Is this the end for HMV?

[teamsaint]

IMO they blew it when they still had the (marginally) profitable Waterstones.
Some really tough reorganisation (3 stores in Winchester!!!) and decent strategic thinking MIGHT just have saved them.

[scottycelt]

IMO they blew it when they still had the (marginally) profitable Waterstones.
Some really tough reorganisation (3 stores in Winchester!!!) and decent strategic thinking MIGHT just have saved them.

The only thing that MIGHT have saved them was to branch out to other non-music products.

The internet, MP3 etc, has changed everything.

I used to love browsing around music shops, but now I can browse and download much of what I am interested in for free on YouTube, without even leaving my armchair.

This is the reality, I'm afraid, and I'm not saying it's a good thing ... just the reality.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

IMO they blew it when they still had the (marginally) profitable Waterstones.
Some really tough reorganisation (3 stores in Winchester!!!) and decent strategic thinking MIGHT just have saved them.

I've always wondered why they kept two Waterstones running here when they bought out Hatchards. However, when I want to purchase a book, I head into one of the two branches, have a browse and make a purchase. In the (extremely) rare event that I cast an eye over the minuscule 'Classical' section (and sieve out the dross masquerading as 'Classical') and find something I wouldn't mind hearing, I invariably check out internet prices first... 9 times out of 10, HMV will be selling it cheaper online and Amazon will always have it cheaper, either on its own website or via a marketplace seller.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

The only thing that MIGHT have saved them was to branch out to other non-music products.

They started going down the 'technology' route, iPods, headphones etc, but it really was too little, too late.

I remember, possibly a decade ago, a scheme announced where (in their 'lesser' Oxford St store by Bond St station) you'd be able to scan any CD at a 'listening post' and be able to listen to a sample of it. Great idea, never happened (to my knowledge).

[Thropplenoggin]

I remember, possibly a decade ago, a scheme announced where (in their 'lesser' Oxford St store by Bond St station) you'd be able to scan any CD at a 'listening post' and be able to listen to a sample of it. Great idea, never happened (to my knowledge).

You can do this in Fnac stores in Paris. However, their CD prices are almost perversely uncompetitive. Sometimes touching 30 euros for a single CD that can be procured online for well under a tenner. Their online service is similarly steep and notoriously poor at delivering on time.

[kernelbogey]

Looking for a particular DVD in London just before Christmas I was directed by another shop to Fopp in Earlham St WC2. I hadn't come across them before and didn't linger to look at the classical section in the Christmas rush but they may be worth seeking out when shopping in London. I believe they have stores in other cities too. They had the very thing I was looking for, Borgen Series 1.

[teamsaint]

What I had in mind is that there might still have been a market, on the high street, for hard copy media. It would have had to have been based on books, where there is clearly(and is going to be for a long time) a solid market for print editions. That and some niche music where good unit prices can be achieved, and some other add ons such as signing events might just have created something worthwhile in selected places. (NOT the 300+ that Waterstones currently trade in.)
It's a sad day, really. But nothing is for ever......

[kernelbogey]

The Guardian website tonight reports that HMV are about to call in the administrators.

[Beef Oven]

How the devil is HMV supposed to compete with Amazon and other multinationals when EU tax laws allow them to pay very little corporation tax? R.I.P. HMV

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

What I had in mind is that there might still have been a market, on the high street, for hard copy media. It would have had to have been based on books, where there is clearly(and is going to be for a long time) a solid market for print editions. That and some niche music where good unit prices can be achieved, and some other add ons such as signing events might just have created something worthwhile in selected places. (NOT the 300+ that Waterstones currently trade in.)
It's a sad day, really. But nothing is for ever......

Let's not forget how Naxos started selling in the UK... via Waterstones book shops.

[Beef Oven]

Let's not forget how Naxos started selling in the UK... via Waterstones book shops.

I bought my first Naxos CDs in Woolworths in 1988

[teamsaint]

Let's not forget how Naxos started selling in the UK... via Waterstones book shops.

Are you saying that there is, in your opinion, a future for specialist media retailing on the high street?

[Nick Armstrong]

How the devil is HMV supposed to compete with Amazon and other multinationals when EU tax laws allow them to pay very little corporation tax? R.I.P. HMV

Online retail's no doddle either: play.com is stopping retail sales from March as they can't compete either http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-20953357

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Like so many once successful companies, they over-expanded. Jessops once had one shop/warehouse in Leicester. They were very successful. Comet were the same. Once you over-expand, it's very difficult to contract.

[Beef Oven]

Online retail's no doddle either: play.com is stopping retail sales from March as they can't compete either http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-20953357

Yes, Play.com's Jersey tax-haven status has not delivered the level of benefits they need vis-a-vis EU regs and they have had their VAT loop-hole closed by the inland revenue.