The Closure of HMV

[Palademon]

Great, now can we get a popular DVD shop that doesn't RAISE THEIR PRICES OVER TIME?

I saw hope when they sensibly changing volumes on Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood from £35 down to around £10

But then they had this weird inflation idea, where things like Dragonball Z and Panty and Stocking would start at £24, then double in price later.

 

[rob_simple]

That's what happens when you operate an aggressive used goods policy and sideline everything else. Like all other companies who spent years extorting their customers because they held a stranglehold on supply and demand, they're feeling the bite from other retailers who are able and willing to charge fair prices for goods.

It's a shame for all the people that are going to lose their jobs because of the company's shitty business plan, but it's been in the post for a long, long time.

 

[Mullac]

Now how will I be able to listen to my Master's voice?

 

[Artina89]

what used goods ? HMV in the UK doesn't stock used goods that ive ever seen.

The HMVs in Leeds sell second hand games (they have "re-play" stickers on them). I will be quite sad to see HMV go if they end up closing all their stores as it is one of those iconic brands, but I haven't bought any CD'S from there for years, I would sometimes get my DVDs from there, but more often than not I would be put off by their prices. For example, I wanted a Doctor Who DVD, The Daemons and I found it at HMV for £16, I found it on Amazon for £7. They just couldn't compete with Amazon really. I do feel sorry for all those people that will be potentially losing their jobs.

 

[J Tyran]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/04/amazon-british-operation-corporation-tax
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/24/amazon-tax-loophole-ebooks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/15/vat-loophole-on-cds-closed

the 3rd link says the vat loophole was closed but i'm sure i read recently they shifted the operation to another island (possibly the isle of man) although i'm just having trouble pulling a more recent source out of google.

still the damage to the likes of HMV is gonna exposure to unfair advantage over time.

They are definitely charging VAT for movies, http://imgur.com/GhhBk

 

[Aarowbeatsdragon]

Yeah they probably are different. I was just referring to their prices on new release games though. Always seemed to be more expensive than the competition

wait what? here in Ireland they were always 20 euro cheeper than gamestop.
OT. I'm gonna miss this store, it was one of my favorites.

 

[Fractral]

Again, not surprising really. I went in occasionally, but they only ever had the mainstream, overpriced games there, and their music was pretty expensive too. When I say overpriced, i mean literally £10 more than Game, which was then £10 more than Amazon. I never actually bought anything from them.

 

[Launcelot111]

I buy local and used. In the ideal case, I should be buying my CDs for 33-50% of what HMV or FYE or whoever is selling their stuff for, plus I find they have a much better selection for older artists. This is not even mentioning Barnes and Noble somehow getting away with selling a not particularly new CD for $20

 

[Bobic]

Oh dear, I'll have to continue sitting in my pants, getting the media I want for half the price I'd see in HMV, from the likes of amazon and the like. The horror. . .

In all seriousness, the loss of even more jobs in our current recession isn't a good thing, but if a business is no longer relevant or competitive, then there's little choice for its future. I'm just waiting for us to get through this messy transition and enter the future where all our food is created by robots and matter replicators, where we reach post-scarcity on almost everything, where people no longer need jobs and instead waste their days on massively multiplayer holodeck games and virtual reality Farmville. . .

Get on it people.

 

[Gitty101]

I can't say I'm too surprised, HMV goods were always sold at highly extortionate prices. Seriously, I'm all for supporting the British high-street, but if they're marking up to the extent HMV did of course I'm going to look elsewhere.

I do feel bad for the people that worked there though, and those who don't/can't internet shop.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

It's difficult these days when you're trying to work out who to support.

HMV is always super expensive, or at least they are in my town, and they would be the last place I would buy DVDs, music or games because pretty much any other store would sell it cheaper. Failing that I would always fall back on Amazon or Tesco.

This presents a rather big divide in opinion. Some people would tell you not to shop at Amazon because they abuse the zero VAT benefits of Jersey while Tesco is a multimillion corporation that's killing high streets. But then again they're the ones selling products for cheap and I'm not exactly rich...

Moral dilemma indeed.

Frankly, I'm quite surprised that Blockbuster has survived as long as it has.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I don't really get why people are surprised HMV is closing, I went there a view years back to buy a copy of Dark Side of the Moon, HMV where asking for £24 (I wish I was kidding), while the same cd was on Amazon for £5 with free next day delivery, no bloody wonder they're in trouble now with that kind of pricing.

So really I don't feel sorry for them, well except for the people who will be out of a job obviously. The writing on the wall was there to see 10 years ago as digital downloads started growing and HMV did nothing but sit tight with its uncompetitive pricing and frankly limited selection of cds in store and though they would be comfortable as all their competitors in zaavi, virgin and music zone had gone the way of the Dodo. Well now they are joining them.

