HMV Gone, but not forgotten
Anybody expecting Amazon's low prices to continue if HMV goes is going to have a shock. Amazon is an unsustainable business model long-term and they have simply been running at low or even no margin to take customers away from the high street. Once that mission has been accomplished their prices will rise.
As for Tescos et al doing everythying, it is a nonsense. They play at lots of different areas of retail but the only one they really do well is their traditional one - food and household consumables. Their range of music, films, games, and books is pitiful. Their consumer electronics offerings are generally poor too, mostly covering cheap and nasty low-end tat and with absolutely no expertise on hand. I can't believe that British consumers are happy to put up with such lack of choice for very long.
I don't agree cds in USA are generally cheaper than here, why can't Amazon sell over here for more money? Look HMV went because people did not buy enough cds etc at high prices, these type of shops have been struggling for years, look at Our Price etc, how many cd shops are left in you town. Yes I agree that less competition could mean higher prices but many people now are buying downloads or not buying at all.
Because they think they have bought a bargain, cos twas cheap.
I agree totaly with all of your post Matthew , well almost regarding the food bit. Why folks buy meat from there or Sainsbugs is beyond me , its still bloody breathing for christs sake. Pink awfull tasteless tack , yuk !.
Because they think they have bought a bargain, cos twas cheap.
I agree totaly with all of your post Matthew , well almost regarding the food bit. Why folks buy meat from there or Sainsbugs is beyond me , its still bloody breathing for christs sake. Pink awfull tasteless tack , yuk !.
I agree with you about the meat.
If browsing was the big benefit of HMV, then they should have somehow marketed it and exploited that aspect.
But without the opportunity to listen to any CD that you pick up, how can you make a buying choice without already knowing what the CD sounds like?
On Amazon etc, you can browse and listen, follow links from people's "must have" playlists, and also see the " If you like A, then why not listen to B, C and D artists".
If you then like what you hear, it's a simple "Add to Basket" or wishlist.
HMV was a dinosaur waiting to be picked off as it limped towards the mirage of a waterhole.
A real pity, and means that I'll have nowhere to hide when the Cobalts head off to the shops next time. H&M and Dorothy Perkins do not have the same appeal.
(And I'm too old to hang out in Hollister - I'd get arrested 
To avoid ambiguity, yes, Amazon should pay more tax but tax evasion is not just online - ask Sir Phillip Green and the directors of Starbucks.
To avoid ambiguity, the term is "avoidance" which is completely legal. Ask anyone with a government-marketed tax-avoidance ISA >)
I don't think HMV paid much tax either You have to make a profit to do that, and Amazon probably employ more tax/NI-paying people than HMV now?
Its problem simply comes down to cost, I wandered around one just before Christmas expecting/hoping to buy something but when they're selling (rock) CDs for £12-£15 which I can then go onto play.com and buy for £5-£10 then it's a no-brainer.
Not any more you won't.
Old fashioned shopping in a New fashioned world!
"Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere - buttons to call for food for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button, by pressure of which a basin of (imitation) marble rose out of the floor, filled to the brim with a warm deodorized liquid. There was the cold-bath button. There was the button that produced literature. and there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world."
Interesting article on the bbc website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21028803
The relevant chart went up and I said, "the three greatest threats to HMV are, online retailers, downloadable music and supermarkets discounting loss leader product".
Suddenly, I realised the MD had stopped the meeting and was visibly angry. "I have never heard such rubbish", he said. He accepted supermarkets were "a thorn in our side" but not for the serious music fan.
"As for the other two," he continued, "I don't ever see them being a real threat. Downloadable music is just a fad and people will always want the atmosphere and experience of a music store."
HMW is gone into admin today only because of incompetant management.
Feeling very nostalgic today, with them going into administration it brought back loads of great memories.
Still trends change, such is the way of the world.
But I will always try and buy a physical entity where music is concerned, you still cant beat the feeling that cover or case gives, DOWNLOADS , TOO CLINICAL, DESPITE THE QUALITY.
From the double album gatefold vinyl covers of a bygone age, through Factory Records boxed cassette cases that cost more than the contents.
H...M...M...M.
JUST GOING TO WALLOW SOME MORE
Good Luck H.M.V.
Gaun Yersel.
[quote=MajorFubar Soon there'll be nothing left of our high-streets except coffee-shops, pound-shops, clothes shops and charity shops.
With the exception of Truro thats nailed Cornwalls towns bang on the head.
[/quote]
What, no travel agents or phone shops??! 
HMV have, in some ways, made the same mistakes as Woolworths in not really knowing what they are there for. They have watered down their offerings in their traditional core areas to make space for consumer electronics products which are very low margin and inefficient in their use of space. Consumers don't identify HMV with these products in the first place, and the company can't compete with online pricing of items such as headphones and ipod docks.
I agree, everytime I've gone into an HMV in the last few years the music section has decreased and DVD/Blu-ray, headphones and ipod docks have taken there place. They were just not specialist at anything. Pretty much everything in the shop could be had on Amazon cheaper. So instead of 1 or 2 albums from HMV I got 3 or 4 from Amazon.
In my Town......
Travel agents 2 ( one went scat ) , phone shops loads , we will cash yer Giro places outnumber phone shops *. Empty shops loads.
Welcome to the affluent far SW.
* says it all really dunnit.
Resting on your laurels!!!!!!!
IDIOTS and yes imcompetent management
Anybody expecting Amazon's low prices to continue if HMV goes is going to have a shock. Amazon is an unsustainable business model long-term and they have simply been running at low or even no margin to take customers away from the high street. Once that mission has been accomplished their prices will rise.
As for Tescos et al doing everythying, it is a nonsense. They play at lots of different areas of retail but the only one they really do well is their traditional one - food and household consumables. Their range of music, films, games, and books is pitiful. Their consumer electronics offerings are generally poor too, mostly covering cheap and nasty low-end tat and with absolutely no expertise on hand. I can't believe that British consumers are happy to put up with such lack of choice for very long.
Rega RP3/Elys 2, Roksan K2 CDS, Squeezebox Touch, Denon PMA720AE, Q Acoustics 2020i, Sennhesier HD595, Beyer-Dynamic DT770PRO, Chord Crimson/Chord Rumour 2