HMV gone in 6 months?

[Aada]

Can't meet their bank deadlines in January and shares dropped 40%, hell does anyone even buy anything from them anymore?

I find they are expensive on everything they stock.

 

[Raven]

High street shopping is dead.

 

[rynnor]

More like 3 months tbh.

 

[rynnor]

High street shopping is dead.

Yeah - the commercial property investors are going to lose bigtime - realistically there needs to be a massive drop in rents and business rates if anything is to survive long term.

 

[Raven]

They can't though because they have invested over the odds in the property in the first place. It will be another property market burst, the same as housing bubble bursting again.

The only property market that will do well will be distribution warehouses through online retail. The company I work for which is involved heavily in this sector is booming and has been throughout the recession.

 

[Madmaxx]

HMV for games are always the highest price I find like the latest games will be £45 to £50 and pre-owned will be £30, where as black ops2 @ release at Game is £39,99

 

[Wazzerphuk]

How the fuck are Blockbusters still going!?

 

[Job]

Clothing stores will survive for a bit..until peoplw get into trying on then buying online or clothes manufacturers en mass find a fuckin tape measure and actuallymakw the stuff the size it says on the label.

 

[Chilly]

amazed if hmv last til christmas, been waiting for them to go titsup for years.

 

[DaGaffer]

Called it 18 months ago. And five years ago, and ten years ago, but I digress. Department stores are still doing OK (thank God), anything non-commoditised (like high end fashion), furniture (although that's a carrier and supplier problem as much as anything else that's holding online back), food, beauty products, some jewellery, DIY (surprisingly) still have legs in retail. Interestingly there are more than a few suppliers trying to protect themselves by not facilitating online sales at all (particularly in furniture) for fear of being commoditised by Amazon, but its a doomed plan in the long run.

Walking into HMV these days is like looking at a dead man walking; you're just waiting for the inevitable.

 

[Tom]

High street shopping is dead.

No it isn't, people in work still like to buy stuff at dinnertime and leaving time, which is why clothes shops will never die. HMV just can't compete against digital downloads.

 

[DaGaffer]

How the fuck are Blockbusters still going!?

Xtravision, the Irish Blockbuster equivalent, now seems determined to keep me loyal through sugar. I went in the other week (because I wanted to rent a few BDs to rip) and with three Blu-Rays I got a box of popcorn, a tub of Haagen-Dazs and 1.5 liter bottle of 7UP as part of the deal, for less than the price of the equivalent rental on Sky or iTunes. I have no fucking idea how they make that kind of deal work.

 

[Chilly]

Xtravision, the Irish Blockbuster equivalent, now seems determined to keep me loyal through sugar. I went in the other week (because I wanted to rent a few BDs to rip) and with three Blu-Rays I got a box of popcorn, a tub of Haagen-Dazs and 1.5 liter bottle of 7UP as part of the deal, for less than the price of the equivalent rental on Sky or iTunes. I have no fucking idea how they make that kind of deal work.

Because they have old-as-the-hills agreements with movie studios and don't have to get fully assraped on the digital distribution rights. They don't have a 100x share price multiple to prop up and they don't have a monopoly to operate from and so have to offer competitive prices and services.

The real question is how to Apple & co manage to get away with their pricing?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

More to the point with Blockbusters, how can they afford rent? They have ENORMOUS stores. The one in Tolworth is 3/4 shops long, but no-one's ever in it. How the fuck can it still be open?!

 

[opticle]

Blockbusters in my experience are also universally shite.

I can't count the number of times I've walked into different stores planning to rent a movie, only to walk out because all they stock is shite and what little they do have is badly displayed.

I don't know how they're still there. They don't deserve to be.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I suppose their 5 blurays for £30 offer might be worth taking up sooner rather than later.

 

[sayward]

Surprised no one's mentioned Comet, or have I missed it? Bloody Opcapita strikes again!!

 

[SheepCow]

How the fuck are Blockbusters still going!?

I use the local Blockbusters here quite a lot. In the end it's cheaper than LoveFilm since I only get what I want and not what I had to put on the list so they actually send something. Don't think I've ever gone in and not walked out with what I went in for. The shop is also a googolplex times better than Netflix, since it actually has things and Netflix doesn't

 

[Everz]

Cheltenham HMV is always rammed, quite a big store too.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Surprised no one's mentioned Comet, or have I missed it? Bloody Opcapita strikes again!!

I got a £450 washer dryer for £300. I'm not complaining.

 

[sayward]

Caught a piece of Eastenders, never watch it. They were wearing GAME OVER T-shirts! I want one.

 

[Embattle]

Yeah - the commercial property investors are going to lose bigtime - realistically there needs to be a massive drop in rents and business rates if anything is to survive long term.

Well they hardly helped themselves.

 

[DaGaffer]

Cheltenham HMV is always rammed, quite a big store too.

Doesn't matter if they're making no margin.

 

[Chilly]

Doesn't matter if they're making no margin.

I imagine the margins are ok, it's just that so much of their revenues have walked off to amazon, play, etc that they're now left with a vast, highly leveraged debt funded company with vast liabilities on all its leases with no way to ever make as much money as they used to again. There's a certain class of person who goes to the shops to buy their CDs who will continue to do so, but they are a dwindling population.

 

[Nate]

I wonder if Supermarkets will change in 10 years to more online.

 

[DaGaffer]

I imagine the margins are ok, it's just that so much of their revenues have walked off to amazon, play, etc that they're now left with a vast, highly leveraged debt funded company with vast liabilities on all its leases with no way to ever make as much money as they used to again. There's a certain class of person who goes to the shops to buy their CDs who will continue to do so, but they are a dwindling population.

All true, but the stores are packed, and no, they're not making good margin. Music margins tanked years ago, DVDs followed suit (they'll be down to single digit points on a lot of those multibuys) and games are going (gone) the same way. The fact that so much floor space in HMV is now given over to hardware is a clue - also terrible margin but much higher price points.

 

[rynnor]

I wonder if Supermarkets will change in 10 years to more online.

They have but I dont see it replacing normal shopping tbh.

Ocado are about the best but its still a dodgy service with sometimes lots of missing items and trucks turning up hours after their delivery slots.

You generally have to go to the shop anyway because theres something fundamental missing like bread.

 

[DaGaffer]

I wonder if Supermarkets will change in 10 years to more online.

They'll definitely have more online businesses (look at Tesco buying BlinkBox for instance) but the capital requirements for online grocery are actually quite nasty (there are only so many vans to support the number of "useful", e.g. evening, slots customers want, and getting more vans and drivers scales poorly, especially with rising fuel costs etc). I was speaking to a Head of Online for a supermarket quite recently and he reckoned they'll cap out on home delivery at about 20% eventually (much less than that currently) but will do far more click and collect, which could even make up a majority of their business in the long run.

 

[Raven]

Sainsburys are into online in a very big way but they are also expanding normal stores too.

 

[rynnor]

Sainsburys are into online in a very big way but they are also expanding normal stores too.

Hilarious - they can barely manage the logistics in their stores and online is far harder.