High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[Martin Phillp]

HMV.com appears to have closed their online store within the past few days, with the site seemingly now a music news site.

HMV's physical media shop closed when the business went into administration. HMV Ireland have re-opened their online shop, while the UK is concentrating on downloads for now.

I had a look round that HMV Oxford St store last week. It felt like once upon a time it was probably a pretty exciting shop. I'm guessing they used to have an in house radio station because there was an old studio behind some Olly Murs calendars. Also in the basement not only was there the remains of a classical room but also a jazz room which I've never seen before. Do many HMVs still have a classical section? They had a big but desperately old LED (or whatever) screen which was trying to display the fugly generic clearance signs on it above what looked like a possible performance space. I bet in the 90s this was the place to be.

There was a Radio HMV based on the on the ground floor next to the stage area which was used for signings.

HMV did invest in a sound-proof Classical section in the basement. The basement section also included a vast World Music section, I've never seen so many Welsh and Scottish traditional albums in any store before.

In the 90s, it was a great place to visit, although I felt Virgin Megastore, which is now Primark on the corner of Tottenham Court Road had the edge over HMV. However as I visited last week, just before it closed on Sunday it was looking very tired, the air conditioning was hardly working, the lifts were creaking and overall needs some TLC which I'm sure Sports Direct will invest in the upkeep of the building, which was previously a Woolworths and a theatre.

[thegeek]

Not suggesting they are necessarily in any sort of trouble, but I was in TK Maxx the other day and they seemed to be carrying significantly less stock than usual. Everything seemed to have been moved around as though they were trying to disguise said less stock (like HMV have done).

Could they just have been preparing for a stocktake? It's easier to count what you've got if you've not got as much of it...


I went to the cinema at the Trocadero last week - that place is a depressing shadow of its former self, though their website still makes it out as an exciting place to be. A lot of the escalators have been removed, so the central atrium area is just kind of just a void. The HMV there has closed too. Was that one a former Virgin Megastore?
The building itself has been due to be turned into a 'pod hotel' for ages now, though there wasn't any obvious sign of work starting on it.

[Critique]

I went to the cinema at the Trocadero last week - that place is a depressing shadow of its former self, though their website still makes it out as an exciting place to be. A lot of the escalators have been removed, so the central atrium area is just kind of just a void.

The Cineworld here in Ipswich has recently gained an empty atrium area, after they finally removed the ticket desks after around a year of being to buy them at the snack kiosks (they were barely ever in use when they started selling them from the snack kiosks, and went back to the days as a UGC). They've put some new flooring down, repainted it, and a put some self-service machines in the place of the old ticket desks. These machines are tiny and as there is no longer a winding queue, the space across the lobby is vast and looks very odd. However, they have stuck a Starbucks in upstairs where the old Cineworld cafe (which was never open) was, and that's a vast improvement, so a mixed bag!

[Martin Phillp]

The HMV there has closed too. Was that one a former Virgin Megastore?

No, HMV had a smaller site which is now a tourist gift shop facing Coventry St at the Trocodero. Virgin was originally Tower Records at 1 Piccadilly Circus.

[thegeek]

The Cineworld here in Ipswich has recently gained an empty atrium area

Ah, I was referring to the Trocadero Centre's massive empty atrium - the Cineworld within is a bit more sensibly sized.
I used to live opposite a Showcase (latterally Vue) cinema whose entrance area was large enough to accommodate a herd of elephants. They also had a burglar alarm that kept going off in the middle of the night - I think I moved before they eventually fixed it, but I did get a steady stream of free tickets whenever I went to complain.

The HMV there has closed too. Was that one a former Virgin Megastore?

No, HMV had a smaller site which is now a tourist gift shop facing Coventry St at the Trocodero. Virgin was originally Tower Records at 1 Piccadilly Circus.

Ah yes, that's what I'm confusing it with - the one which had an entrance straight from the underground ticket hall?

[manxy]

Well, someone didn't see Morrisons' recent sales figures then. They've been losing ground on the other supermarkets due to their website not having an online store... so which idiot at HMV thought getting rid of theirs was a good idea? I think this is a sign of trouble. They also tried to fob off my Mum recently by saying that season 16 of The Simpsons (which came out last month) wasn't even scheduled to be released any time soon and that season 15 (which came out in December 2012) had only just been released. I bet they couldn't get any new releases from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The old hmv.com was making about a £3million pound loss a year, this might be down to the fact it wasn't the best run site in the world. But I'd say a large proportion was down to the fact they were buying in chart DVDs and CDs for about £8 - £9 and selling them on at £9.99 (with free delivery). After VAT, the cost of shipping and a whole range of other costs, you end up making quite a loss. That's why Amazon have removed their free-delivery on stuff under a tenner and play.com have shut their delivery business down. Times have changed since hmv went into administration, new deals with suppliers have meant massive margin increases and the Christmas period went really well. They have also managed to post a slight year on year increase in CD sales, which in a market that's declining by 10% is pretty good going.

