Does anyone still shop at HMV?

you're saying only kids are interested in music? Those who bought music in the 90s just stopped buying it as they're too old?

it's a weird use of the word "cheated" as if people in 90s HMV were being chatted up by alluring pretend shoppers who slipped them a Mickey and when they came round they found at they'd been overcharged for a Dodgy cd

The role that supermarkets have to play is that they are instrumental to driving the consumer away from the high street, selling new releases on all entertainment and being able to sell at more competative prices. You could argue that a savvy business understands the markets and acclimatises accordingly. I get the feeling that HMV were too late, too arrogant or too lazy to develop their offer to meet the changing retail climate.

I'm saying mostly kids consume music; new music by new acts anyway.

I'm also saying that loyalty, insofar as relevant, is loyalty to the acts, not to the retailer. The retailer is at best peripheral to the relationship.

I dunno a lot of people go to the same record shops and that's not just restricted to indie shops. If they have a good selection suited to their tastes or think the staff is knowledgeable and get to know them and can recommend stuff. Andy in Tower Records soul/funk section in the 1990s was like that. I bought nearly all my funk from them or fopp because they had staff who knew my tastes well. Just like the staff in Our Price did or in missing or do in avalanche or monorail. Supposedly HMV used to be like that for people. Centralised stocking from head office clearly had a bad effect on these places. Shops used to know their customers and cater to them. The good indie shops still do.

a percentage of customers do/did have that kind of relationship with stores yeah, but once again the evil empire of the internet has replaced that for a lot of people thru the availability of information as well as purchase/intellectual property theft

I worked for HMV in the early 00's, at this point they should have been investing in creating an online shop to rival amazon and the like. Instead we were asked to sell store credit to customers and sell the shitty new releases from a top ten chart owned by the fat cat distributers. Had they focused on customer service and creating a USP things may have been different. I'm just not convinced the internet killed HMV, I think it was poor retailing.

my point is they cheated us for years with high prices.

I don't disagree, but I don't think this entirely or remotely explains or excuses illegal downloading. artists didn't cheat the fans with higher prices, artists rarely saw higher profits, but its artists that are primarily suffering.

there shd probably be a broader thread for looking at the relationships between producers, merchants/distributors and consumers and the impact of the internet on this, plus the High Street as conceptual and functional space, cos the discussion is scattered over a few different threads, and it's much bigger than individuals' sentimental (trying to use that in a neutral-ish sense) attachment to particular retail brands.

maybe once i've had a better night's sleep tho.

I suppose it's the artists who don't chart - who only appeal to specialist minority niches - who have to get the big price mark-ups since it's their livelihood at stake rather than major label loss-leaders.

Then again, Rough Trade, Ray's etc. sell CDs (generally) more cheaply than HMV so you do wonder whether you're paying the artist or HMV's business rates.

Not that I'm sobbing too much about it, but how does Adele get paid anything when her CD is £5 in HMV?

Standard economy of scale; it's cheaper to press 4 million of the same thing than 10,000 of 400 things.

Or do I mean 40? You know what I mean.

Yes, but.

xpost no but.

About 50p, same as ever, I'd guess.

Another 37 shops to close.

(I'd link the BBC news page, but that's pretty much all it says)

no mention of which shops?

Not yet

The last lot of "to close" had no actual date apart from "within two months", that was about 2 weeks ago.

from sky news website

Is Your Local HMV Being Axed?

Updated: 12:15pm UK, Wednesday 20 February 2013

The latest 37 HMV stores identified for closure are:

Ashford, Basildon, Bolton, Cheltenham, East Kilbride, Enfield, Folkestone, Glasgow Argyle, Gloucester, Grimsby, Hatfield Galleria, Heathrow T5 Departure Level, Heathrow Terminal 1, Heathrow Terminal 3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, Isle of Wight, Lancaster, Leadenhall, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Newbury, Newcastle Silverlink, Newport, Nuneaton, Redditch, Salisbury, Scarborough, Southport, Stafford, Staines, Stockport, Swindon, Taunton, Torquay, Woking.

Is Your Local HMV Being Axed?

Updated: 12:15pm UK, Wednesday 20 February 2013

The latest 37 HMV stores identified for closure are:

Ashford, Basildon, Bolton, Cheltenham, East Kilbride, Enfield, Folkestone, Glasgow Argyle, Gloucester, Grimsby, Hatfield Galleria, Heathrow T5 Departure Level, Heathrow Terminal 1, Heathrow Terminal 3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, Isle of Wight, Lancaster, Leadenhall, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Newbury, Newcastle Silverlink, Newport, Nuneaton, Redditch, Salisbury, Scarborough, Southport, Stafford, Staines, Stockport, Swindon, Taunton, Torquay, Woking.

