WHSmith? Seriously, never knew...

 

BTW, the discounting is necessary.

Edited January 12, 200916 yr by funmaker11

I think the collapse of EUK would have forced their decision to drop Etertainment - My local WHS has a huge upstairs section just for Entertainment and to be honest the DVD and album charts have been almost empty since before Christmas!. They like many other companies they are now probably struggling to source stock on a "Sell or return" basis.

Morrisons still sell quite a good varied amount.

I'm not actually surprised - the WHSmiths in Preston has had the same sticker on most of them since about the beginning of December. AND to show how bothered they are, the sticker saying the CD is out of stock doesn't even make sense - what the f*** does "temporarily out stock" mean?

Was in the Belfast branch earlier. Spotted the Complete Dad's Army DVD box set for around £73. You can get it for £40 in Zavvi and thats before the 20% discount!

Can't even remember the last time I bought an Album in WHS. Must of been when I bought a Feeder album around 3 years ago, I only bought it there coz I wanted an excuse to try an chat the girl who served me up :naughty:

The last CD i bought from Smiths was Madonnas 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' back in November 2005 (day of release no less :P) I was too impatient to shop around, i just wanted it! It was under a tenner though.

 

They are so expensive, and there attitude towards CDs is a bad as Woolies used to be. Sticking a paper sleeve inside a crappy plastic case to take to the counter. Their DVDs are even worse. Taking the DVDs out and sticking the boxes on the shelf so all the grubby people can feel up the packaging before it gets bought. Their boxsets are always torn :(

Edited January 13, 200916 yr by Glyn

They are so expensive, and there attitude towards CDs is a bad as Woolies used to be. Sticking a paper sleeve inside a crappy plastic case to take to the counter. Their DVDs are even worse. Taking the DVDs out and sticking the boxes on the shelf so all the grubby people can feel up the packaging before it gets bought. Their boxsets are always torn :(

 

And that's why I buy a lot of my CDs/DVDs/games off the Internet. (Or in Asda, which put them in a security box.)

Edited January 14, 200916 yr by DitzyNizzy

Don't rely on the supermarket to keep stocking cheaper CDs. Working in Sainsbury's who are also struggling to get supplies it really does look like we mite stop stocking them or at least only stock major releases.

I'm not actually surprised - the WHSmiths in Preston has had the same sticker on most of them since about the beginning of December. AND to show how bothered they are, the sticker saying the CD is out of stock doesn't even make sense - what the f*** does "temporarily out stock" mean?

 

 

Means " out of stock right now but coming in mighty soon" :P

I'd just like to clear up that not <b>every</b> WHSmith is not doing entertainment anymore, it's only a certain few.

It's great how people who don't even work there quickly assume certain things. Anyway, those who are losing entertainment (which is only a few small shops) are either reducing the amount of entertainment they get (eg. Cd chart goes up to no.75, whereas it will now be up to no.40) or they are getting rid of it all together - which isn't a lot to begin with.

I'd also like to point out, WHSmiths now have a supplier, and stock has been delivered to most stores, and if you were to go in one you'd understand there is minimal problems now with getting entertainment stock.

Don't rely on the supermarket to keep stocking cheaper CDs. Working in Sainsbury's who are also struggling to get supplies it really does look like we mite stop stocking them or at least only stock major releases.

 

Went into Sainsburys the other day and got I got Travis The Boy Woth No Name and Insolmia double CD for £3 each, and the mrs got a beverly Knight Greatest Hits CD only £3. Bargain! I doubt the supermarkets would stop selling CDs though

 

Aberystwyth seems safe. I thought it should, considering we now have no other commercial music provider.

Cupar has no cd's

 

Morrisons has no problem in sourcing Cd's/DVD's.

 

We do have $h!t loads of crappy DVD boxsets, the ones where you get three $h!t films in one, because we can't return them to EUK as they obviously don't exist.

 

Sell or Return has left even a small store like the one i work in in St Andrews with lots of the things.

Music week

 

WH Smith still committed to music despite EUK problems

 

10:08 | Tuesday January 27, 2009

 

By Ben Cardew

 

WH Smith became the latest victim of the EUK collapse, revealing that it had to source CDs and DVDs from elsewhere following the distributor entering administration.

 

However, WH Smith rejected reports that it had abandoned music sales saying, “We continue to implement our strategy to reduce our presence in entertainment, to focus instead on our core categories, however, we remain committed to providing our customers with a tailored convenience offer.”

 

WH Smith reported that LFL sales in its high street branches for the the 9 weeks and the 20 weeks to January 17 were down 7% and 7% respectively.

 

However, excluding entertainment like-for-like sales for the 9 and 20 weeks were down 3%.

 

 

Group Chief Executive Kate Swann says, “As anticipated, trading conditions on the high street were challenging over the Christmas period. However, we continue to successfully deliver our strategy and maintain operational flexibility, increasing gross margins and accelerating our cost reduction plans.”

 

“Looking ahead, we expect consumer spending in our markets to remain subdued and we have planned accordingly,” she adds.

 

EUK entered administration in November, alongside Woolworths Retail. Its collapse led to entertainment retailer Zavvi, which used EUK to supply its CDs and DVDs, entering administration itself.

Smiths are alright.