Sooner or later, one government or another is going to have to decide if we want town centres in this country or not. If they do, they've got to make trading conditions for bricks and mortar shops more sustainable against internet shopping. If not, fair enough.

 

The constant drip drip of our retail giants going out of business will prevent the economy recovering as fast as it should have

Not everyone goes to London to see the London Eye, a lot of people go for shopping including music and DVD shopping.. The last time I was in London last September, I went to 3 HMV stores and a lot of the customers there were tourists...

 

Quite probably tourists who saw HMV and happened to go in there. If it wasn't there, they may not miss it. I highly doubt that a load of foreigners are crying in there pillows about the prospect of not being able to browse HMV on their next UK trip. Sheesh.

it's all a mute point anyway- it failed because it didn't generate enough sales! Whatever else we can argue about saying that there is a genuine need for what HMV sells at the prices it does cannot really be one of them.

I think the most disturbing thing is that it has been announced that the Oxford Street flagship store 'only' generates 1 million pound profit a year with other big London stores running at a loss - For the flagship store to only generate that amount with the product range and amount of CD, DVD, Game and console launches just proves that a High Street entertainment retailer really is no longer viable I still think the best we can hope for is around 50 stores surviving.

 

And the longer it takes a buyer to be found then the less attractive the business becomes - 90% of our DVD stock and 75% of CD stock is in the 25% off sale and with stock getting depleted and no new releases coming through a buyer would have to seriously sort out product ranges quickly. I have zero hope of the store I work at being saved now :(

Sooner or later, one government or another is going to have to decide if we want town centres in this country or not. If they do, they've got to make trading conditions for bricks and mortar shops more sustainable against internet shopping. If not, fair enough.

 

The constant drip drip of our retail giants going out of business will prevent the economy recovering as fast as it should have

 

I agree 100%... Soon enough Internet retail will lead to the closure of many high street shops and the loss of thousands of jobs across the UK and millions across the globe... New laws should be enforced in order to deal with this new trend or the economy is doomed...

Edited January 20, 201312 yr by Big Mistake

Sooner or later, one government or another is going to have to decide if we want town centres in this country or not. If they do, they've got to make trading conditions for bricks and mortar shops more sustainable against internet shopping. If not, fair enough.

 

The constant drip drip of our retail giants going out of business will prevent the economy recovering as fast as it should have

I agree with the sentiment but not the particulars. The Government has always taxed the high street and business has always paid it nothing has changed on this front, but it is not the government that creates town centres/ high streets and keeps them afloat it is the GENERAL PUBLIC. We have chosen where to spend our money and if WE want a high street with shops then WE need to start spending in them, then online will go out of busines and WE reverse the trend.

I agree 100%... Soon enough Internet retail will lead to the closure of many high street shops and the loss of thousands of jobs across the UK and millions across the globe... New laws should be enforced in order to deal with this new trend or the economy is doomed...

NO NO NO (yes I'm sounding like a former prime minister now :lol: )

 

See post above- we can't just legislate all over the place, increased regulation will not help an economy to grow, things have to be GENUINELY competitive otherwise folk will just start importing things if they want them, we're in a global economy now this kind of protectionism will do more harm than good.

But if internet retailers can sell the same profit at 40-50% discount, something is surely wrong

But if internet retailers can sell the same profit at 40-50% discount, something is surely wrong

Why because they used new technology to sell their product in a smarter way? I'm pretty sure some Victorians thought the same when each new technological innovation meant things could be produced faster and easier than the existing ways.

I agree with the sentiment but not the particulars. The Government has always taxed the high street and business has always paid it nothing has changed on this front, but it is not the government that creates town centres/ high streets and keeps them afloat it is the GENERAL PUBLIC. We have chosen where to spend our money and if WE want a high street with shops then WE need to start spending in them, then online will go out of busines and WE reverse the trend.

 

Yeah but Internet retails are not paying taxes therefore can sell at much lower prices which leads to more shops closing down and more people losing their jobs in favor of cheaper Internet retail...

 

No one is gonna pay 30% more to buy a product at a store just to keep them alive because people want Cheaper... Same goes for the HMV/Amazon situation...Therefore laws are needed in order to force Internet retails to pay more taxes and help the shops stay alive...

