No - the supermarkets are too cheap. I think that people's perception of the value of music and film has gone down because a song is something you can listen to on YouTube and a film is something you can get off The Pirate Bay. When you consider albums used to be the equivalent of £20 in the days of vinyl, and were £13-14 ten years ago, now HMV are selling chart CDs at under £10.
Considering how much money goes into the production of music and film and how many hours of entertainment we get from them, HMV's prices are good value.
Regardless, it will be SO sad if HMV and Waterstones go under. I'd barely see the point in going shopping any more frankly.
Albums weren't that expensive in the days of vinyl. You could afford them on pocket money prices. i can remember going out and buying music and still having plenty of change for comics and the cinema.
In the late Eighties, compact discs were £9.99 and even cheaper when Our Price had a sale. I miss Our Price you could pick up a compact disc for under four pounds and it was a good one.
I've said it before but I do miss Fopp badly because they got it so right - a serious selection of music and films at very reasonable prices. Though I'm really not sure why Fopp flopped, wasn't it down to some internal balls up?
Fopp was very much missed. Prices were a little high though. You could get some bargains and some lovely books.
Fopp was very much missed. Prices were a little high though. You could get some bargains and some lovely books.
they're chart stuff wasn't so competitive in regards to price but on the whole everything eles was very reasonable IMO, usually around the fiver mark for an album - still not as cheap as t'net but a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere eles on the high street plus they had a great selection - you wanted something obsucre, on vinyl even, chances are they'd have it in stock. Great foriegn language films at very good prices (unlike HMV) and yes and a great selection of books.
they're chart stuff wasn't so competitive in regards to price but on the whole everything eles was very reasonable IMO, usually around the fiver mark for an album - still not as cheap as t'net but a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere eles on the high street plus they had a great selection - you wanted something obsucre, on vinyl even, chances are they'd have it in stock. Great foriegn language films at very good prices (unlike HMV) and yes and a great selection of books.
HMV can be cheap in London for foreign languages films.
I am waiting for Kites. It seems a long time coming!
I can't remember the last time I brought something from HMV, and I'm a massive music, and film fan!!
Online music/dvd shopping can't be beat these days, due to the range, and selection (you can find literally any film or Cd you want from Amazon and co.) and price!!
Obviously piracy is alot more common now, and people can download the albums or films they want in a matter of minutes, for free....
I've said it before but I do miss Fopp badly because they got it so right - a serious selection of music and films at very reasonable prices. Though I'm really not sure why Fopp flopped, wasn't it down to some internal balls up?
I don't know where you are lil lexie but Fopp is alive and well in Manchester, I think they have a couple of more stores about too.
HMV can be cheap in London for foreign languages films.
I am waiting for Kites. It seems a long time coming!
not my local HMV, you want to watch something with a subtitle then you better be prepared to pay through the nose.
Saying that though, I did pick up the Almodovar boxset in one of sales, which was a good price but apart from that they can be rather expensive I have found, I guess it varies from store to store.
what are they like price wise now they are owned by HMV?
For chart DVDs they are the same as HMV, but they still have loads of quirky bargain CD and DVDs. I recently got the Top Gear Back in the fast lane/ Revved up / Winter Olympic 3 DVD set for £3 in there, where as in HMV it was £10.
If it wasn't for the HMV style price stickers, you really wouldn't think that HMV owned Fopp.
For chart DVDs they are the same as HMV, but they still have loads of quirky bargain CD and DVDs. I recently got the Top Gear Back in the fast lane/ Revved up / Winter Olympic 3 DVD set for £3 in there, where as in HMV it was £10.
If it wasn't for the HMV style price stickers, you really wouldn't think that HMV owned Fopp.
see, this is the thing, how can HMV justify charging £3 for an item in one of it's stores and £10 in another?
they could easily bring their prices down but appears they chose not to.
I've said it before but I do miss Fopp badly because they got it so right - a serious selection of music and films at very reasonable prices. Though I'm really not sure why Fopp flopped, wasn't it down to some internal balls up?