The 66 stores already earmarked for closure were:

Ashton-under-Lyne, Ballymena, Barnsley, Bayswater, Belfast Boucher Road, Belfast Forestside, Bexleyheath, Birkenhead, Birmingham Fort, Blackburn, Boston, Bournemouth Castlepoint, Bracknell, Burton-upon-Trent, Camberley, Chesterfield, Coleraine, Craigavon, Croydon Centrale, Derry, Dumfries, Durham, Edinburgh Fort, Edinburgh Gyle Centre, Edinburgh Ocean, Edinburgh Princes Street, Edinburgh St James, Falkirk, Fulham, Glasgow – Fort, Glasgow – Silverburn, Glasgow Braehead, Huddersfield, Kirkcaldy, Leamington Spa, Leeds White Rose, Lisburn, Loughborough, Luton, Manchester 90, Moorgate, Newry, Newtonabbey, Orpington, Rochdale, Scunthorpe, South Shields, Speke Park, St Albans, St Helens, Stockton-on-Tees, Tamworth, Teesside, Telford, Trocadero, Wakefield, Walsall, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Warrington, Watford, Wellingborough, Wigan, Wood Green, Workington, Wrexham.

There are 4 branches of HMV at Heathrow?!

Well not for long I guess

last chance for foreign visitors to pick up that Alt-J cd

"we don't have anything like this back in my country"

Is there one at Terminal 2?

If there is it'll be quiet as T2 closed years ago (though they're building a new one).

The administrators from Deloitte said the HMV stores would close over the next four to six weeks and would probably lead to all affected staff being made redundant, although it would try to relocate employees to other stores where possible.

Flagship stores at London's Heathrow airport, where ground rents are high, are among those set for closure.

I shall give Heathrow Terminal 5 a last look on Friday, then.

They've extended the blue cross sale to electronic stuff at 20% off.

That was the final straw for me, so I picked up an iPad. They seemed to be doing brisk business, as Apple hardware is rarely reduced and certainly not to 20%.

its a two pronged sword in that, i'd never buy an iPad from HMV if they weren't on a mega sale, and they are only on a mega sale as no one bought electronic goods from them, apart from kids buying Beats headphones.

By 20%, right?

The Heathrow ones closing are a drag - they sell stuff at much cheaper prices in those stores (I've never tried to figure out why; assume it's something duty-free-esque?). I always made a point to have a quick browse before a flight.

WE'RE SAVED!

Sky News has confirmed that singer Sir Elton John will perform at an HMV store in the future to help support the chain's survival.

The performer's spokesman, Gary Farrow, said it would likely be an "intimate" gig.

Mr Farrow said: "Elton has always been a big supporter of record shops.

"He will be doing something with HMV although as yet we cannot confirm what or when that would be."

what are the chances of it being outside london?

"the chances of elton performing in hull are a million to one they said"

well he needs to choose somewhere that still has an HMV xp

Heathrow Terminal 2 would make for a very intimate gig

I was in the Edinburgh Princes St store at lunchtime. They claim to be having a 'Store Closing - Everything Reduced' sale but there was still pretty much nothing worth buying.

Forget the CDs, check out the fixtures and fittings!

Just been in the one in Bristol. None of the hardware marked Blue Cross but when I asked they confirmed it was but they only had the display models that were out.

Which they offered me a further 25% off because of. I've just bought an iPad2 for under £200.

Glasgow Silverburn HMV closes tonight, in 20 minutes time...

They were one of those scheduled for closure, but apparently the administrators simply told them today that when they shut tonight it was for the last time.

There'll be no HMV in Glasgow, then.

I remember my dad taking me to the old Union Street branch back in 1969.

And the glorious days of Listen, Bloggs, 23rd Precinct, Bruce's, etc. in the seventies (and early eighties also as well; copyright Gary Crowley) wherein I spent I don't know how much money on all sorts of wonderful stuff.

Now the story has come to an end.

I guess music consumers have got what they wanted but lost what they had. And I think we've lost a lot.

Buchanan Street is staying open.

I heard that was going as well.

When this is all over, anybody fancy throwing in together and opening a record shop in Central London?

Jumping off Westminster Bridge might be a quicker and cheaper alternative, given it would probably come to the same conclusion.

Buchanan Street hasn't been on any of the lists for closure and I've heard that they negotiated a huge rent reduction for the space. It would be foolish to think anything is safe, but I certainly haven't heard anything about it closing.

Ah well, that's something, I suppose. Can't imagine somewhere the size of Glasgow without any HMV at all. Any news about Fopp (Union Street and Byres Road)?

There was the odd rumour about people being interested in buying Fopp out, no idea if it'll happen though. The London branch is looking pretty forlorn these days, I hope they survive at least.

Fopp in general I mean, not just London.