Does anyone still shop at HMV?

Went and had a nose around the HMV in the bullring in Birmingham this week. No promotions, no sales, no blue crosses and they even had easter POS in there, it was as if nothing had happened! Weird.

Dundee HMV had bogof blue cross at the weekend (one week only) but nothing I didn't already have.

Newport HMV due to close next week, removed all their blue crosses, all discount signage, everything back to full price and large "Closing down - everything must go" signs outside removed yesterday. Strange.

Fopp have put that Brian Ferry 'Olympia' super deluxe edition up in price by £100 but there's a blue cross on it to sweeten the deal

they're even botching going out of business!

Or a plot is afoot and they're not going out of business...

Is there anywhere in London one can buy the Dawn Richard album? Went to Banquet in Kingston in wind and snow last week and they were sold out. HMV having presumably crashed through the basement, the only other options appear to be specialist shops who are too "cool" to stock such a record. I mean, it has tunes and things. The outrage!

The whole middleground of popular music is turning into a sinkhole.

Big poster in Newport HMV window saying "We're staying here", seems the store has been 'saved' and is remaining after all. Should've bought those St Et reissues on Monday when they were still discounted. On the other hand, I'm pleased Newport still has a mainstream record shop.

Fopp Nottingham is returning to normal - decent selection of new releases again.

Central London record shopping has now become a contradiction in terms. Hideous, not what I came to London for 32 years ago, etc.

Went back to Banquet and ordered the Dawn Richard album from them. Apparently no other London record shops wanted to stock the album, which depresses me but doesn't surprise me, given the "hipster" (read: "hippie") specialist shops who are quite happy to stock 40-year-old black music and corporate indie rubbish but not contemporary R&B.

Is there any feasible online alternative to Amazon? It seems to be the only way to get any music now.

Piccadilly Records are good, but guess what, no Dawn Richard. http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/shop/index.php

And trawling search results for "dawn richard goldenheart cd" returns first Amazon, 2nd Sainsburys (!) and 3rd..... Banquet Records!

Newport HMV due to close next week, removed all their blue crosses, all discount signage, everything back to full price and large "Closing down - everything must go" signs outside removed yesterday. Strange.

yeah, exactly the same is true of the argyle street branch in glasgow.

Central London record shopping has now become a contradiction in terms. Hideous, not what I came to London for 32 years ago, etc.

was in London last week and was pretty saddened by the decline or disappearance of most of my favorite rec shop haunts. also went to notting hill and saw the continuing shrinkage of the music and video exchange empire, and an announcement that they were finally abandoning their 'nothing legal refused' policy. truly we are living in the last days etc.

I was walking past the Edinburgh Princes Street branch today and noticed a sign saying that the store had been been saved and would be staying open.

Well, I shall be checking it out on Friday, Fopp anyway...

I was walking past the Edinburgh Princes Street branch today and noticed a sign saying that the store had been been saved and would be staying open.

Yeah I noticed the other day they'd taken down the 'shutting' stuff, but then I did notice that the St. James Centre one had shut today.

Had a potter round the Basingstoke branch the other day but realised my good will towards the chain has dissipated.

^ I totally agree. When Woolworths went under I felt a genuine sadness and nostalgia. With HMV I just have no fucks to give, they just come across as greedy bastards.

The Newport branch closing was interesting to see, because once all the electrical goods had disappeared - as soon as they went into administration all the high end products got removed - they had loads of shelves to fill and just brought out any rubbish they had lying around. So first of all it was a load of books which nobody in their right mind would read, then they piled high old ipod nano and phone covers for 50p each, then a load of games and nonsense appeared which I'd never seen before, Rubiks Chase and notebooks that looked like cassettes and trivia quiz books (and even then the Stylophone was twice the price I'd paid for one in the same shop two years ago). And as for cds, well they brought out all their Christmas stock - a whole wall of Xmas albums. I was left with the impression that whoever ordered all this shit for HMV to sell had no idea of what consumers from a record shop wanted to buy.

Ridiculous.

There was lots of Xmas stuff in the Bracknell branh, true..

HMV sold

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22040237

Fopp too

hurrah!

I hate the phrase "hit hard" in that BBC article, "couldn't adapt" feels more accurate to me.

It is the BBC. Surprised that they didn't say "The trouble with HMV is that it didn't WANT to work."

Shops to be saved: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/05/hmv-sold-hilco-saves-jobs-shops

I think I prefer to be sad about the death of HMV, than happy about the rescuing of the shops.

I'm happy for all the staff, but unless everyone goes back to buying physical media, the stores are able to support the kind of catalog that music lovers would prefer and the lack of game in the high street sends everyone back to HMV for their playstation4s and their xbox720s.

this is going to be like the "yaay, virgin megastores were saved" > "what the hell is a zavvi" > "oh, is that a clothes shop now?"

The quotes in those links suggest they're gonna ditch the electronics and go back to selling music. Companies diversifying too much and forgetting about their core business happens quite a lot and hilco look like they've got the wherewithal to make shops bearable again. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Picked up the Dawn Richard album from Banquet on Saturday. Wow, what a record.

If HMV is going to come back from the dead I expect them to start re-stocking stuff like this.

damn.

the stocks in bristol hmv/fopp are running low - both shops looking very desperate at the moment.

guess some contracts/dots/crosses on t's etc are taking some doing ...

That's sad because I was in the Canary Wharf branch a week or so ago and it had a back catalogue type section again. First time for I guess 5 years. They'd given over space for the DVDs and consoles and I noticed a few McCartney and Aaliyah cds there. Yay!

That store / clientele is odd though, so maybe not much to be taken from this.

