Oh, Monseur le Fopp, you are really spoiling us...

oh i was going to say: there were people stacking shelves there yesterday. it was closed still, but there is activity!

that simian mobile justice album (whatever the heck it is) is getting a lot of free advertising from the closures.

the two glasgow branches are meant to re-open on monday.

both of them! that was quite quick, really

Now that HMV have bought the Fopp brand I wonder if they will accept Fopp vouchers as a goodwill gesture?

There were people working in the Rose Street branch in Edinburgh on Wednesday when i passed so I guess that'll be opening Monday too.

Yeah, I spotted shelf stacking going on in the Nottingham branch earlier in the week... it is all Very Exciting.

that simian mobile justice album (whatever the heck it is) is getting a lot of free advertising from the closures.

indeed - but no sales.

will report on the Bristol side of things when i am allowed back into the town centre next week.

Your asbo ending?

ha. if only. instead, my well earned stint of summer hols/parenting hell is ..

When's the Cambridge one reopening? I might be working up there soon!

If so, I will almost certainly be like HI DERE at some point over the next year.

Good news about the re-opening!

I've heard the lease has expired on the Cambridge Circus branch in London, and the shop was gutted recently. Perhaps no re-opening here, HMV didn't seem that interested in the other branches?

yeah manchester looks good to go. are the same people going to be working there? did those who got stiffed when they closed get their money back in the end?

People in London got paid I think 'cos a managery-type person went back to the shop after the last day and took money from the tills. I think they're looking to take the same staff back, if they haven't given up on the excitement of waiting for a phonecall from hmv, and if the shop is actually still available. I can't remember which other shops were opening, it sounds like quite a few country-wide (presumably they're Fopp rather than MusicZone ones?) but I think hmv had said the only profitable London branch was the Cambridge Circus one, I don't know if they're cosidering reviving the TCR/Camden/Bayswater (any others?) instead.

Anyone know for sure if they have actually re-opened anywhere yet?

nothing happening in the Bristol one as far as i can tell from a walk by this morning.

Walked past Edinburgh Rose St on the weekend and note in window said reopening 22nd (yesterday) but I didn't go and check!

i went by rose street today and it was still closed.

all the stock in the shop had HMV stickers on it though. i mean the new-style HMV stickers that don't actually say HMV on them anywhere.

both glasgow branches still closed. my pal who works in the union st. branch had told me they would open on monday so it must be imminent.

checked a little closer - the one in bristol town has been totally cleared out. all stock gone. guess hmv didn't want this one (which makes sense as HMV is but a mere stones throw away !)

Yeah, Readingshop is also cleared out.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/43649-hmv-buys-seventh-fopp-store.html

HMV has bought another store from the adminstrators of collapsed retail chain Fopp. The Byres Road, Glasgow branch is the seventh store that HMV has taken over since Fopp went into administration in June. The others, which HMV expects to begin trading by the end of August, are Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London’s Covent Garden, Manchester and Nottingham.

A spokesman for HMV said that a final decision has not been made about who will head the Fopp book buying team and website, adding that one outcome could see HMV assuming responsibility itself.

London up in the air at the moment, obviously. Still haven't checked out TCR, Camden etc, although Camden seemed to still be in post-closure limbo with stock 8 days ago.

I walked past the Rose St Fopp yesterday and there was a sign in the window saying it'd open at 9am on Saturday.

It'll be rubbish when Foppwatch becomes "HMV still fucking sucks!"

So, basically, Fopp will become HMV's "can't sell these old cakes" clearing house?

That's fine, I've bought more good old cakes in HMV sales than in any other shop

"Let Them Sell Cakes!"

I wonder now that Fopp have been refused a lease by the landlords of the Cambridge Circus location [Covent Garden], will they try to buy another ex Fopp shop from the administrators such as the Camden store?

HMV Forced To Abandon Plans To Reopen Fopp London Store
http://www.gigwise.com/news/36378/hmv-forced-to-abandon-plans-to-reopen-fopp-london-store

However, representatives for HMV have now revealed that the London store will not now reopen due to the fact that the landlord of the building will not let them take on the lease.

that should be.. I wonder now that HMV...

I would be very surprised if HMV don't open a Fopp in London, as they would need a presence of the brand in the capital.

meanwhile somerfield have purchases 5 ex Fopp stores to be coverted into Somerfield stores presumably to compete against Tesco Express and Sainsbury's local

Somerfield buys five Fopp stores
http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=5907

So, basically, Fopp will become somerfield's "can't sell these old cakes" clearing house?

mmm, stale cakes.

the man who sells flowers outside the byres road fopp says its opening in two weeks time

I am excited about Somerfields. I shall go straight to the butcher's counter and demand 24 Hours of Throbbing Gristle.

the central glasgow fopp re-opened today - pretty much the same stock/prices as before, ho-hum

anyone know what will have happened to Edinburgh Cockburn Street's vinyl? sold off in lots at auction? pity. was always thinking that would be phased out with a big sale rather than the whole chain going under... optimistically looked in Rose Street just in case but of course, no dice.

It might still be there. You could tunnel in from the dungeon next door.

nah it's turned into (just this week) a 'fire sale' store for some horrific scottish clothing line.

the central glasgow fopp re-opened today - pretty much the same stock/prices as before, ho-hum

I thought they seemed to have more stuff in the back catalogue £5 or less sections - though maybe that's because supplies were running low before they closed and have since been replenished.

Might pick up the 25th Anniversary editions (with bonus material etc) of the Bunnymen albums when I get paid - £5 each. I think I spotted a couple of Japan albums I don't have on CD as well.

the latest:

HMV will not reopen Fopp in London
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/44220-hmv-will-not-reopen-fopp-in-london.html

Was in briefly today but didn't get much of a sense of what was going down. Shelves still pretty empty but boxes of stock seemed to be arriving. I bought the MIA album for 8.95 in HMV last week and it is £9 in Fopp!!

been to the cambridge one. may have changed up since it re-opened, but that point i'm pretty sure there was no store name anywhere except on the receipts (pre-printed?) which did say fopp. the price labels were the generic ones used by hmv. it was not particularly different from how it was tbh. sad the money now goes into an arms company but whaddayagonnado.

Yeah, I was there last friday.

It's sort of the same as Fopp was (in reading), there's plenty of stuff now at higher prices, a fair bit at the old "£3" (got the last Morrissey CD for that), and the £5 Nuggets CD is there.

I got the "Piper at the gates of Dawn" 3CD set, slightly cheaper at £16. Also appropriate for Cambridge.

i paid out for the 30th anniversary rereleases! prematurely aged though that may have been. so i dunno if the prospect of a stereo version is going to make me pay out again.

The mono one's the rare one tho, surely?!?!?!

huh. the cd i bought ten years ago was mono and came in a nice but totally pointless box. for one (1) cd, and some postcards.

the separately did a 6-track cd of the three syd singles.

i have never heard the stereo version.

the separately = they separately

I've never heard the mono version! That was the one all the Sydnuts wanted to hear for years! I've got the 6-track singles CD.

HMV have convinced landlords to let them re-open the Fopp Earlham Street store in London

http://www.recordoftheday.com/cgi-bin/content.cgi?page=weblog

Fopp to re-open Covent Garden store.

Fopp is delighted to announce that its former London store at 1 Earlham Street, Covent Garden is to re-open.
The 4,000 sq.ft. store will recommence trading over its three floors from this Saturday, 6th October 2007.

bump...Fopp is coming back