Those 50 stores won't survive, unless the store is on your doorstep, you are not going to get the Joe Public to travel 15 miles to the nearest store, they rather go online.

 

P.S. Just heard on BBC News 239 stores are in trouble.

 

There are still alot of stores in HMV that are still profitable though if the business is saved and the profitable stores are kept then they will continue to be so [For the time being at least!]

That didn't save some of the GAME stores. My friend previously worked in a GAME shop in Belfast and it was one of the most profitable ones and yet it still closed down when it went into administration.

Does anyone know if the Guildford store is going to shut down?

 

I really don't want it to shut down, it's the only modern music shop in Guildford! :(

Edited January 15, 201312 yr by Grief

HMV Canada's owner, Retail restructuring group Hilco, is rumoured to be sniffing round HMV UK.

 

The Entertainment Retailers Association said this earlier today:

 

 

“No one can say this is a surprise, but it is still a shock. HMV has been part of the fabric of the music and entertainment business for decades. But there are signs that this may not be the end of the story.

 

“It would be wrong to underestimate the affection which HMV is held by consumers and the determination of music and video companies to see HMV survive in some form.

 

“We know there is consumer demand – in a poll last year HMV was ranked in the Top 10 of the stores people most want to see on their High Street. Data suggests they generated 170 million in-store visits last year and another 40 million online.

 

“At the same time both music and video companies are painfully aware of the consequences of losing a retailer responsible for around a third of UK physical music and video sales. We have to hope they will not stand by and watch HMV go down.

 

“There has been much misinformation published in the past 24 hours about the relative strength of physical and digital entertainment formats. Physical formats like CDs and DVDs still account for three quarters of the entertainment market. In other words HMV going from the high street is in the interests neither of consumers nor of suppliers.

 

“For their part, our members – although competitors of HMV – have been quick to express their support.

 

“We believe it is possible for the administrators to rescue something out of this situation. There is a precedent that you can streamline your costs and in particular the number of stores a chain trades from and still retain the bulk of sales – that’s precisely what happened with Game.

 

“There is clearly is a viable business model for an entertainment retailer on the UK High Street. It is up to the administrators now to do their job and take the steps necessary to make it possible.”

 

---

 

Pretty much what me and PopBitch have been saying. The chain has a future. It has support and goodwill up the wazoo plus there is precedent.

^^A good statement from them with actual factual information, Hilco's name has been mentioned a lot and in fairness to them they have turned around the Canadian HMV stores with sales over there reported to be up several million against their planned sales so Hilco clearly know what they are doing and with an understanding of the brand would be the ideal candidates to take the business forward.

The website has been suspended with a notice of administration posted on the site :-(

So far today at work about 10 customers have been removed by security from the store due to being abusive over gift cards etc, god knows what the next few days will be like! :drama:

 

I don't blame those customers. I feel very sorry for them. Someone on DS said it's akin to theft. They've taken the money for those vouchers so should honour them. :angry: Those should be put FIRST by the Administrators and not last, as I've heard they are amongst the debts.

Edited January 15, 201312 yr by Common Sense

Very intresting poll on UK Mix: What's your primary source of music ?

 

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=95452

 

Yes, it's only 36 peoples, but ..

 

Physical (CD, LP) - 44 % (16 votes)

Free download - 41 % (15 votes)

Streaming online (Spotify, YouTube, Last.fm) - 13 % (5 votes)

Payed download (iTunes, Amazon) - 0 % (0 votes) :D

Well the poll is interesting, but doesn't represent anything, only some posters preferences, plus the majority of the voters are from different countries. We had this poll on BJ too somewhere if I remember well, but feel free to start a poll again ;)

I don't blame those customers. I feel very sorry for them. Someone on DS said it's akin to theft. They've taken the money for those vouchers so should honour them. :angry: Those should be put FIRST by the Administrators and not last, as I've heard they are amongst the debts.

I don't feel sorry for them at all really. HMVs troubles have been in the news for ages, I don't get why A) anyone would've thought a HMV voucher would've been a good present for Xmas and B) why anyone who received one didn't use it straight away. I know I certainly wouldn't have even thought about buying one and if I'd have received one, it would've been used ASAP, probably by December 27th!

 

Not sure if this article has been shared on here, Why did HMV fail? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...P=ILCNETTXT3487

I don't blame those customers. I feel very sorry for them. Someone on DS said it's akin to theft. They've taken the money for those vouchers so should honour them. :angry: Those should be put FIRST by the Administrators and not last, as I've heard they are amongst the debts.

 

And that's the workers at HMV's fault? :huh: Pop Bitch and everyone else who works at HMV doesn't deserve any abuse from any member of the public. They've got a lot on their plate already, people should look at it from their perspective and leave them alone.

 

And I love how Ben is completely ripping AlexRane's argument into shreds. :D

 

 

I don't feel sorry for them at all really. HMVs troubles have been in the news for ages, I don't get why A) anyone would've thought a HMV voucher would've been a good present for Xmas and B) why anyone who received one didn't use it straight away. I know I certainly wouldn't have even thought about buying one and if I'd have received one, it would've been used ASAP, probably by December 27th!

 

Not sure if this article has been shared on here, Why did HMV fail? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...P=ILCNETTXT3487

 

Indeed - I felt really bad selling gift vouchers after the initial news broke about the companies troubles in December but in fairness the news was covered widely in the media and yet still people bought gift cards despite all the press about companies like Comet, Woolworths etc, suspending vouchers when they went into administration.

