HMV May Go Bankrupt

[squirrel]

I read somewhat that it has entered administration. If debt obligation restructuring doesn't proceed well, it will go bankrupt.

HMV doesn't have store here, but it has quite a strong presence in Hong Kong. I have business trips to there from time to time so I know this disc stores. Very impressive. Those stores stock very updated music and movie discs from the West and Japan. Plus, most of them have a sector exclusively for western classical music. It would be a great loss if they go out of business.

[Jesus_Phish]

They also charge what a lot of people deem unreasonable amounts compared to online retailers. They refused to move with the times and set up an online/download store front.

I feel sorry for the staff who are likely to lose their job because of the decisions of the higher ups, but this is not surprising news.

Out of interest if you could remember, how much would an "import" cd in HMV cost in GBP? Because in the Ireland (both sides of the border) an "import" cd (which essentially means from europe and even from a local Irish band) can cost upwards of £38.

[Nalano]

HMV was still alive?

Tower and Virgin died a long, long time ago.

[Jesus_Phish]

Believe it or not there's still two Tower Records in Dublin. TWO!!

I believe they just license the name and image now though. They still use the same old logo and colours.

[Rath]

My deepest sympathies towards the 4000 plus HMV workers. I worked for Comet right up until the doors closed for the last time, and if anyone can make going into administration a more awful prospect for a business than it already is, it's Deloitte. If they've been lined up as administrators for HMV, the employees can expect to be given virtually no information whatsoever through an appallingly half-arsed death ritual consisting of individual administrators doing their best to earn bonuses for themselves with the mentality of pirates.

[Nalano]

My deepest sympathies towards the 4000 plus HMV workers. I worked for Comet right up until the doors closed for the last time, and if anyone can make going into administration a more awful prospect for a business than it already is, it's Deloitte. If they've been lined up as administrators for HMV, the employees can expect to be given virtually no information whatsoever through an appallingly half-arsed death ritual consisting of individual administrators doing their best to earn bonuses for themselves with the mentality of pirates.

Up until about three years ago I never heard the term "vulture capitalist." It's practically common parlance now.

[pakoito]

I'm still trying to figure out who HMV is.

[Jesus_Phish]

A very large retailer who was in the business of selling records, then videos, then cds, then games and dvds and then electronics and then blu-rays.

[Feldspar]

It makes the news because it is the last big highstreet music retailer in the UK. Unfortunately it's lost out in physical sales due to supermarkets stocking much of the same stuff cheaper, online retailers selling it cheaper and downloads being cheaper. People say they'll be sad to see it go, but times change, when was the last time you bought a CD?

[Nalano]

when was the last time you bought a CD?

I dunno. When did Nine Inch Nail's The Fragile come out?

Edit: Holy fuck, 14 years ago.

[Unaco]

No great loss, in my opinion. They were a bit sh*t, on the whole. Shelves of console games and paraphernalia, but nothing PC related. Overpriced editions of books to tie in to what ever was the 'thing' at the time. Overpriced TV DVD Box Sets. A belief that music was either Electronic, Metal or Pop. Only good thing about them was that they might, just might, have a decent/slightly obscure DVD for a reasonable enough price, if you looked hard enough.

Plenty of better alternatives in the Internet Age. They failed to evolve and are now paying for it.

[laneford]

I used to work there (a standard Uni student rite of passage) just before they started to go to shit and started selling T-shirts and iPod docks.

It was great fun and I'll miss it, but they deserved it in the end. Terrible management. Writing was on the wall when I left.

[Xercies]

Surprised this hasn't happened earlier to be honest. They have always been way to expensive with everything and whenever they do have a "sale" it goes to the same price that Amazon always was.

But with this and Game looking shaky, will we have a high street or employers to employ us anymore.

[Lambchops]

I didn't really shop there for music or games often (aside from in FOPP back in uni after they took it over and somewhat surprisingly still retained the whole pounds pricing, plenty of classic albums for a fiver and the 7 day exchange policy that made FOPP better than HMV in the first place) but would occasionally pick up some DVDs or box sets that were good value.

I am in their target market at someone who still buys CDs and vinyl but in both places where I've lived I've been fortunate enough to have a good independent record shop. More friendly service and a nice atmosphere for browsing mean that I'm one of those idiots who not only still buys CDs but is willing to pay a little more than the online price for the pleasure of having a nice shop. HMV was too impersonal to be that shop. Plus, while I'm willing to pay a bit more, their pricing policy on some older CDs was crazy. They used to sell non special edition albums from less current bands for close to 15 quid, I don't know who they thought would buy them.

Still it's bad news for everyone whose jobs are at risk. Plus it would be shame to see high streets without record shops. I don't see indie record shops suddenly rising up in their place they are a difficult venture to get right I think (I fear for the future of Love Music formerly Avalanche in Glasgow, I popped in over the holidays and buying an AC/DC pinball machine seems like a desperate and futile attempt to drag in customers, really hope I'm wrong though).

[Dubbill]

I've got fond memories of HMV. I spent most of my pocket money there because they continued selling vinyl long after Our Price (also defunct) moved to CDs only.

[Rath]

Blockbusters' gone down now too. 4 major retailers gone in under 6 months.

[Kadayi]

I can't help but feel this is a bad thing for both the music and film industries because it's effectively taking the diversity of stock that HMV had off the high street. Sure your Tesco & Sainsbury's sell a certain amount of stuff, but it's generally main stream stuff. The thing I used to like with HMV was being able to wander in there on a weekend, mooble through the World Cinema and Dance music sections, find something that looked interesting or I'd vaguely heard of and give it a punt.

The problem with things like Amazon recommendations is it's always a case of linking to things because you liked other things/bought them Vs throwing in a bit of random like you get with going into a store.

I'd say there's probably an opportunity for someone to step in and actually will that hole in the market and make it profitable (Fopp still seem to be doing ok), but whether anyone can leverage it is another matter.

[Lambchops]

Yeah not sure what's going to happen with the major distributors, presumably they'll have to scale down their operations. Not sure how protected the likes of PIAS will be, despite their independent nature I'd imagine HMV would be one of their biggest customers.

[Nalano]

There's the argument that the incredible vast range of availability online is hampered by the hyperbolizing effect of word-of-mouth on sales. Given the option to buy anything, we all end up buying the same stuff, because the ability to get whatever is only useful if you know it exists.

Whether this is better or worse than Top 40 radio play and the tyranny of the genre sections in music box stores is a silly distinction, as they are the same side of the same coin.

Ultimately, the only thing that'll get people to break out of their well-worn ruts is to provide an environment that they see and hear things they would not otherwise have seen, and our urban environment is singularly and solely conducive to such, regardless of specific shops.

Long story short: You don't need access to audio stores. The internet's solved that problem. You need access to audiophiles.

[Kadayi]

Long story short: You don't need access to audio stores. The internet's solved that problem. You need access to audiophiles.

True enough I guess. However you're hard pressed to find even independent music shops these days.