Comet, HMV, Blockbuster. Do we care?

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

14 years 6 months

Posts: 2,536

This may sound harsh and I feel for the employees but I don't care these shops have gone.

Comet - unfriendly lacking customer service. I get my applicances from a local shop.

HMV - hard to find anything even if they had it. Old fashioned and booring. Expensive. Internet much better experience.

Blockbuster - what, you mean they are still going! Last used for VHS.

I see this as just ridding the high street of dead wood.

Original post

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,259

It is a shame that even more people are losing their jobs at this very tough time but with HMV their logo shows a technology that has been out of date for decades.

Blockbuster, failed business model, should have gone digital and then streamlined and had generous game rental options for the console market.

Comet, can't comment as I never had any dealing with them.

But I struggle to recall the last time I went in either of the other two shops.

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Likewise. If you are unable to adapt yopur business and maintain the products and service to keep bringing customers through the door, the business will fail.

Interetingly our local owner run "video" shop is survining and surviving well. He is friendly helpful, fully aware of what he is competing with, but keeps his costs as low as he can. I would be very sad if he had to close. The unfortunate truth is that in so many retail spheres the on-line world is growing fast and no doubt there will more high street casualties.

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 1,542


I see this as just ridding the high street of dead wood.

I wouldn't put it in such terms, but I agree. These businesses did not keep with current buying trends.

And I completely blame the businesses themselves. They all had an advantage over other brands, as they are all well established household names, but their 'management' lost sight of the market. HMV for example should have been amongst the first to change to predominantly digital, and cut back on stores.

The only victims are the many thousands who are/will be unemployed :(

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

Nothing is forever. I grew up thinking Woolworths were always going to be there.

Which big name is going to be next I wonder ?

W H Smith never seem to be that busy, on the odd occasion I've been into one of their shops.

Member for

14 years 6 months

Posts: 2,536

Robert Peston puts an interesting point of view

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21023602

Moggy

Interesting article. Maybe from the ashes will emerge a better HMV?
Had forgotten about Jessops. Nuff said.

Member for

12 years 9 months

Posts: 759

I remember when UK had an Aircraft & Car Industry ....nobody misses them .

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

I remember when UK had an Aircraft & Car Industry ....nobody misses them .

Had?? Aerospace employs about 200,000 with sles of about £30 billion - 2nd or 3rd largest in the world and the auto industry employs directly and indirectly 700,000 with sales of £ 50 billion.

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Interesting article. Maybe from the ashes will emerge a better HMV?
Had forgotten about Jessops. Nuff said.

A different perspective from the Grauniad and yet another from a City group which I cannot locate. As with all these corporate failures it will be a mix of reasons and as many conclusions from economic journalists.

Blockbuster's demise cannot be described as a tragedy except for the poor employees. The business of renting out DVDs from shops is a victim of consumer behaviour. Sky Movies, LoveFilm and the revival of Saturday-night television, courtesy of X Factor and Strictly, have chipped away at Blockbuster. As for selling DVDs, the company has been up against Amazon and all the big supermarket chains for years. Blockbuster failed to spot the changing nature of its own market. The surprise is that it held out for so long.

At HMV the rot set in at the turn of the century when it failed to react quickly to the arrival of music downloading and internet retailing. Remember the forlorn comment in 2006 of the HMV chief executive Alan Giles as he resigned: "A year ago I was saying the internet would plateau at about 10% of this market. Now I say that I was wrong. I just don't know now how far it will go. This is a brave new world for retailers."

His successor tried to repair the strategic mistake online but was hardly helped by governments' past tolerance of a loophole that allowed DVDs and CDs to be sent by post from the Channel Islands free of VAT. Mail order websites, such as Play.com, Amazon and Tesco, piled in.

Would earlier action to close the loophole have saved HMV? That's harder to argue because the company's store portfolio, numbering 240, also looks too large for a specialist in the internet age. Some 15-20 years ago, reckons large property developer Land Securities, the rule of thumb was that a retailer needed 200 stores to reach 50% of the UK population. These days, 60 is thought to be all it takes. Shoppers are willing to travel further to visit large shopping centres and online delivery can fill the gaps. That's one reason why 14% of shop premises are

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,886

As has been said, very sad time for the employees. A few months ago, we had a really impressive new branch of HMV open up locally. Laid out in such away over two big floors, that browsing is a real treat. The choice of items on sale, was the best I've seen in a very long time. I guess we might lose that place, if no buyer can be found for the company.

