More economic news

[Doggy Styles]

This is happening to many high street shops and chains.

The pool of jobs for shop sales staff is shrinking, which is inevitable but I still find it sad.

Still, they can all retrain as IT developers or electricians, perhaps relocate across the country. It's straightforward according to the other thread.

[BA to the Stars]

HMV is like that faithful old dog - been limping along for years on it's last legs - there comes a time when it needs to be put to sleep.

[Doggy Styles]

HMV is like that faithful old dog - been limping along for years on it's last legs - there comes a time when it needs to be put to sleep.

Probably. But my kids enjoy the experience of wandering around in the shop and picking out stuff. My daughter always drops in there when we're out. At least, they did until today.

Strangely, the one in Milton Keynes always seemed busy with queues at the tills. Maybe the internet hasn't reached there yet.

[The Spartan]

Probably. But my kids enjoy the experience of wandering around in the shop and picking out stuff.

+1 my daughter loved it, just DVD's and CD's and no groceries lol

[Martin@AS Financial]

In my opinion, I am surprised they managed to last as long as they did when you consider their business model when you compare it to someone like Amazon. HMV would have essentially had to pay increasing rents on the high street as well as pay their skilled workforce. Amazon on the otherhand will pay industrial estate rents and pay shelf picker wages to their warehouse staff. By keeping costs down a DVD on Amazon costs £5 when HMV would happily charge you £15.

Pressure from the likes of Tesco will also have made things difficult. They can bulk buy cd's and dvd's, sell them at a loss to get people through the door but still make a profit on the food and drink.

It's sad when any business closes but for me personally, I find the demise of the specialist independent record shops a lot worse. I used to love going record shopping to stores where they knew you and your tastes. You would walk in, be greeted by name and then be handed a pile of 15-20 records handpicked by a chap who knew exactly what you liked.

[ctdctd]

DailyMash reports on the fallout.

High streets to be awash with semi-feral husbands

[formant]

HMV would have essentially had to pay increasing rents on the high street as well as pay their skilled workforce. Amazon on the otherhand will pay industrial estate rents and pay shelf picker wages to their warehouse staff.

I'm not sure there's any difference in pay between high street retail assistants and shelf pickers. It's all in the realms of minimum wage.
True about the rent though.

I, too, am mostly surprised that they didn't fold sooner. Virgin Megastore used to be a destination - something HMV never managed - and they did the smart thing and sold those off when it became predictable that things would go downhill. HMV were foolish not to follow in a similar fashion back then.

[Martin@AS Financial]

Here is a really good article written in August last year about the rise and fall of HMV:

Philip Beeching: Why companies fail - the rise and fall of HMV

[AtW]

By keeping costs down a DVD on Amazon costs £5 when HMV would happily charge you £15.

£15 included VAT, where as Amazon dodged it.

[formant]

£15 included VAT, where as Amazon dodged it.

£10 worth of VAT?