[Johnny 1989]

HMV going into administration, I knew it was coming but was hoping they had a few more years left yet, I absolutely love shopping in their Oxford Street store, and spend ages going through to see what new releases there are & through the back catalogues of artists.

Yes I know the argument is "buy online" well I have done & I have to say after a few years of using it I hate it, items online aren't really that much cheaper now as the tax loophole closed by our lovely Chancellor has meant they've all gone up in price. Royal Mail can't be delivered to get them here on time (I ordered a out of print DVD off of Amazon last Wednesday, still waiting for it!) & when they do turn up they are damaged half the time.

I think the most annoying thing though is that even more people are now being made redundant because of online shopping, we've lost Peacocks, Jessops & Comet over the last two months and with HMV possibly going if they don't find a buyer (although there is a rumour of a firm buying them but slimming them down somewhat). How are people supposed to get jobs if dozens of well established firms keep going under (HMV are over 90 years old, Comet was over 40 years old, Jessops nearly 80 years old), my home town high street is a desolate wasteland now of empty shops, I mean seriously it's getting * depressing.

I hope the tide will turn in the near future because it's going to be horrible walking up High Streets soon. As as side note I bet if you told Bob Geldof back in 1986 when he opened the world's largest music store that it would be closing down within 30 years, he'd tell you feck off.

[The Deadly]

The high street is dead in terms of DVD's and computer games. The big companies just didn't move with the times I'm afraid. The powers that be should have embraced the modern technology that changed the way the public do their shopping but alas it's too late. If HMV have any sense at all they will be kissing the arses of Asda/Sainsburys/Tesco to have sub-branches in their larger stores. It would be good to go into a larger supermarket and have a clear and dedicated area for technology. Having been to Walmart in the States they do something like that.

[Boboff]

Well boys, me and the lad have discovered CEX!

If you don't mind waiting in a queue with Spotty geeks and ex-cons then you can get some crackin DVD's, Games and CD's at massively knocked down prices, and the give you reasonable money back for your old crap too.

Wife bought son a game from Amazon, and it was a fake, English cover, Polish Original game inside, they wouldn't take that one though!

I never liked HMV, too expensive, too noisy, full of people with facial piercings, which I don't like. Letting people in like that! No wonder!

[Yudster]

The only time I go into HMV is at Christmas, when its too late to order online and I still haven't done my shopping - which is every year. Whenever I do, I am always in there for at least an hour because the queues wind the whole way around the shop. If HMV are doing that badly, all I can imagine is that they sell about three DVDs a week for 50 weeks of the year, because they sure as hell do a lot in the 2 weeks before Christmas.

[MK Chris]

Apparently they still have 35% of CD sales and 30% of DVD sales though? I know the electronic formats are taking over, but with physical market share like that, someone ought to buy them, no?

[Nicola_Red]

Royal Mail can't be delivered to get them here on time (I ordered a out of print DVD off of Amazon last Wednesday, still waiting for it!) & when they do turn up they are damaged half the time.

I'm quite surprised by that. I've only once had a book from Amazon arrive damaged cos it was like a soft cardboard sleeve - never once had a problem with a CD or DVD.

I never liked HMV, full of people with facial piercings, which I don't like. Letting people in like that! No wonder!

Yep, you never know what those reprobates are up to. OH NO WAIT

[bmstinton93]

I love Pirate Bay...

[a-moron]

Ahh. Pirate Bay.

The sexual act of rubbing one out into your partners eye and then kicking them in the shin whilst they are perusing eBay.

Good times.

[Misfit]

iso hunt is my favorite

[Bonanzoid]

The demise of HMV is sad, but not as sad as today's announcement from OneUp - a brilliant little independent music shop in Aberdeen. They're closing too

[dimtimjim]

I love Pirate Bay...

And that, my little friend, is the demise of HMV...

[Yudster]

Illegal sites notwithstanding, the fact is that HMV and many other High Street names have simply not been able to deal with the change in people's buying habits. People are going to do as much of their shopping online as they can. Therefore physical shops are going to suffer as a result. Its not sad, it merely IS.

The High Street is going to have to change if the concept of a town centre is going to survive much longer. Some retail outlets will be fine - I can't see clothes shopping being completely overtaken by online shopping for instance - but space in town centres is going to have to be used differently. If we aren't shopping in town any more, why would we go there? That question needs to be answered, and whatever that answer is needs to convert itself into businesses catering for those needs - then town centres have a chance.

But if town centres die, it is because consumers have no need of them any more - so why are consumers sad about it?

