g7prs

iTrader: (5)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c4096aee-5...44feab49a.html

Get your Christmas vouchers spent.

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

thats been on the cards for a while, its a shame all these big chains going under.

Matteeboy

The entire country is about to go under.

Not many know how deep in the merde we are. Italy, Portugal, Spain, France; all much better off than us.

The welfare state wasn't affordable. Now it's sunk the country.

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

I used up all my Game reward points the week before it "went under" . I was in last week getting new battery for my xbox controller (a genuine Microsoft one was cheaper than own brand) and the guy asked if i had my reward card as they had started using them again.

Just wondered if all the "news" about these shops going bad actually makes things worse ? Is Game back in the black now ?

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

i think some of the game stores got rescued, the one in my town is still open, ironically its opposite hmv

jods

Let's stop handing over countless millions to freeloading Johnny Foreigner for a start.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

HMV are retards and I can't wait for them to go. Their online is cheaper then their stores.. What company is that stupid?

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

Is that not the idea of buying online ? Not as many overheads ?

I think they know whats happening in the highstreet and are pushing the online side of things.

ChrisB

Ethel Austin could go into administration for the 5th time in five years (Beeb). I know in business you sometimes take a punt on things working but I wonder what the current owners thought they could do they previous 4 hadn't?

jods

And there are companies like Starbucks / Amazon and others siphoning cash out of the UK with impugnity. Parasites.

If I had a blood sucking leech on my body, I'd get rid of it ASAP. UK PLC needs to do the same, PRONTO.

Mouser

The CEO of HMV resigned last August or there abouts and was replaced by the CEO of Jessops shortly after I believe

Their pricing structure was baffling and naive. Feel sorry for the staff.

jods

4,000 families in the UK about to switch from paying taxes to going onto the social.

Saxo Boy

No it's not, they brought in on themselves.

I went into Edinburgh city centre on Sunday at 5pm to do a bit of shopping. I hoped the time I picked would make life easier but It was still a nightmare to get my car anywhere near the city centre and it took me ages to get parked.

I don't want to sit with the drongos on a crap public transport system. It's a free market and I want to use my car. Either provide shops for me that can be accessed by me in my car or accept that I'll click buttons on the internet and you won't get my money.

Town Centres failed to adapt, now they pay the price. That's how the market, nature and life works.

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

I love hmv

jods

Perhaps we should demand payments from AP and Europe and USA to shore up our economy.

Ste RB5138

Not surprising, but thats the sign of the times in the digital age.
Glad I remember the days of saving up paper round money to go out on a Saturday to buy a tape/CD. Feel sorry for the 4500 staff.

jods

You can thank labour councils for starting all that charging for parking.
You can also thank them for their publicly expressed and publicly expensed social engineering experiments. They have all failed.

Previous labour ministers, however, are still making millions on the back of the UK population. Makes me puke.

Flaps

iTrader: (1)

The 'mega store' near us shut just before Christmas. The shopping centre one had quite a few good deals recently, this is probably why.
I'll miss HMV, it's one of the few shops I always popped into.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

HMV have been killed off by the greedy music industry.
£12-£14 for a CD? Rubbish.

They cost pennies to make and under £1 to package.

SOMEONE has been making a lot of profit. If it's not the sellers, who is it?

And why do they expect people to keep paying ridiculous prices for CDs when those of, say, classical composers can be had in a boxed set for £10 for 25 CDs?

Mouser

Bit harsh there. Not all HMV stores are situated in city centres.

SRSport

They have some very cheap items online, but non are in stock. In fact you cant reserve them at any stores either. Bait and switch or the start of the end with no more stock coming in?

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

TESCO . electric blanket in store £36 on line £29.95, thick ***** i took it back got a refund then went upstairs in store and ordered it online, collected it the same afternoon

Markus

Any idea if it is just the uk side if things? We have a few HMV stores over here and if they are going it might be worth me popping in to see if there are deals on blu rays

jef

iTrader: (13)

the economic situation is hardly one im well versed on, just a media education really,

but HMV doesnt really surprise me, it just kindof mimics others that have gone before it, although the HMV at my local super shopping centre wlways seemd busy, and had good deals and it was always a shop i visited whilst waiting on my wife buying/moaning about clothes.

i too saved my paper round money to go buy cd's there, t-shirts at christmas time.

thats alot of people just about to join the dole queue, really feel for them.

Saxo Boy

Many are but my argument extends beyond just the issue of parking and vehicular access to city centres. The problem is that retailers have failed to adapt to the changing market place.

