High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[bilky asko]

Game seems to be CeX minus the B.O. these days - I'm not sure how well that does for them though?

[dosxuk]

I can't see WH Smith going completely. A retreat to the travel stores and abandoning the high street, on the other hand, I'd class as almost likely, even if that is a spin off as the result of going towards administration.

[Martin Phillp]

I'm going to ignore HMV - i can't imagine there is really a viable business left, or worth investing in now - that said, i think what is a surprise to most people is that it limped on as long as it did.... i haven't purchased anything from them in years, and the last time i walked in they were selling quite a bit of maplin style tat (shite bluetooth speakers, etc)

I think headphones and vinyl, now a premium product helped to keep it afloat for a while, but as Hilco said today, they had a 30% drop in DVD sales which didn't help at all. Price was another factor again, HMV have been selling vinyl albums as much as £28. Sainsbury's who also jumped on the vinyl market have been selling them for less than £20.

HMV's issue now is that when they returned, they didn't invest nearly as much in digital as they did in propping up their physical sales. HMV should have been at the top of the market for VOD, instead Amazon have capitalised on that by integrating their subscription model with purchases of new music and video.

WHSmith Retail won't go, despite being absolutely dire due to their contracts with Post Office Ltd in running post office franchises which maintain footfall. Debenhams is a good shot, although I suspect a M.Ashley will merge it with House of Fraser.

[Martin Phillp]

WHSmith Retail won't go, despite being absolutely dire due to their contracts with Post Office Ltd in running post office franchises which maintain footfall.

Footfall is one thing, but without conversion it's meaningless - there are half a dozen Post Offices within phantom stores around here, including this high street Co-op/Post Office. When the Co-op closed the branch last year, the green signage came down, but the Post Office stayed operating at the back of a completely empty shop.

That happened to my local sub-post office for over a year. The post office was at the back of the store with only the PO ATM for company.

My nearest WHSmith has the Post Office on the upper floor, so you have to pass through the crap...er merchandise to get to the counters. It's also next door to a busy suburban railway station in London.

[JAS84]

HMV on the brink of administration

https://news.sky.com/story/2200-jobs-at ... n-11593091

On the brink? It's official now.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46699290

[Whataday]

The main Post Office branches in Cardiff & Bristol are closing to move into their WHSmith counterparts.

[Alexia]

The main Post Office branches in Cardiff & Bristol are closing to move into their WHSmith counterparts.

Oh god. Cardiff post office is hideous, tucked into the corner of the Queens Arcade, which is the poor relation of St Davids, bolted on like a parasitic siamese twin. Went in for some Euros before a trip to Ireland. Never again.

[james2001]

I'm wondering how shit Amazon will get now, with their main non-online competition gone. With most internet DVD stores disapearing, like sendit and play.com, Amazon stopped being as competitive as they were, their free delivery service has got shitter and slower (often stuck at "waiting for dispatch" for 2 or 3 days, then another 2 or 3 days after dispatch till it turns up, often via Yodel or Hermes who leave it out in the rain or throw it over the fence if you're not in. Until 2 or 3 years ago free delivery stuff still often turned up the following day, or the day after) and they put in the mimimum £20 limit, otherwise you have to pay the £2.99 delivery which makes it completely not worth buying from them.

I've found it's often been better just to go to HMV- often the same price, sometimes cheaper, having what you want there and then rather than waiting several days for delivery and having to top up the basket with other stuff to get the total over £20 (or paying the delivery charge). I can see Amazon getting even worse with pricing and delivery (unless you fork out for prime) now they've got even less competition.

[thegeek]

I'm wondering how shit Amazon will get now, with their main non-online competition gone. With most internet DVD stores disapearing, like sendit and play.com, Amazon stopped being as competitive as they were, their free delivery service has got shitter and slower (often stuck at "waiting for dispatch" for 2 or 3 days, then another 2 or 3 days after dispatch till it turns up, often via Yodel or Hermes who leave it out in the rain or throw it over the fence if you're not in. Until 2 or 3 years ago free delivery stuff still often turned up the following day, or the day after) and they put in the mimimum £20 limit, otherwise you have to pay the £2.99 delivery which makes it completely not worth buying from them.

While the plural of anecdote is not data, I ordered some stuff from Amazon on Thursday afternoon and free super-saver delivery got it to me in under 24 hours.

[thegeek]

WHSmith Retail won't go, despite being absolutely dire due to their contracts with Post Office Ltd in running post office franchises which maintain footfall.

Footfall is one thing, but without conversion it's meaningless - there are half a dozen Post Offices within phantom stores around here, including this high street Co-op/Post Office. When the Co-op closed the branch last year, the green signage came down, but the Post Office stayed operating at the back of a completely empty shop.

That stretch of road has a great selection of changing fascias captured on Street View. 10 years ago, the Co-op was a Woolies, Santander was an Abbey, and Caffe Nero was a Halfords Metro.

[WillPS]

I'm wondering how shit Amazon will get now, with their main non-online competition gone. With most internet DVD stores disapearing, like sendit and play.com, Amazon stopped being as competitive as they were, their free delivery service has got shitter and slower (often stuck at "waiting for dispatch" for 2 or 3 days, then another 2 or 3 days after dispatch till it turns up, often via Yodel or Hermes who leave it out in the rain or throw it over the fence if you're not in. Until 2 or 3 years ago free delivery stuff still often turned up the following day, or the day after) and they put in the mimimum £20 limit, otherwise you have to pay the £2.99 delivery which makes it completely not worth buying from them.

I've found it's often been better just to go to HMV- often the same price, sometimes cheaper, having what you want there and then rather than waiting several days for delivery and having to top up the basket with other stuff to get the total over £20 (or paying the delivery charge). I can see Amazon getting even worse with pricing and delivery (unless you fork out for prime) now they've got even less competition.

I don't think the market is quite that dead. For starters, most stuff is available on ebay within a few pence of the Amazon price for starters, and as long as you go with one of the business sellers you will almost definitely get next day dispatch and delivery 1 or 2 days later on an RM 24 or 48 label. If I didn't have Prime, I expect that would be my first port of call instinctively.

There's also zoom.co.uk - which appears to be an operation jointly run by Universal and Sony. Their prices are very keen indeed.

Amazon has moved on a huge amount from their early days of low priced physical media products, I expect home entertainment is now of a similar level of importance to them as to the main supermarkets.

I won't miss HMV. I've always found their stores a rather poor experience, particularly back in the days when they had competition. I hadn't been in for years but nipped in a week back because I was instructed to pick up a cheap Home Alone box set. Indeed, they were stacked up all over the shop with the very reasonable price of £4.99. I noticed in the queue beneath that huge text lay the caveat "with any other purchase". I could have probably asked for a 5p bag and probably argued the toss over it but add to that the 8 person queue in front of me served by 2 members of staff - it genuinely just seemed simpler at that point to leave and never return.

Hilco were never in it for the long term, clearly. They are pretty open that their modus opearandi is to extract money from businesses on their way down. They've been able to milk HMV longer than usual because the vinyl craze kept them alive, but even if that endures it is never going to be a big enough market to prop up a high street chain.