(Don't shit on my McCartney love. I dare you.)

oh yes ..

they have extended the racks for more crappy dvds of stuff that has been on tv several times in the last 4 years ...
so there is clearly a new direction kicking in - underlined by the knock down prices on 'angry birds' for iphone tat that they are trying to get rid of.

but i suspect its a case of filling empty racks with stock they already had behind the scenes ...

Well. I'd consider those two examples I gave as necessary in any good record shop. But, yes I may be mistaken. They might be filling the racks with stock idiots haven't bought.

The current clearance sale in HMV and Fopp stores is worth a look, and better value than the % off and 2-for-1 deals being run when they were in administration. Basically, it's a 'try to shift our overstocks' thing and there's plenty of the usual rubbish on offer but also plenty of 2012 releases & reissues, heavily discounted. Best bargain spotted so far: M Mayer's Mantasy for £1.99 (tho' some stores charging more).

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/exclusive-hmv-to-return-to-its-1921-oxford-street-home-8659090.html

Going home...

Saw CDs of Bisch Bosch for £5.99, Grumbling Fur for £2.99 and Shabbaz Palaces for £3.99, amongst loads of other interesting stuff. Some crazy book deals as well - loads of S Reynolds for £1.99.

I picked up three Reynolds books for 99p each in Newport HMV last week, Cardiff HMV had a larger clearance section on CDs, a lot of recent Cherry Red reissues in there for £5.99 - ended up with the Luxuria 3 cd set for that price, nice to hear those LPs again, and the live disc was recorded 4 days after I saw them play at the Sheffield Leadmill.

Saw CDs of Bisch Bosch for £5.99

Bought CD of Bisch Bosch for £5.99. Didn't appear to much else worth bothering about and too much shite to vainly wade through tbh.

Bought the Wrongtom / Deemas J CD from last year (very good indeed) and the most recent Beachwood Sparks CD (never much bothered about them before, this one came highly recommended by someone I trust, haven't played it yet). Fiver each in Islington, seemed fair.

4 for £10 sale on some CDs and DVDs/BluRays in the Dundee branch today. Picked up the most recent Lindstrom, JJ Doom, Miguel, Jamie Woon, Summer Camp, Sinkane, Little Comets and Ben Gibbard. Lots of JLS and Little Mix piled up.

today :

recomposed by carl craig and moritz von oswald
lost songs by ..and you will know us by the trail of the dead
smalhans by lindstrom
bible belt by diane birch

all for a tenner.

now that's what i call a lunch hour.

an afternoons summary :

lost songs is ace, smalhans is more of what i'd expect from lindstrom, diane birch is gorgeous and worth entry fee for the cover alone, and recomposed will be a perfect autumnal late night soundtrack.

5 Ways HMV Will Change For The Better - By Hilco Boss
By NME Blog
Posted on Thursday, October 3, 2013

When HMV went into liquidation in January, many people assumed that was the end for nationwide chains of music stores. But in April, HMV was bought out for an estimated £50 million by Hilco. This week, HMV has re-opened its flagship store at 363 Oxford Street. Here, Hilco chief executive and HMV chairman Paul McGowan explains HMV’s future.

When Hilco bought HMV in April, lots of business people told us we were making a mistake. We were told nobody wanted to buy physical music any more, and that those who do only bought CDs from supermarkets. Our experience told us that was wrong. Three years ago, Hilco bought out HMV in Canada and we’ve seen over there that if you get people excited about going into your shops, they'll buy music. We’re aware that HMV made mistakes. The stores had stopped being fun places to go into. Once they got into debt, with no plan to bring things forward again, HMV lost its mojo. We rescued 141 branches when we took over HMV and we want to see more stores re-open, where possible. We’re re-opening stores in Watford and Swindon, for instance. These are the five ways HMV will change:

Improve what we stock
When Hilco took over, HMV could no longer afford to stock as many artists as it should. We’re putting a lot of effort into improving that. We need to stock as wide a range of music as possible. Band merchandise is something we want to engage with as well. You’ll see a good selection of T-shirts, mugs and so on for the bigger acts like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and it’s something that will get bigger.

Relaunch our digital store
HMV got left behind in the digital revolution and didn’t have a digital presence for too long. We need to quickly get HMV up to speed, and will be announcing a relaunch of our digital side within the next month, so that people can buy from us in the way they want.

Increase the number of Fopp stores
We rescued the nine remaining Fopp branches as part of the HMV deal. We’ve been examining what’s going on the independent record store market and learned some good practice there, which we can act on via Fopp. It’s quite a different brand from HMV and we’re looking to expand the number of Fopp stores.

In-store gigs
Blur played on the roof at 363 Oxford Street in 1995, and we want the return of event appearances like that. But it isn’t just about big names. Our Irish branches have specific evenings dedicated to breaking local new bands, and that’s something to consider in the UK too, as part of interacting with the music industry. Around October 18th, we’ll be announcing one of the biggest names in the world as playing a gig at our newly-reopened flagship store at 363 Oxford Street in London.

Listen to local stores
We’re building a programme that will let local staff to decide how high a percentage of product goes into their stores. So many cities have local scenes, and they need to be represented in our stores.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/5-ways-hmv-will-change-for-the-better-by-hilco-boss?recache=1&t=1231313#KTKItKX6qWl9R1Iz.99

finally somewhere to buy Beatles and Stones merch

Aside from the mugs thing, that's all good news.

My town needs a record shop

http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/hmv-relaunches-website-removes-online-physical-store/056542

huh.

(lol fopp just has a fb page)

Ox Circus HMV is running a massive everything must go sale, due to them moving to 636 Oxford street.

Someone needs to mention to them that the best way of ensuring that everything goes, is to reduce prices on items.