Take Curries: About two years ago we bought a new caravan and I needed a 32" TV and a Dyson for it. We researched the models we wanted and went to our local Curries to see them in the flesh. The total price for both on Amazon was £550 and in Curries it was something like £675.

I asked the assistant some questions and he demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge - I answered them myself with my iphone and Google. We satisfied ourselves that we wanted both models and asked what deals the guy could do. I explained the price we could get online and said if he could even get close to that (maybe £575) we'd happily pay to have the goods today. He said he couldn't give us a penny off and offered to give us overpriced gold HDMI cables, etc which we didn't even need. We bought from Amazon and they beat their predicted delivery date....as usual.

Shops can never compete with online on price. What they should have realised is that many consumers are not solely price driven and that the art of selling should not have been allowed to die (I don't mean snake-oil salesmen, I mean demonstrating real product knowledge and enhancing the customers' life by adding value and satisfying their needs through careful questioning to identify them in the first place).

Retailers should have ensured that customers get a first class shopping experience which they simply cannot get online. They failed and they deserve to die. I hate shopping in the UK, the shops usually lack choice and range, are too small, overcrowded and often too hot (especially in summer). Staff are unpleasant and lack product knowledge or any real passion for what they do. At least the American retailers have a fighting chance. Their out of town malls have massive choice, are a constant and comfortable 22 degrees, are spacious and the staff are usually clued up, friendly and motivated (normally because they are commission based).

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

The problem with retailers are they underpay if they want to give the service you (and others) would like. They over stretch their staff because they can't or won't employ enough people, and don't invest any real time in those people, and the public wonder why staff give the bare minimum in certain stores. However, it really doesn't help that a significant amount of customers are rude at best to those they expect to help them, it is no wonder staff are disheartened or miserable, or lack passion as you say.

As for the heat, don't get me started on that. We have complaints year after year about that, but how do people think it is for us working in it all day? We not only pass on customer complaints, but also raise our own, only to have them dismissed by management.

I agree that retailers fail to adapt, and one big problem (imo) is that those higher up chose to totally ignore us little people when we feed back from customers, and our own opinions. We are the ones that deal directly with people, their positive and negative feedback, but largely we are ignored. The people at the top decide what direction they wish to go in, despite anything we pass on. If I was asked a couple of years back if I feel secure in my job, I would've said yes, now I fear for the future. I might not love what I do, but it's a full time job and brings in a wage I can't do without.

Mouser

Many valid points there. The last time I was in Currys, I wanted to buy a laptop cushion tray but the only ones they had were pink. I ordered one off Amazon in the colour I wanted and it was delivered in 2 days and was less than half the price including delivery. In the light of Amazon's tax avoidance it does make you feel a bit guilty though.

ScoobyJawa

Staff in places like Currys have been rubbish for years. Richer Sounds is much better, the staff know much more and seem to have sussed Online and Retail.

HMV in store were overpriced.

How many more Internet casualties to come......

Saxo Boy

Your experiences seem to reinforce my point. Those in charge are not making correct business decisions that filters down through the organisation. The fact that you feel your voice goes unheard (and you infer you are on the front line) demonstrates a fundamental failure in the business. That said, I have observed similar failure in most UK businesses of all sizes. To be honest, I find most business practice in this country to be pretty woeful.

However, I'll defend businesses [of all sizes] with this: there is, IMHO, one major challenge they face that many/most other countries do not - The Benefit State. Think about it, why would you work 40+ hours per week for ~£7ph customer facing in retailing when you sit in the house all day and claim jobseekers, disability, carers, housing and every other benefit going. Factor in some money in a brown envelope labour and you are probably as well off as the sucker dealing with sh*t all day in a town center shop.

Attracting staff must be difficult as the benefit system is more appealing to many and the pay/conditions are not appealing enough to those motivated and intelligent enough to work well. Anyone working for less than £10/hr [long term] in this Country is frankly a mug. You should either be on benefits or have a plan in place to improve your take home [FWIW, my 9-5 is currently <8/hr! but I do have a plan. If I wasn't so motivated there is no way I'd work for this money when I could play the system instead.]

Saxo Boy

Oh and if anyone doesn't believe that they are all at it just ask local businesses that rely on large numbers of low paid/low skill workers what recruitment is like. I bet nearly all of them will say its hard to hold onto staff and almost impossible to get people to work more than 16-hours in a week [even though they are available] as they will blow their benefits to shreds if they do [note: I have a sneaky feeling the 16h thing has changed within the last 3 months though?]