fopp was originally a sole trading company and for a long time only had 3 stores and a concession. it used to mainly appeal to students and sell a lot of indie, dance, hip hop and vinyl rather than try and compete with hmv/virgin in selling chart stuff
they then started opening more stores and trying to take some of the hmv/virgin market, opening fancy starbucks/ikea styled stores that cost a lot to put together, whereas the old stores were a bit of a mess, but the customers didn't care. also, opening new stores meant that they lost the personal touch, particularly in staffing, so the stores ended up with a personality more like hmv/virgin instead of local stores
the problem is just after/during expanding and spending a lot of money on new stores, the internet became popular, and most of the regular customers move to buying online for cheaper, or downloading from napster which then came along. the indie styling of the stores changed, so the indie fans and students preferred stores like avalanche instead
fopp then started getting more into dvds and then books, but downloading and online sales took up that market, and they went under. hmv then bought up a few of the best trading stores and they keep trading today as fopp
i knew the guy who owned the company, and another guy who helped him in business in the early days. my old boss owned a number of properties including one of the early fopp stores, and i later worked for them for a bit. i remember when the original store moved and my boss took back the property and there was a load of leftover cds lying around. i used to know the guys who ran the store that went bust in which fopp moved to, and that store is now long closed. i think closing one of the original stores and moving to a more expensive property was the start of the decline
i also used to work for hmv for a bit. there were all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons why prices where what they were. at the time, there was an agreement with record companies that stock wasn't reduced in price to clear. sometimes unsold stock would be returned, and the sale stock was actually new stock resold to hmv at a lower price, and that's why you had some stock in the store at the sale price, and one or two copies on the racks at the original higher price. behind/inside the floor standing racks was piles of unsold crap albums waiting to be returned. there were all sorts of scams going on with record companies trying to push sales, such as free holidays, free bars, free gig tickets etc if so many units were shifted
You've all answered the question. You all want things as cheaply as possible. If HMV goes out of business your all to blame because you all want everything as cheap as possible. People don't want to put their hands in their pocket anymore. Just like the young generation ruined things with their MP3s and silly gadgets, you now have the bookworms doing with their kindles. Soon enough physical copies of books will die out. The high street dies because the public want everything as cheap as they can get it.
fopp was originally a sole trading company and for a long time only had 3 stores and a concession. it used to mainly appeal to students and sell a lot of indie, dance, hip hop and vinyl rather than try and compete with hmv/virgin in selling chart stuff
they then started opening more stores and trying to take some of the hmv/virgin market, opening fancy starbucks/ikea styled stores that cost a lot to put together, whereas the old stores were a bit of a mess, but the customers didn't care. also, opening new stores meant that they lost the personal touch, particularly in staffing, so the stores ended up with a personality more like hmv/virgin instead of local stores
the problem is just after/during expanding and spending a lot of money on new stores, the internet became popular, and most of the regular customers move to buying online for cheaper, or downloading from napster which then came along. the indie styling of the stores changed, so the indie fans and students preferred stores like avalanche instead
fopp then started getting more into dvds and then books, but downloading and online sales took up that market, and they went under. hmv then bought up a few of the best trading stores and they keep trading today as fopp
i knew the guy who owned the company, and another guy who helped him in business in the early days. my old boss owned a number of properties including one of the early fopp stores, and i later worked for them for a bit. i remember when the original store moved and my boss took back the property and there was a load of leftover cds lying around. i used to know the guys who ran the store that went bust in which fopp moved to, and that store is now long closed. i think closing one of the original stores and moving to a more expensive property was the start of the decline
i also used to work for hmv for a bit. there were all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons why prices where what they were. at the time, there was an agreement with record companies that stock wasn't reduced in price to clear. sometimes unsold stock would be returned, and the sale stock was actually new stock resold to hmv at a lower price, and that's why you had some stock in the store at the sale price, and one or two copies on the racks at the original higher price. behind/inside the floor standing racks was piles of unsold crap albums waiting to be returned. there were all sorts of scams going on with record companies trying to push sales, such as free holidays, free bars, free gig tickets etc if so many units were shifted
an insightful post there. So it appears that a number of factors contibuted to it's demise.
Just out odf interest, which company was better to work for, Fopp or HMV?
Although I always check HMV's prices before I buy any DVDa, games, etc. I don't often buy from them simply because they are usually more expensive than other stores.
One game I was looking at recently I think was £49.99 on HMV's website yet was £34.99 at Amazon and ShopTo.net so obviously I didn't bother buying it from HMV.
You've all answered the question. You all want things as cheaply as possible. If HMV goes out of business your all to blame because you all want everything as cheap as possible. People don't want to put their hands in their pocket anymore. Just like the young generation ruined things with their MP3s and silly gadgets, you now have the bookworms doing with their kindles. Soon enough physical copies of books will die out. The high street dies because the public want everything as cheap as they can get it.
Erm, yeah obviously - Who wants to spend more when you can get the same thing for less?
Of course consumers want the cheapest price possible - we're not all made of money!!
I think they will start closing stores in areas that don't do much trade to save the buisness as a whole. Their online store can be cheaper then Amazon and Play sometimes. When I want to purchase a certain DVD or Blu-Ray I always check the price on all the different stores including the supermarkets, as they are also cheaper online than in their stores sometimes.