[Bruvva]

Pretty much spot on Yuds. HMV would have survived had it had a better business model and I wouldn't be surprised to see the profitable stores, of which there are a few, survive with the HMV name while the others fall by the wayside. A wider point is that now them, Jessops and a few other high street stores have gone, what does happen to town centres? I'd like to see coffee shops, cafes, pubs and other places spring up just so people actually get out and about and interact but in this day and age, with the ease of getting entertainment at home and people having longer working hours and having to commute, I think people are more inclined to stay at home. Which is a shame really.

[Yudster]

Coffee shops and cafes won't pull people in to town centres on their own. You wouldn't go into town to go for coffee - although if you were in town doing something else, you very well might go for a coffee while you are there. The key to regenerating town centres is that thing that you went in for in the first place - what is it, and how do we provide it?

[Nicola_Red]

This reminded me of that 'death of a high street' discussion we had a few years ago:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20778&hilit=high+street+funeral

Alas the images don't work anymore, but the discussion is still relevant. That idea of the 'high street' dying for whatever reason (the dominance of big businesses, retailers losing money, online shopping, piracy) is a very powerful one in this country.

[The Deadly]

The death of the high street shops are down to complacency from the bosses of the retailers. They didn't adapt and now they are finished.

[neilt0]

The death of the high street shops are down to complacency from the bosses of the retailers. They didn't adapt and now they are finished.

It's as much about the depression (not recession, it's worse than that) as it is about the lack of adaptation for high street stores in general. Some of the first to hit the wall were clothes retailers, and that's a business that's not as affected by online sales as others.

However, the writing was on the wall for "physical media" stores as soon as the iTunes store and Netflix launched. Those, combined with DLC (games) and piracy made it inevitable. I'm surprised it took this long.

[DevilsDuck]

The cost of renting multiple shops and paying lots of staff against the cost of a warehouse and fewer staff doing more transactions (due to automated systems) is the death of the high street.

Company profits FTW!

[Yudster]

The cost of renting multiple shops and paying lots of staff against the cost of a warehouse and fewer staff doing more transactions (due to automated systems) is the death of the high street.

Company profits FTW!

But that process hasn't been driven by the need to reduce costs, its been driven by the consumer's desire to shop online. Of course that means shops will disappear from the High Street, hence the need to re-think what people will use the High Street for, if not shopping. People spend money on a lot of things other than just "buying stuff". What could be offered in a town centre scenario that people would pay for that they can't get online? There must be loads of things.

[dimtimjim]

But that process hasn't been driven by the need to reduce costs, its been driven by the consumer's desire to shop online. Of course that means shops will disappear from the High Street, hence the need to re-think what people will use the High Street for, if not shopping. People spend money on a lot of things other than just "buying stuff". What could be offered in a town centre scenario that people would pay for that they can't get online? There must be loads of things.

I'm not entirely sure I understand the problem for your average high street retailer (I.E. ones which aren't subjected to media piracy).

I own a high street store. I have a certain ammount of foot-fall customers. But, I also advertise my stock online (like eBay, for example). These items are sold online and I post 'em out. As long as my prices are competative the stock will still fly out, why would I close my doors?!!

I myself buy lots online, but usually from 'shops' - just not shops in my town, but still a high street shop which is local to someone.

[Boboff]

Tim is right.

The high street will always have a place, but certain retailers will always change in a cycle, go back 100 years and you had a shop called "spooners" in Plymouth any rate.

Department stores, they been going for ages, why? They sell shit loads of gear under one roof, it ain't the same shit they were shifting even 30 years ago, and they all back it up with on-line sales as well.

HMV is the Blacksmith of the 2010's that all, no biggy.

Clintons still trade why? BlockBuster Video ? Eh Toys R us, again why?

The Cash for Gold shops are just pawn brokers off of the 1930's

£1 shops are cool.

Sports direct, cool, JJB, too dear.

Retail is bloody hard, online or on the high street, it makes no odds, the rules change, you change or die, simple as.

[MK Chris]

Clintons still trade why?

This is a mystery to me... Card Factory are far cheaper, Moon Pig and the like offer far more. Whether this is typical or not, Clinton's have two shops in one shopping centre in Milton Keynes and at one point had three - I'm no business guru, but it doesn't take Philip Green to work out that's not economically sound.

[neilt0]

RE: High Street woes: Blockbuster just went into administration.

[chrysostom]

That's their own fault for not adapting quickly enough when LoveFilm came about - and then not adapting when Netflix came about. I've always wondered what they've been doing for the last 3 years, and who shops there!

[dimtimjim]

Blockbuster just went into administration.

I'll have a P please Bob.