The business model being buying and selling stock? That's what retail is, unless you mean all shops should just become places full of terminals hooked up to their website?all new Phil wrote:They used to be really good, but they got a bit took over by the G Star Raw stuff, which just doesn't interest me at all and so put me off going in - I used to spend a fortune there.
There seems to be something that all these retailers that are going bust have in common. They all hold far too much stock. HMV is the most obvious one - I was in a huge one of their stores today, which was absolutely packed with piles and racks of DVDs, CDs and BluRays, yet only one of their 15 or so tills was manned (and there was nobody at it buying anything the whole time I was there). Republic seem to have a lot more ranges than they did before. Jessops' stock is obviously very high value stuff, Comet the same. The whole business model doesn't seem to be working.
High Street chain collapse sweepstake
Ah but there is buying and selling stock and there is hoarding and not selling stock. HMV seemed to be an expert at the latter. Even as a back catalogue specialist was there really a need to have 10 copies of some obscure CD in every store when perhaps 2 would suffice?
Also certain stores have a habit of buying endless amounts of shit nobody wants. This visit to HMV in 2010 sums up that issue nicely http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/lets ... hmv/51447/
Also certain stores have a habit of buying endless amounts of shit nobody wants. This visit to HMV in 2010 sums up that issue nicely http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/lets ... hmv/51447/
"He has to be larger than bacon"
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all new Phil
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That's blatently not what I was implying.WillPS wrote:The business model being buying and selling stock? That's what retail is, unless you mean all shops should just become places full of terminals hooked up to their website?all new Phil wrote:They used to be really good, but they got a bit took over by the G Star Raw stuff, which just doesn't interest me at all and so put me off going in - I used to spend a fortune there.
There seems to be something that all these retailers that are going bust have in common. They all hold far too much stock. HMV is the most obvious one - I was in a huge one of their stores today, which was absolutely packed with piles and racks of DVDs, CDs and BluRays, yet only one of their 15 or so tills was manned (and there was nobody at it buying anything the whole time I was there). Republic seem to have a lot more ranges than they did before. Jessops' stock is obviously very high value stuff, Comet the same. The whole business model doesn't seem to be working.
*cough* previous pagebarcode wrote:So who had Clothing chain Republic ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21442301
"He has to be larger than bacon"
I'm surprised Republic is in administration, actually. Seems quite popular around here. I expect they'll find a buyer for it, and close a bunch of stores.
Our high street is surprisingly recession-free (well almost). When Clinton Cards went, the store closed for about a month, and then reopened with the new logo in a smaller store practically opposite the old one. Then after GAME went into administration they kept both of the stores here, turning the Gamestation into a GAME, and HMV has kept the store here open.
Our high street is surprisingly recession-free (well almost). When Clinton Cards went, the store closed for about a month, and then reopened with the new logo in a smaller store practically opposite the old one. Then after GAME went into administration they kept both of the stores here, turning the Gamestation into a GAME, and HMV has kept the store here open.
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Square Eyes
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This would explain why the owner sold of 4% of his shares early in the week to raise £100m,
The 'rumoured list of closures' list of HMV stores was inaccurate - Torquay's getting the axe (which actually surprised me, as it's not too huge a shop so couldn't have been that expensive in rent, was always busy, and had no real competition in the town).
I have to question the way in which these stores are being wound down, if Torquay is anything to go by. Surely the purpose is to clear as much of the stock as possible first, but they're not set up for that at all. In that store they've closed the upstairs floor and started dismantling gondalas, and the displaced stock from this dismantling is literally being dumped wherever it will fit - nothing is sorted into any kind of order, it's all mixed up. I did pop in to see if there was anything worth picking up but it's a pointless activity when there is no ranging at all left - I'd have to spend hours in there auditing their stock just to find out what they have to see if I want to buy anything and basically just did a lap of the store and left - as did everyone else I saw in there.
Granted, if the store is being run entirely by people who are very shortly to be made redundant then I doubt they give a fuck (in fact they probably have an active wish to make as little money for the company as possible) and who can blame them, but you'd think in the closing stores they'd put in some staff members from an (at the moment) safe store to take charge of the situation and make sure they get as much out of the stock before they go wouldn't you?
I have to question the way in which these stores are being wound down, if Torquay is anything to go by. Surely the purpose is to clear as much of the stock as possible first, but they're not set up for that at all. In that store they've closed the upstairs floor and started dismantling gondalas, and the displaced stock from this dismantling is literally being dumped wherever it will fit - nothing is sorted into any kind of order, it's all mixed up. I did pop in to see if there was anything worth picking up but it's a pointless activity when there is no ranging at all left - I'd have to spend hours in there auditing their stock just to find out what they have to see if I want to buy anything and basically just did a lap of the store and left - as did everyone else I saw in there.
Granted, if the store is being run entirely by people who are very shortly to be made redundant then I doubt they give a fuck (in fact they probably have an active wish to make as little money for the company as possible) and who can blame them, but you'd think in the closing stores they'd put in some staff members from an (at the moment) safe store to take charge of the situation and make sure they get as much out of the stock before they go wouldn't you?
The stock is transferable. There's no point attempting to sell it on a piecemeal basis at stupidly low prices when it could be:
a) transferred to other stores within the shrunken chain (stock is very thin on the ground now)
b) in the event of the retail chain collapsing, sold back to suppliers or clearance outlets like That's Entertainment
a) transferred to other stores within the shrunken chain (stock is very thin on the ground now)
b) in the event of the retail chain collapsing, sold back to suppliers or clearance outlets like That's Entertainment
Indeed, but working on this premise raises a number of issues:WillPS wrote:The stock is transferable. There's no point attempting to sell it on a piecemeal basis at stupidly low prices when it could be:
a) transferred to other stores within the shrunken chain (stock is very thin on the ground now)
b) in the event of the retail chain collapsing, sold back to suppliers or clearance outlets like That's Entertainment
A) If the store's sales drop whilst it is still open due to poor merchandising, then it becomes an even greater financial burden on the company.
B) There are logistical issues and financial cost involved in transferring stock. Whilst I agree that there is no point selling stuff at a loss when other stores could sell it at a profit, by the same token the best thing for the business is for the closing store to sell through as much as it can before closure to minimise the amount that has to be moved. The process of sending stock back is made even worse when I don't believe even the store staff know where anything is any more - a stock take in the Torquay store I visited yesterday would be a nightmare and when the store closes this could well involve paying staff for additional days to locate and box up all the remaining stock which wouldn't be necessary if it's was still properly presented and being sold.
C) I'm sure it will be crossing the minds of a number of staff facing redundancy that no one would notice if a few 'souvenirs' walk out the store. With no proper ranging in place there will be no obvious gaps on the shelves to highlight this.
Yesterday when I visited the store I may have been bargain-hunting, but I still would gladly have paid full price if something caught my eye that I wanted. Instead this store was an unnavigable mess and it was a waste of my time visiting it. When there were probably the most people I've seen in there since Christmas but not a single person waiting at the tills that says quite a lot about the management of the shutdown process.