You've all answered the question. You all want things as cheaply as possible. If HMV goes out of business your all to blame because you all want everything as cheap as possible. People don't want to put their hands in their pocket anymore. Just like the young generation ruined things with their MP3s and silly gadgets, you now have the bookworms doing with their kindles. Soon enough physical copies of books will die out. The high street dies because the public want everything as cheap as they can get it.
Completely ridiculous! Of course people want things as cheaply as possible. Why pay the full whack just to think that you're keeping people in jobs? It's all very well if you've "got money", but for the less well off, they've got to get things as cheap as possible.
This is the problem with the high street in general, cos of the Internet etc. i just find high street shops far too expensive.
Why dont these retailers understand they need to keep their prices low to encourage people to actually continue spending and buying stuff in store, thus bringing in more money for the company? Especially with VAT going up in January! HMV is not the only store who are in need to do this.
Completely ridiculous! Of course people want things as cheaply as possible. Why pay the full whack just to think that you're keeping people in jobs? It's all very well if you've "got money", but for the less well off, they've got to get things as cheap as possible.
I completely understand that but i'm just saying when more and more high street stores die off you can't exactly complain can you? None of you can since you all make the conscious effort to shop elsewhere.
I completely understand that but i'm just saying when more and more high street stores die off you can't exactly complain can you? None of you can since you all make the conscious effort to shop elsewhere.
I don't think people JUST shop online. They'll likely fancy a look out one day and then buy some media.
I don't know where you are lil lexie but Fopp is alive and well in Manchester, I think they have a couple of more stores about too.
I miss Music Zone, now there was a good shop.
In London it was possible to watch the whole Fopp/Music Zone debacle unfold. We had a shop on Chiswick High Road called MVC (Music and Video Club) where two prices were displayed on CDs, DVDs etc. You paid the higher price unless you were a "member" of the club, so everyone filled in a form to get discounts. Then they dropped the membership card and charged everyone the same price. It was a pleasant shop with a good range including jazz, world music etc and had lots of headphones to listen on.
But it went out of business and Music Zone took over the premises. Music Zone was much scruffier, had a much more limited choice and seemed only to stock CDs and DVDs that were being sold off cheap by the publishers. It was OK but it couldn't compete with the groovy little shop that opened across the street - Fopp.
So everyone switched from MVC/Music Zone to Fopp and it wasn't long before Music Zone went out of business. What happened next defied logic. Fopp took over the scruffy Music Zone shop which by now no one shopped in. It was far too big, in a bad location and lacked the atmosphere and credibility of the small Fopp across the road. And then Fopp went out of business too.
As others have said, whatever your views on a company it's not good when it goes out of business and people lose their jobs. But the saga of that one shop, from innovative music and DVD retailer to expensive waste of space, shows the impact a succession of bad decisions can have on the high street. We lost Our Price, we lost MVC, Music Zone and Fopp. Now have an independent music and film shop which I hope succeeds where others have failed.
Comments
Albums weren't that expensive in the days of vinyl. You could afford them on pocket money prices. i can remember going out and buying music and still having plenty of change for comics and the cinema.
In the late Eighties, compact discs were £9.99 and even cheaper when Our Price had a sale. I miss Our Price you could pick up a compact disc for under four pounds and it was a good one.
Not much change in price at all.
Fopp was very much missed. Prices were a little high though. You could get some bargains and some lovely books.
they're chart stuff wasn't so competitive in regards to price but on the whole everything eles was very reasonable IMO, usually around the fiver mark for an album - still not as cheap as t'net but a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere eles on the high street plus they had a great selection - you wanted something obsucre, on vinyl even, chances are they'd have it in stock. Great foriegn language films at very good prices (unlike HMV) and yes and a great selection of books.
HMV can be cheap in London for foreign languages films.
I am waiting for Kites. It seems a long time coming!
I can't remember the last time I brought something from HMV, and I'm a massive music, and film fan!!
Online music/dvd shopping can't be beat these days, due to the range, and selection (you can find literally any film or Cd you want from Amazon and co.) and price!!
Obviously piracy is alot more common now, and people can download the albums or films they want in a matter of minutes, for free....
I don't know where you are lil lexie but Fopp is alive and well in Manchester, I think they have a couple of more stores about too.
I miss Music Zone, now there was a good shop.
not my local HMV, you want to watch something with a subtitle then you better be prepared to pay through the nose.
Saying that though, I did pick up the Almodovar boxset in one of sales, which was a good price but apart from that they can be rather expensive I have found, I guess it varies from store to store.
what are they like price wise now they are owned by HMV?
