HMV RIP

[MrGongGong]

For folks like me the days of finding interesting things in physical shops (with a couple of exceptions !) are long gone.
I remember tower records offloading most of it's stock of contemporary music lps for peanuts and bought a heap of stuff I had never seen anywhere else. But if your interests are even slightly out of the mainstream you are unlikely to find anything at all.
The shops that will probably survive are mostly in big cities catering to specialists (Sister Ray or Rough Trade East etc ) , even the best shops have very small stocks of recordings on labels like Touch or Empreintes DIGITALes ........

[John Wright]

Just as well you spent out sharpish John as they are now refusing to honour any gift cards bought. Terrible luck for anyone with unspent ones lingering after Christmas.

That's right Karafan. I was listing to BBC R5 this morning and there were more than one person on air saying grandad's Christmas present was now worthless.

Before this weekend I think it must be many years since I bought a classical CD in HMV, whereas last year I probably bought about 10 in our local AgeUK, Barnardo's etc shops, and I still buy classical vinyl where I can (Sense, PDSA).

[hafod]

I had a quick browse through one of Glasgow's HMV shops, & noticed vol 6 of Richard Strauss: 6 The Complete Songs - priced at £13, so with 25% off it will be substantially cheaper than Amazon (£11.23). There were plenty of other things worth buying too.

"a non-event as the 25% - where applied - was to prices already very high. The result therefore is an item about the same price (or a bit higher) as elsewhere."

The prices were generally the 'correct' price, as set by the recording companies. I don't quite see how 25% off these could be anything but a bargain (assuming you liked the recording) & worth buying, even if Amazon et al was offering the same discount, & a lot more convenient given that you would have it straight away, rather than wait for delivery.

Even allowing for the delivery charge, Amazon Marketplace sellers regularly undercut the so called 'correct' price of new issues and reissues by much more than 25%. Moreover, by looking around over an extended period of time many items on a wants list turn up much cheaper than this. For me that is part of the enjoyment of collecting. If one wants it straight away then it may be a bargain for many but that is certainly not the case for me. A £7 Naxos cd for £5.24 is not a bargain for me epecially one issued more than 2 years ago. Naxos discs of this age can be had from the grocer for £3.99 delivered. Much the same goes for a premium price cd whose 'correct' price of £14 is now still a quite hefty £10.50 at HMV. There was almost nothing I saw that stood out on price grounds alone.

[mikealdren]

Having started the thread, I decided to try HMV Oxford Street. as Hafod and others have noted, 25% off is still not really competitive. The store was very busy though, a lot of people are clearly happy with 25% off.

I agree with most of the other posters, HMV lost its way some time ago and to all intents and purposes, it closed ages ago. Very sad, I've spent a lot of money there over the years.

Mike

[cloughie]

I see the HMV website is now closed for business!

[visualnickmos]

Having started the thread, I decided to try HMV Oxford Street. as Hafod and others have noted, 25% off is still not really competitive. The store was very busy though, a lot of people are clearly happy with 25% off.

I agree with most of the other posters, HMV lost its way some time ago and to all intents and purposes, it closed ages ago. Very sad, I've spent a lot of money there over the years.

Mike

I quite agree with you. In the late 80s and through much of the 90s, one could often find real bargains, and I frequently popped in in my lunchbreak, or at weekends, when the classical section (as well as the rest of the shop) was positively vibrant with music-hunters. Since moving to France 8 years ago, my visits are rarer, but I went there just a day or two after Christmas 2012, and the place was dead - hardly any classical stock, and certainly no bargains, maybe just a small handfull of people wandering around, probably thinking the same as me. My visit lasted all of 5 minutes. It was quite stultifying.

I suppose now, the 'busy' that you experienced, were/are people hoping to peck out a last morsel of flesh from the dying beast. I would have done the same, if I'd been in London.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I see the HMV website is now closed for business!

Silly really, as that was probably the only profitable bit.

[Serial_Apologist]

Is closure of websites a requirement on firms under receivership?

[visualnickmos]

Is closure of websites a requirement on firms under receivership?

I think so, as the 'original' company technically no longer exists.

[Mr Pee]

I do think that in cases like this there should be some sort of scheme whereby holders of gift vouchers can either have them redeemed or get their monay back. I'm sure a lot of people got vouchers for Christmas which are now worthless.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I quite agree. Allowing HMV to continue trading when they are not meeting their existing obligations is quite immoral.

[MrGongGong]

I quite agree. Allowing HMV to continue trading when they are not meeting their existing obligations is quite immoral.

Since when had morality had anything to do with the operations of most retail business ?
(see "Lord" Sugar for example ...........)

[amateur51]

I was astonished yesterday to find a new HMV store on Oxford Street, close by Bond Street tube station where the original Oxford Street HMV used to be, almost directly opposite the branch that disappeared a few years ago (towards Marble Arch rather than towards Tottenham Court Road.

It's not huge but a decent size and there is a classical music section as well as many other genres. It was so nice to be able to browse through CDs again but the prices were not enticing and I can't see how it can survive.

[Ferretfancy]

I was astonished yesterday to find a new HMV store on Oxford Street, close by Bond Street tube station where the original Oxford Street HMV used to be, almost directly opposite the branch that disappeared a few years ago (towards Marble Arch rather than towards Tottenham Court Road.

It's not huge but a decent size and there is a classical music section as well as many other genres. It was so nice to be able to browse through CDs again but the prices were not enticing and I can't see how it can survive.

I've been away for a very wet couple of weeks in the Lake District,so I haven't been into the West End, but as I understand it the new HMV shop is a smaller replacement for for the huge shop at the other end of Oxford Street which is now closed. Not a very promising prospect.

[mathias broucek]

Haven't been yet but am encouraged that it's run by the owners of HMV. I've picked up some good bargains when in Toronto on business.