[neilt0]

I signed up to Blockbusters "DVDs by post" service on a trial to get some Blu-rays I hadn't seen.

It's a crap service. Everything about Blockbuster has always been crap and annoying.

[bmstinton93]

Would now be a good time to go and rent out loads of games and DVDs and never give them back?

[The Deadly]

Don't you steal them anyway by streaming them illegally? You shouldn't have to walk all the way to Blockbusters to steal media Ben you cyber thief!!!!!

[bmstinton93]

Fair point. I don't steal games though...

[wireman2004]

The blu ray version of the formula 1 season review in a high street store will retail for about 20 quid. But yet I got a pre order guatentee that whatever the price was on amazon on release day. I got for the lower price. I was intending to pay 17 quid. (which was the price displayed when I ordered it). Only to find that on release I was paying £12. So a nice suprise. And just 1bof many examples I could give

So my question. Is the.high street store dead now to online shopping. Is this why hmv and blockbusters have now gone into administration.

[neilt0]

I have a Blockbuster on my street. I have been there once in 10 years.

To buy sweeties and ice cream. </notjimmysavile>

I shall be visiting them soon to see if they have any bargains.

Any bargain sweeties.

[neilt0]

Welcome to 1998!*

* The year Amazon UK started.

[The Deadly]

Fair point. I don't steal games though...

Tom Cruise hates you. How does that make you feel?

[bmstinton93]

I'm not a fan of him either so that makes me happy.

[dimtimjim]

Is this why hmv and blockbusters have now gone into administration.

No. They are both down to the stores not adapting to new buying habits, especially in the case of HMV; they were simply mis-managed by someone who thought 'online buying' was just going to be a fad and people will always want a physical item in their hands. Wrong! Bye-bye...

As you highlight, why spend £20 on something you can get for £12, with the added benefit of not having to get off your arse to fetch it. Nothing stopped HMV/Blockbuster selling online, except themselves.

[dimtimjim]

Fair point. I don't steal games though...

How proud you must be of your moral high standing...

[Boboff]

42% of Argos sales are now on-line.

As Punch would say

"Thats the way to do it"

[Yudster]

Argos have got it right. You can go in and buy, you can buy online and get it delivered, and very usefully you can reserve online to collect, which I have used many times when I haven't wanted to worry about delivery times.

[dimtimjim]

Exactly.

[The Deadly]

Primark sales up 25%. That's incredible figures for what is technically a glorified jumble sale.

[dimtimjim]

Primark sales up 25%.

Wow, those kids in India must be working very hard!

[Chris]

Without intending to state the obvious, the problem with HMV and Blockbuster is they are selling things that I can buy, sample and browse from home (or anywhere) more easily than going into their stores.

I can sample music or films which I couldn't do in-store, order them for less money than in-store and then have them delivered instantly in a format which I prefer. On top of that I haven't needed to drive, park, and interact with the commoners.

The high street isn't dead, it's just dead for those things which people can purchase online without negatively impacting the buying process, or for those companies who don't/can't/won't trade online.

Close to where I live there is a model railway shop, pretty much in the middle of a housing estate. I can't imagine for one minute that the footfall through the door pays all the bills. So, what's the answer? ... they run a very successful online business and spend a lot of their day wrapping up parcels.

[dimtimjim]

and interact with the commoners.

You've changed...

So, what's the answer? ... they run a very successful online business and spend a lot of their day wrapping up parcels.

This. Adapt and survive, or fail and die. Silly haych-em-vee.

[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.

There I did say!

[MK Chris]

I wondered about Blockbusters too, I think that must be the least surprising one of the lot. Sad for the staff though. Even if one of them is Blockbusters Bitch (in Newport Pagnell).

[dimtimjim]

Sad for the staff though.

Couldn't agree more, it is by far the worst point of these companies folding.

[R94N]

A lot of these large companies sell a lot of stock but they end up with cash flow problems because they expand too quickly and overtrade. The supermarkets are also squeezing them when it comes to physical media.

[The Deadly]

My work is in massive trouble and has been for about 3 years now. We are clinging on for dear life and hoping for a buyout from a larger company. It's on the cards but we have the problem of our owner being a stubborn, poor mans Tom Selleck. On the plus side I'd get a huge payout if we folded but our staff would get nothing at all.

[Boboff]

If you are in trouble Deadly, you won't get a buyout, you just get interested parties waiting for the inevitable insolvency.... Well that's what I have experienced anyway.

I have heard it said that when it came to Banks Lending, and Government Grants, you had to prove you didn't need the money before they would give/lend it to you.

Odd

[MK Chris]

My work is in massive trouble and has been for about 3 years now. We are clinging on for dear life and hoping for a buyout from a larger company.

My last company was like that, but they are a kitchen distributor and people don't buy kitchens when there's a recession on (let alone three). They were lucky, as they had an investment from one of their biggest suppliers (long story short, that supplier had two customers, my old employer and another one - both of which they now own), which prevented them from going under. Hope yours pulls through dude.