Edited January 20, 201312 yr by Big Mistake

Yeah but Internet retails are not paying taxes therefore can sell at much lower prices which leads to more shops closing down and more people losing their jobs in favor of cheaper Internet retail...

Most internet retailers do pay tax and fork up for P & P to make it no more expensive for us to buy online, a physical shop won't pay for my travel costs to come to it to buy a product or a parking space if it's in a high street). You keep missing the point I make (deliberately I fancy) that WE have created this situation through our spending habits, that's the truth.

No one is gonna pay 30% more to buy a product at a store just to keep them alive because people want Cheaper... Same goes for the HMV/Amazon situation...

Hallelujah! My point finally- the market has spoken! :D

 

If you want to buck the market to keeps things artificially afloat all you will do will be to open the gates for foreign internet sites to come in and make a hugh profit- thanks very much.

Hallelujah! My point finally- the market has spoken! :D

 

If you want to buck the market to keeps things artificially afloat all you will do will be to open the gates for foreign internet sites to come in and make a hugh profit- thanks very much.

 

Laws should be enforced regarding any trade that happens in the UK whether physical stores or online shops.... foreign sites should also be banned from trading in the UK and any imported product should be taxed...

 

 

Laws should be enforced regarding any trade that happens in the UK whether physical stores or online shops.... foreign sites should also be banned from trading in the UK and any imported product should be taxed...

LOLZ, yes that'll work........ :lol:

Hilco has emerged as one of the front-runners to buy HMV out of administration amid suggestions that some of the world’s biggest music labels and film studios are willing to back a bid from the restructuring investor.

 

Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony are thought to have signalled that they favour an HMV bid by Hilco, a firm that specialises in buying retailers out of administration and turning them around. The music companies want to avoid being left short-changed by having to rely on the low-price regimes of supermarkets and internet distributors.

 

If Hilco – which bought HMV Canada in 2011 – buys the UK-based HMV, it is believed that the music companies may be willing to cut the price of CDs, DVDs and give HMV generous credit terms.

 

20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers were also reportedly on the verge of throwing their weight behind the Hilco rescue attempt.

 

Last week HMV, which has 223 stores, collapsed into administration, making it one of the biggest retail casualties of the economic downturn.

 

Deloitte was appointed as administrator and the firm is still "hopeful" of rescuing the 92-year-old entertainment retailer. Deloitte is thought to have received "well over 50" expressions of interest from potential bidders, amid hopes of retaining between 50 and 100 of the high street stores.

Edited January 20, 201312 yr by Shaky Fan

Laws should be enforced regarding any trade that happens in the UK whether physical stores or online shops.... foreign sites should also be banned from trading in the UK and any imported product should be taxed...

And then what would stop other countries banning our websites?

 

eBay is American, good luck banning that one. iTunes as well for that matter.

Ideally I'd like Hilco to be successful in acquiring a decent numer of the stores, the website and brand etc. It sounds like they'll be a brilliant bet in restructuring HMV, so that even when the physical album does eventually die out (almost), the HMV brand can still be a big name in music of some sort. All organisations have to evolve with their market, right?

 

And then Game can have whatever they want out of the leftover stores, so that there's less empty shops on the UK's high streets! (I'm not keen on Game taking over HMV of course, it'd then just turn into Game, surely? :lol:)

Edited January 21, 201312 yr by Juran Juran

The administrators of HMV have said that the music and DVD retailer will start accepting gift vouchers in stores from Tuesday.

 

Deloitte had previously said that gift cards could not be redeemed in stores, leading to anger among many customers.

 

Deloitte said it was able to honour the vouchers after assessing HMV's financial position

 

Was just coming on to post the above - work is going to be manic tomorrow, And if as reported there are millions and millions of pounds worth of unspent vouchers then stock is soon going to be depleted making it easier to close stores down in readiness for a buyer, At least the album market will get a huge much needed boost!

 

Was just coming on to post the above - work is going to be manic tomorrow, And if as reported there are millions and millions of pounds worth of unspent vouchers then stock is soon going to be depleted making it easier to close stores down in readiness for a buyer, At least the album market will get a huge much needed boost!

 

Is HMV still getting deliveries of new stock? If not, I imagine the stock of the Christmas releases must be getting quite low. I guess the catalogue stuff will be harder to sell.