 

The volume of unused cards out there must be huge though especially as £££ of gift cards were given away free with purchases in December to customers that had an 02 priority moments code - I do feel sorry for people that have parted with and lost money some have been fine when iv explained to them I can't accept them and wished me well others have told me to f@ck off!

I do feel sorry for people that have parted with and lost money some have been fine when iv explained to them I can't accept them and wished me well others have told me to f@ck off!

 

That's actually really unacceptable! Have you told your manager about those people? :o

And that's the workers at HMV's fault? :huh: Pop Bitch and everyone else who works at HMV doesn't deserve any abuse from any member of the public. They've got a lot on their plate already, people should look at it from their perspective and leave them alone.

 

And I love how Ben is completely ripping AlexRane's argument into shreds. :D

 

Thanks Grief i guess I can't blame people for getting upset when they have £50 of vouchers they can't spend but some are just not getting that I can't take them - One customer said they would not leave the store until they were accepted... They got bored after 30 minutes!

That's actually really unacceptable! Have you told your manager about those people? :o

 

The security in the store I work at are excellent and soon whisked bad tempered customers out of the shop - We all feel sorry for them and I guess they have to vent their frustrations at someone - Let's see what tomorrow brings!

That's actually really unacceptable! Have you told your manager about those people? :o

 

I agree that they shouldn't swear at shop staff as it's not their fault. I meant I can understand the customers' frustration though.

 

According to someone commenting under the DM article, if they're trading at all, then they can't refuse to take back returns of faulty product as it breaks consumer law. Another store put up such a notice and Trading Standards made them take it down.

Edited January 15, 201312 yr by Common Sense

I honestly think HMV should have created a music focussed HMV mobile phone brand (they could use an existing network like Tesco mobile).

 

That way they would have store footfall and could have done a whole manner of things to attract the music lover to HMV mobile and maintain physical sales while also increasing digital sales:

 

IE. Digital vouchers to buy the CD album which they can upload to any device, but the scanning of the voucher and purchase automaticaly downloads the purchase to the HMV mobile etc.

 

But they should have done it a few years ago.

^^We were talking at work today about what the company could have done but all the ideas should as you say should have been implemented years ago, Everything HMV has done in recent years always seems to have been too little too late - And the market is changing, I never thought that I would switch from physical albums to downloads however despite getting 30% discount I would still rather buy from iTunes - Apart from a few sale CDs and DVDs the only other things iv bought from HMV recently are Beats headphones and iTunes cards! If as a member of staff I struggle to support the brand then I guess it's no surprise the general public do too.

 

Their biggest mistake was not building a strong MP3 store/brand and letting Apple get dominance without a fight.

I agree, that one their biggest mistakes was not building a strong MP3 store/brand and letting Apple get dominance without a fight. But i guess it is too late now. Funny i wa sonly im hmv about a week ago in Galway as i was visiting up there and got a nice few bargains. Everytime i go to dublin or galway i always pop in and see whats on offer and i usually pick up something i really miss that now when it closes. I hate the reality that this will do big damage to the physical format but i am sure the supermarkets such as Tesco are delighted with th news as it means more sales for them, however with less and less people selling cd;s the price will probably go up which would be the final nail in the physical format.

RIP sanity. When will your funeral take place? :wacko:

 

I'm soooo bored of this argument (Thank you Big Mistake, your fault). Record labels burnt this into the brain of people.... Not just piracy is guilty but also digital sales and digital stores.

 

BTW you can burn CDs and there you go a physical format :P

 

My physical format is my phone. It's full of music and a lot more than what a CD can store. And I bought the majority of those songs.

 

BTW I buy sometimes CDs, it's nice to look at, nice to have but I only use it once (!), I copy the songs to my computer and will never ever use the CD itself. It is just a nice decoration on my shelf. :lol:

Of course I can understand why some people like a physical album, but please don't exaggerate, it's hilarious.

OK I promise I stop piracy if you stop talking! So much nonsense... RIP sanity again (although for a long time here)

What a nice idea! I've never known that, although I don't buy vinyl.

 

 

you can't just eliminate piracy from the equation... it is indeed the main reason why sales are falling everywhere, more so in other parts in the world than in the UK, especially in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia where the number 1 digital album download sells 3 to 5 copies per week !!!! it's not the quality of the music, not the promotion, it's only related to the music being available everywhere on the internet for free,and everywhere, weeks before its actual release....

 

if u can get the same thing for free why pay for it??? Digital downloads albums will NEVER be a substitute for physical CD's and will never sell as much, and the US which is 2-3 years ahead of the UK in terms of music industry trends has proven that fact since digital has yet to take the larger share of the album markets + besides all the iTunes/ Amazon (25 cent) deals also help inflate digital album sales but it's basically just masking the problem which is that the album format is indeed dead....

Edited January 15, 201312 yr by Big Mistake

No, the problem is people are moving away from physical formats to digital. There will still be a market for CDs for some time to come, but the decline is never going to reverse.

 

it can be somewhat stopped if the government actually gave it some thought by forcing multi-billion dollar US companies like Amazon and iTunes to pay taxes to the UK government and not just let them evade while UK stores like HMV struggle with high rents, costs and taxes....