I was reading an opinion piece in a newspaper today going on about how sad it is that the go to place for music lovers of yore is tottering over the edge and how its our fault that HMV is gone because we chose the cheaper alternatives. You don't say, I'm sorry we consumers didn't stick with the over priced monopoly out of nostalgia and instead got our money's worth elsewhere. I still love cd's and still buy many of them (considering Amazon seems to have a habit of charging lower for the physical album than the download I'd feel stupid not doing so), but I have never bought them at HMV unless I had to. In the past I went to Music Zone as they had better prices and more offers on, and when they unfortunately when they closed leaving only really HMV, I did as what many others did and moved to the likes of Amazon.

Hopefully HMV will go down as a message to other high street retailers, move with the times or die out.

 

[TimeLord]

There was an article in a newspaper today about HMV and how we should "support our high street" by not shopping on the internet. My response to that article was; No.

The internet is cheaper for base prices the majority of the time. Delivery prices usually don't influence my decision unless they are ridiculous and in the form of certain sites who don't even charge for P&P for anything (play.com), that gives me no reason to spend petrol or bus money to journey to my nearest city to buy more expensive items for an extra cost.

High street stores have dug their own grave by not being competitive or even attempting to keep up with the internet in terms of pricing, sales and everything else. I'm not saying I'm happy with HMV closing. But I have no sympathy either.

 

[Suicidal Zebra]

Pretty much what Sleekit said: the UK High Street is screwed by the ability of online retailers to take advantage of tax loopholes which massively reduce the price they need to sell at to turn a profit. Coupled with the advantages of not having to run brick-and-mortar stores and it was only a matter of time before HMV were going the way of Woolworths.

For all the talk of a rescue - that the publishers 'need' HMV and other large chains - I'm not convinced. Propping up uncompetitive businesses is the last thing they want to do, or indeed be seen to be doing. Far more likely they'll move forward with a plan to sell digital content direct, skipping the middle-man.

 

[Pink Gregory]

http://www.artrocker.tv/features/article/view-from-a-record-store-is-hmv-really-a-loss

This might be of some interest.

 

[redisforever]

It's their own damn fault for being so uncompetitive in terms of pricing. What did they seriously expect would happen?

You kidding me? HMV often put on sales where good, new albums were going for five bucks a piece.

Maybe Canadian HMV is different than Aussie HMV.

Probably. At Canadian HMV, DVD Collections usually cost around 3x as much as stores that aren't as far from my house, and have a much bigger selection.

 

[agent_orange420]

lost interest when HMV stopped selling records. there collection was always a bit on the naff side, but the decks were always heavily queued up. and that was around 2005 they stopped selling defunct tech.

Their games display has been a puzzler of recent. Their second hand for one. MOH warfight was more expensive second hand than brand new. Didn't quite undrstand it. I would have taken a picture, might on friday.

Only bought two presents for Christmas this year from HMV. and both of those were in the sale. Blockbusters hasnt really recovered since DVD;s came out and the little video shops started selling of their videos for pennies. Then came online and hammered them even more. Now the supermarkets can afford to sell the main titles for lesswhen freshly released. Sad, butthe best Blockbusters arn't found on the high street in the UK, their are the big out of town stores. The small in town branches are rubbish.

 

[Limie]

It is a real shame that HMV is going. I prefer buying physical copies of films and games and am willing to pay more to buy something from a shop than online. Mostly because the consumer laws concerning returning online merchandise are iffy at best in the uk.
However HMV's pricing was at times extortionate and unfortunately I could not afford it. In addition sometimes it was just plain strange. At one point I managed to find the complete boxset of all of the seasons of a television series I liked for £27, but if you looked on the shelf beside it, each individual season was priced at £30. Why would anyone buy the individual series? That and having 5 year old games sold at 1 to 2 times their release day prices, meant that I have not bought anything from there in a long while.
I it a real shame that yet more jobs are going to be lost as it is really hard to get a job at the moment and the customer service was always brilliant at my local HMV.
I am worried about waterstones now. It is the only bookshop for at least 30 miles and they have the similar pricing tactics. I feel it will be a horrible thing to have bookstores completely disappear.

 

[Kinitawowi]

High street stores have dug their own grave by not being competitive or even attempting to keep up with the internet in terms of pricing, sales and everything else.

Newsflash: they can't.

HMV consists of the astronomical land rental on about 230 stores, 4,500 staff who all need to be paid and trained and covered for holidays, business rates and tax, and sundry overheads like lighting.

Amazon consists of a warehouse on an island somewhere.

There is literally no way for a high street store to compete with an online one except through additional customer support and services (the entire point of PC World's KnowHow concept), or through selling a product that simply doesn't work online (people still want to try on clothes before they buy them, although if 3D rendering gets viable and things get cheap enough even that might change in due course). If you don't have those, the pricing differences are literally unsurmountable; and in this day and age, those differences are more important than ever.

 

[MetalDooley]

wait what? here in Ireland they were always 20 euro cheeper than gamestop.
OT. I'm gonna miss this store, it was one of my favorites.

I always found them to be reasonable too.I'd often stroll into my local HMV and pick up a game for half the price other stores were charging

With Game gone and HMV up shit creek we're quickly running out of choices