales.

West Sussex have a teacher centre there so I sometimes pop in if I'm on a course.
I went in late afternoon NYE after dropping the kids at my in-laws in Horsham, as its the next biggest Woolies near to me after Brighton. I also went looking for the new DW books - WHS had two of them, but bloody Waterstones only had one (and why do they hide them in the Film & TV section instead of in the teenage fiction ?)

[Larry]

well Marks & Spencer, has now announced job cuts of 1200 and around a dozen of it's shops will be closed it's branch in Bracknell being one of them suggesting that the closures will mainly be their shops that only sell food.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

West Sussex have a teacher centre there so I sometimes pop in if I'm on a course.
I went in late afternoon NYE after dropping the kids at my in-laws in Horsham...

That's pretty irresponsible teaching. Well, I hope they have a big house at least.

[Milky Tears]

well Marks & Spencer, has now announced job cuts of 1200 and around a dozen of it's shops will be closed it's branch in Bracknell being one of them suggesting that the closures will mainly be their shops that only sell food.

25 Simply Food stores and 2 main ones:

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news...ced.4850076.jp

The ailing high street giant Marks & Spencer has unveiled plans to shut 27 stores.

They are:
Simply Food:
Grafton Centre, Cambridge
Bracknell
Torquay
Imperial Wharf
Harbourside Bristol
Newtownards
Trowbridge
Letchworth
Huntingdon
Marlborough
Braintree
Caversham
Balham
Palmers Green
Colmore Row
Evesham
Tewkesbury
Whitley Bay
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Biggin Hill
Sudbury
Ripon
Melton Mowbray
Honiton
Market Harborough

Main stores:
Valley Park Croydon
Woking

[SiHart]

There's another nail in the coffin of Bracknell Town Centre. Soon we'll be down to Waterstones and HMV.

Si xx

[Larry]

There's another nail in the coffin of Bracknell Town Centre. Soon we'll be down to Waterstones and HMV.

Si xx

don't complain Si, I reckon if you were left with only two shops they are probably the best two to have ...

but I would guess having a Sainsbury's in the shopping arcade certainly hasn't helped that branch of M & S.

[Si Hunt]

Soon we'll be down to Waterstones and HMV.

At least you have a Waterstones!

Simon says: "Isn't it telling that Harlow doesn't have a book shop?"

Si.