High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[tillyoshea]

HMV is holding a massive sale tomorrow after admitting it could breach it's banking covenant at the end of January.

Sad times.

http://news.sky.com/story/1036367/hmv-s ... k-deadline

I went in on Wednesday when considering buying a DVD boxset, and found the staff putting blue cross stickers on (almost) everything. I asked why, thinking that it must be some sort of discount. They told me they didn't know, and that all would be revealed on Friday. I asked if I should hold off until Friday to make my purchase - they said they probably would.

This was refreshingly honest, but surely can't have been good for full price sales? And I ended up just ordering on Amazon anyway, on the assumption that they'd probably undercut any HMV sale price.

[DVB Cornwall]

HMV board in session this evening. Expect news before 8am tomorrow.

ITV's Laura K reports Deloitte to be appointed administrators.

[WillPS]

It definitely is a pre-administration sale. Can you imagine how much effort would have to go in destickering that stock?

I noticed that for the first time Fopp was carrying the same in-store signage as HMV too - probably not a good sign (although they had a much more limited stock selection). Also notable - the discount hasn't been programmed in to the tills, it's being manually deducted by the cashier. The whole thing smacks of a last ditch attempt to force enough revenue to keep the wolf from the door, much like Game's "spring clear out" last year.

[James L H]

HMV poised for administration it's been announced.

[barcode]

Music and video chain HMV confirms it intends to go into administration and suspends shares

[iSon]

It has been a long time coming. A real shame though as HMV once was the place to go if you wanted anything audio visual. They did fail to innovate, but like many high street chains, they have just lost out to the convenience and aggressive pricing of the internet.

More worrying of course, as Laura Kuenssberg points out, is that with HMV, Jessops and Comet having gone under there's now around 12,000 newly unemployed people on the job market. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the private sector which is supposed to be providing tens of thousands of jobs from people already taken out of the public sector. Oh well.

[Alexia]

I hope the HMV logo and "His Master's Voice" logotype survives and is resurrected somehow. It's a fantastic, emotive piece of branding for those of us of a certain age. Personally I would like to see it brought back as a record label.

[cdd]

Damn. Should have spent my £10 voucher.

[WillPS]

Damn. Should have spent my £10 voucher.

You might get a few pence if you send it in to the administrator. Zavvi voucher holders (aside from those in the last 20 or so days who were 'safeguarded') got 25p for each pound owed: http://zavvi-info.co.uk/info-page43.html

I hope the HMV logo and "His Master's Voice" logotype survives and is resurrected somehow. It's a fantastic, emotive piece of branding for those of us of a certain age. Personally I would like to see it brought back as a record label.

What's that age then? 85?

You can always nip to Japan (and a few other parts of the world) where the device is/was used by Victor:

[Dr Lobster*]

i know a few commentators have suggested that there is value left in the 'hmv' brand and a lot of people have gone all nostalgic over it (like they did with woolworths) but i wonder if there is truly any value left in 'hmv'?

when most people think of 'hmv' they think "expensive" and "poor shopping/browsing experience". i haven't bought anything from them in years for the aforementioned reasons.

hmv has been a sack of shite for a long time.. despite racks full of stuff they never really seemed to have anything - that was the irony and some of the box sets were obscenely priced.

it is sad for the people who work for the chain and it is sad for high streets that are now fast becoming wastelands... our local town is shocking now. it always seems busy, i wonder what on earth people are buying i really do because there is sod all there.

[Sput]

I remember their online store undercut their in-store prices quite significantly. Naturally they weren't willing to match their own price because it was technically a separate company and Channel Islands tax and all that, but still, it was really quite annoying finding such a disparity.