Clearly someone in the shop was just confused, because season 16 of the Simpsons was in stock in my local hmv, as well as all of Fox's big new release titles...

[JAS84]

Strange. Because I've checked since, and my local HMV definitely doesn't have that season 16 boxset. I'd normally have just assumed it was sold out, but if staff think it doesn't exist, they probably never had it in the first place.

[WillPS]

Well, someone didn't see Morrisons' recent sales figures then. They've been losing ground on the other supermarkets due to their website not having an online store... so which idiot at HMV thought getting rid of theirs was a good idea? I think this is a sign of trouble. They also tried to fob off my Mum recently by saying that season 16 of The Simpsons (which came out last month) wasn't even scheduled to be released any time soon and that season 15 (which came out in December 2012) had only just been released. I bet they couldn't get any new releases from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The old hmv.com was making about a £3million pound loss a year, this might be down to the fact it wasn't the best run site in the world. But I'd say a large proportion was down to the fact they were buying in chart DVDs and CDs for about £8 - £9 and selling them on at £9.99 (with free delivery). After VAT, the cost of shipping and a whole range of other costs, you end up making quite a loss. That's why Amazon have removed their free-delivery on stuff under a tenner and play.com have shut their delivery business down. Times have changed since hmv went into administration, new deals with suppliers have meant massive margin increases and the Christmas period went really well. They have also managed to post a slight year on year increase in CD sales, which in a market that's declining by 10% is pretty good going.

Clearly someone in the shop was just confused, because season 16 of the Simpsons was in stock in my local hmv, as well as all of Fox's big new release titles...

They didn't pay VAT for the vast majority of their time in existence (on stuff under a certain amount - £20 or thereabouts); just postage. That's also why Rakuten Play.com stopped bothering; their entire reason for being was based on the VAT loophole. Amazon are clearly trying to push their Prime product. The Royal Mail price of a second class large letter stamp is 69p. I'm sure Amazon et. al. pay much less per item.

It doesn't surprise me that the luddites still purchasing digital music on a physical medium are still doing it at HMV.

[Whataday]

Not suggesting they are necessarily in any sort of trouble, but I was in TK Maxx the other day and they seemed to be carrying significantly less stock than usual. Everything seemed to have been moved around as though they were trying to disguise said less stock (like HMV have done).

It could just be that they have ditched a load of stock (they must carry some for ages given how out of date some of it looks). Can't say the shop has ever appealed to me to be honest, seems to be a mixture of a load of tat hiding more expensive stuff.

TK Maxx is part of the US giant TJ Maxx so I doubt they'll be going anywhere.

[cdd]

I went to the cinema at the Trocadero last week - that place is a depressing shadow of its former self, though their website still makes it out as an exciting place to be. A lot of the escalators have been removed, so the central atrium area is just kind of just a void. The HMV there has closed too. Was that one a former Virgin Megastore?

It has been going downhill ever since SegaWorld was removed and now has, among other things, random holes in the walls and tacky tourist shops (or at least it did six months ago when I visited).

I imagine Cineworld are feeling a bit left behind there now.

The HMV Cornmarket closure is more worrying though. I imagine it had a temporary boost after the Virgin Megastores/Zavvi opposite closed, which strung it along for a few more years.

[WillPS]

Not suggesting they are necessarily in any sort of trouble, but I was in TK Maxx the other day and they seemed to be carrying significantly less stock than usual. Everything seemed to have been moved around as though they were trying to disguise said less stock (like HMV have done).

It could just be that they have ditched a load of stock (they must carry some for ages given how out of date some of it looks). Can't say the shop has ever appealed to me to be honest, seems to be a mixture of a load of tat hiding more expensive stuff.

TK Maxx is part of the US giant TJ Maxx so I doubt they'll be going anywhere.

By that logic Borders and Best Buy should have been safe and sound - not that I reckon TKMaxx is at risk at this stage.

... the luddites still purchasing digital music on a physical medium ...

Care to explain the link between physical media and Ludditism?

No.