Our branch of WH Smith, is just the worst, if any company needs to wake up and smell the coffee, its them. Until I saw this thread, I had no idea that Blockbuster was still around.

Nothing is forever. I grew up thinking Woolworths were always going to be there.

Which big name is going to be next I wonder ?

W H Smith never seem to be that busy, on the odd occasion I've been into one of their shops.

WHS?

One to watch.

Member for

12 years 9 months

Posts: 759

Watch my lips ...I said Aircraft .....not Aeropace !!!

& no we do not have a BRITISH car Industry ...apart from R & D ...we make cars for foreign companies for domestic use & export ...

Member for

20 years 6 months

Posts: 7,025

It is very sad these shops have closed , especially for the jobs market.

The problem is that if high street shops keep disappearing then the reasons to go into town for other shops become less and less until they are all threatened.
Once they have gone the shops on the internet can hoist prices as much as they can.
Not everyone has access or wants to buy online and part of the experience of shopping and getting personal service is disappearing.
Sad :(

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Watch my lips ...I said Aircraft .....not Aeropace !!!

& no we do not have a BRITISH car Industry ...apart from R & D ...we make cars for foreign companies for domestic use & export ...

That's splitting hairs. I suppose during the peak years you would have deleted Ford and General Motors from the list.....the fact is that nearly a million British workers manufacture £ 80 billion worth of products in those industries.

Member for

18 years 5 months

Posts: 761

Which big name is going to be next I wonder ?

Dennis predicts Body Shop - the local one is so deserted it has tumbleweed blowing thru' it. Every major competitor now has its own 'ethnic/ethical' range and Body Shop has lost its USP.

Member for

12 years 9 months

Posts: 759

Not too sure how long the " Edinburgh Woolen Mill " or "Lake land Plastics /Cooking " can last ?? But !! I dont see any Pound Shops closing just yet !!

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

I remember when UK had an Aircraft & Car Industry ....nobody misses them .

I do...
I used to work at an aircraft manufacturing facility at a very pretty airfield...seems a very strange comment to me???A country which does not manufacture either heavy industry and or high tech goods is going to struggle !!
I hate to think what our balance of payments is these days (remember that ?)

Member for

11 years 8 months

Posts: 569

It's not often I relish from the thought of a shop closing down. But walking down my highstreet today, I saw my local poundland had a closing down sale (it had only been there for about 6 months). 'Yes, Kingston's moving up in the world' I thought :diablo:

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

It's not just the big chains which are suffering. We have lots of empty shops in
my nearest High Street in Rayleigh. Now and again I see a new shop opening up, and instinctively know, they aren't going to last long. Those selling baby clothes are a prime example, few lasting more than a year. Possibly as they only take out a 12 month lease. A shop opened last year, selling computer bits and pieces, that has now gone, replaced by a chap selling second hand phones and accessories. I don't expect him to be there for very long.

We have lots of places to eat and drink, charity shops, shops selling cheap clothes, banks , building societies, and a couple of discount shops. It seems to be the norm for most towns now.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 2,343

HMV...do we care?!

Errr, yes in some way I do care about HMV, but not from a business perspective...I've spent many an afternoon just browsing the shelves in HMV...it certainly helps to kill a few hours when your stuck with nothing to do. However, as it has already been said, I often found them too expensive and their customer service standards did seem to change for the worse. And as soon as I had found something I wanted, I made a mental note of the price, and then went home and bought it online via a cheaper retailer or just downloaded it via iTunes.

As for other shops that could be under threat...how about Waterstones; very similar in a way to HMV, has it adapated its business model enough to cope with the digital revolution...? I thought they were in trouble a while back after they bought-out Books etc. but maybe they somehow survived the first blow, I wonder when the KO punch will come?

And another few...BHS/Debenhams?

Might surprise some on here that I mention these two, however I find them both selling the same kind of things, all of which you can now tend to buy in the bigger supermarket outlets, and often at much cheaper prices.