Comet, HMV, Blockbuster. Do we care?

I got a membership card at Blockbuster earlier last year for the first time, but only ever used it once, probably the case for a lot of people who can easily find the films on TV with a lot less hassle.

At least H.M.V. have at least decided to do the honourable thing, and honour the Gift Vouchers folks had given to them at Christmas.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

We had a ‘Pound’ shop in Bury St Edmunds.

Then a ’99p’ shop opened, and shortly after the ‘Pound’ shop closed.

It made me laugh anyway.

Moggy

There was a humorous programme on BBC 1 not too long ago about the wars between those two.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nts9x

ThreeSpool – I know exactly what you mean. Fortunately we have a high street which still has a good mix of shops and, apart from the occasional moronic buggy-pushing-phone-jammed-to-ear mothers, it all works quite well. Supermarkets I loathe – in and out as quickly as possible and in the early morning!!

If your pub hasn’t gone the way of many others, ThreeSpool!

Call me anti-social, but I hate going out to the “High Street”, or even the “Shopping Centre”. It is a miserable experience for me. I even try not to go to the supermarket. I hate the abundance of young mums, sully-faced teenager and old people that have nothing better to do than block the way through in large groups. I hate people not watching where they are going, I hate – it seems – everyone having to be doing something with their phone every dying second. In fact, as they talk so loudly into their little smartphones, it just serves to reinforce my opinion that they have nothing of any interest to say in the first place. And, getting parked can be a pain at best. Just getting into the car park, you have to go round cars stopping to let off painfully lazy people that can’t walk an extra 100m and that’s before getting a space that someone casually drives in as you were.

No, bring on the internet. I can buy what I want, when I want, and completely dodge a large part of society I have no interest in.

In fact, the only social experience I want is down the pub with friends that are actually interesting.

Working at ASDA in the Music and Video Dept. over Christmas, it doesn’t suprise me that HMV are suffering, the CDs we were selling were usually less than £10 and 3 for £20 and that was for newly released CDs

Still, HMV is somewhere I still go to often and often buy CDs so i’d like to see them still be there in the future.

I am not sure that that was the case., or at least a part of it. The group was simply unable to service its massive debts of around £400 million and was forced into administration. It had been over-trading for years and the recession finally did for it. Many of its stores were bought by Poundland and the Co-op and others but many remain empty to this day. Woolworths On-line started trading the same year the group closed.

Nothing is forever. I grew up thinking Woolworths were always going to be there.

Which big name is going to be next I wonder ?

W H Smith never seem to be that busy, on the odd occasion I’ve been into one of their shops.

I was chatting with somebody about a month after Woolworths disappeared and they said the main reason why they went bankrupt is that they didn’t actually own any of their shops. He said they were all rented (leased whatever) and so when they needed to raise money to pay increasing bills the best they could do was reduce outgoing cash rather than increase incoming cash.

:D….probably the same owners!!;)

We had a ‘Pound’ shop in Bury St Edmunds.

Then a ’99p’ shop opened, and shortly after the ‘Pound’ shop closed.

It made me laugh anyway.

Moggy

Every day, I get emails from Debenhams stating they have, 10% off until, such and such a date, next day it’s 20% off, last week it was 50% off.
I think they are struggling a bit, even though the one we, (Wife) goes into seems to have plenty of women looking, or window shopping.

I must admit to online shopping, far better to compare prices, and you don’t freeze walking around from shop to shop, all done from the comfort of your own home.Plus you save on petrol/diesel, if travelling to another town City to shop.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

Not too sure how long the ” Edinburgh Woolen Mill ” or “Lake land Plastics /Cooking ” can last ?? But !! I dont see any Pound Shops closing just yet !!

Perhaps you know different but I thought Lakelands huge mail order business was very profitable. And I don’t think any of Philip Green’s businesses are threatened following his last announcement on increased profits.

HMV…do we care?!

Errr, yes in some way I do care about HMV, but not from a business perspective…I’ve spent many an afternoon just browsing the shelves in HMV…it certainly helps to kill a few hours when your stuck with nothing to do. However, as it has already been said, I often found them too expensive and their customer service standards did seem to change for the worse. And as soon as I had found something I wanted, I made a mental note of the price, and then went home and bought it online via a cheaper retailer or just downloaded it via iTunes.

As for other shops that could be under threat…how about Waterstones; very similar in a way to HMV, has it adapated its business model enough to cope with the digital revolution…? I thought they were in trouble a while back after they bought-out Books etc. but maybe they somehow survived the first blow, I wonder when the KO punch will come?

And another few…BHS/Debenhams?

Might surprise some on here that I mention these two, however I find them both selling the same kind of things, all of which you can now tend to buy in the bigger supermarket outlets, and often at much cheaper prices.

It’s not just the big chains which are suffering. We have lots of empty shops in
my nearest High Street in Rayleigh. Now and again I see a new shop opening up, and instinctively know, they aren’t going to last long. Those selling baby clothes are a prime example, few lasting more than a year. Possibly as they only take out a 12 month lease. A shop opened last year, selling computer bits and pieces, that has now gone, replaced by a chap selling second hand phones and accessories. I don’t expect him to be there for very long.

We have lots of places to eat and drink, charity shops, shops selling cheap clothes, banks , building societies, and a couple of discount shops. It seems to be the norm for most towns now.

It’s not often I relish from the thought of a shop closing down. But walking down my highstreet today, I saw my local poundland had a closing down sale (it had only been there for about 6 months). ‘Yes, Kingston’s moving up in the world’ I thought :diablo:

I remember when UK had an Aircraft & Car Industry ….nobody misses them .

I do…
I used to work at an aircraft manufacturing facility at a very pretty airfield…seems a very strange comment to me???A country which does not manufacture either heavy industry and or high tech goods is going to struggle !!
I hate to think what our balance of payments is these days (remember that ?)

Not too sure how long the ” Edinburgh Woolen Mill ” or “Lake land Plastics /Cooking ” can last ?? But !! I dont see any Pound Shops closing just yet !!

Which big name is going to be next I wonder ?

Dennis predicts Body Shop – the local one is so deserted it has tumbleweed blowing thru’ it. Every major competitor now has its own ‘ethnic/ethical’ range and Body Shop has lost its USP.

Watch my lips …I said Aircraft …..not Aeropace !!!

& no we do not have a BRITISH car Industry …apart from R & D …we make cars for foreign companies for domestic use & export …

That’s splitting hairs. I suppose during the peak years you would have deleted Ford and General Motors from the list…..the fact is that nearly a million British workers manufacture £ 80 billion worth of products in those industries.