For chart DVDs they are the same as HMV, but they still have loads of quirky bargain CD and DVDs. I recently got the Top Gear Back in the fast lane/ Revved up / Winter Olympic 3 DVD set for £3 in there, where as in HMV it was £10.
If it wasn't for the HMV style price stickers, you really wouldn't think that HMV owned Fopp.
see, this is the thing, how can HMV justify charging £3 for an item in one of it's stores and £10 in another?
they could easily bring their prices down but appears they chose not to.
fopp was originally a sole trading company and for a long time only had 3 stores and a concession. it used to mainly appeal to students and sell a lot of indie, dance, hip hop and vinyl rather than try and compete with hmv/virgin in selling chart stuff
they then started opening more stores and trying to take some of the hmv/virgin market, opening fancy starbucks/ikea styled stores that cost a lot to put together, whereas the old stores were a bit of a mess, but the customers didn't care. also, opening new stores meant that they lost the personal touch, particularly in staffing, so the stores ended up with a personality more like hmv/virgin instead of local stores
the problem is just after/during expanding and spending a lot of money on new stores, the internet became popular, and most of the regular customers move to buying online for cheaper, or downloading from napster which then came along. the indie styling of the stores changed, so the indie fans and students preferred stores like avalanche instead
fopp then started getting more into dvds and then books, but downloading and online sales took up that market, and they went under. hmv then bought up a few of the best trading stores and they keep trading today as fopp
i knew the guy who owned the company, and another guy who helped him in business in the early days. my old boss owned a number of properties including one of the early fopp stores, and i later worked for them for a bit. i remember when the original store moved and my boss took back the property and there was a load of leftover cds lying around. i used to know the guys who ran the store that went bust in which fopp moved to, and that store is now long closed. i think closing one of the original stores and moving to a more expensive property was the start of the decline
i also used to work for hmv for a bit. there were all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons why prices where what they were. at the time, there was an agreement with record companies that stock wasn't reduced in price to clear. sometimes unsold stock would be returned, and the sale stock was actually new stock resold to hmv at a lower price, and that's why you had some stock in the store at the sale price, and one or two copies on the racks at the original higher price. behind/inside the floor standing racks was piles of unsold crap albums waiting to be returned. there were all sorts of scams going on with record companies trying to push sales, such as free holidays, free bars, free gig tickets etc if so many units were shifted
an insightful post there. So it appears that a number of factors contibuted to it's demise.
Just out odf interest, which company was better to work for, Fopp or HMV?
One game I was looking at recently I think was £49.99 on HMV's website yet was £34.99 at Amazon and ShopTo.net so obviously I didn't bother buying it from HMV.
Erm, yeah obviously - Who wants to spend more when you can get the same thing for less?
Of course consumers want the cheapest price possible - we're not all made of money!!
Completely ridiculous! Of course people want things as cheaply as possible. Why pay the full whack just to think that you're keeping people in jobs? It's all very well if you've "got money", but for the less well off, they've got to get things as cheap as possible.
Why dont these retailers understand they need to keep their prices low to encourage people to actually continue spending and buying stuff in store, thus bringing in more money for the company? Especially with VAT going up in January! HMV is not the only store who are in need to do this.
I completely understand that but i'm just saying when more and more high street stores die off you can't exactly complain can you? None of you can since you all make the conscious effort to shop elsewhere.
I don't think people JUST shop online. They'll likely fancy a look out one day and then buy some media.
In London it was possible to watch the whole Fopp/Music Zone debacle unfold. We had a shop on Chiswick High Road called MVC (Music and Video Club) where two prices were displayed on CDs, DVDs etc. You paid the higher price unless you were a "member" of the club, so everyone filled in a form to get discounts. Then they dropped the membership card and charged everyone the same price. It was a pleasant shop with a good range including jazz, world music etc and had lots of headphones to listen on.
But it went out of business and Music Zone took over the premises. Music Zone was much scruffier, had a much more limited choice and seemed only to stock CDs and DVDs that were being sold off cheap by the publishers. It was OK but it couldn't compete with the groovy little shop that opened across the street - Fopp.
So everyone switched from MVC/Music Zone to Fopp and it wasn't long before Music Zone went out of business. What happened next defied logic. Fopp took over the scruffy Music Zone shop which by now no one shopped in. It was far too big, in a bad location and lacked the atmosphere and credibility of the small Fopp across the road. And then Fopp went out of business too.
As others have said, whatever your views on a company it's not good when it goes out of business and people lose their jobs. But the saga of that one shop, from innovative music and DVD retailer to expensive waste of space, shows the impact a succession of bad decisions can have on the high street. We lost Our Price, we lost MVC, Music Zone and Fopp. Now have an independent music and film shop which I hope succeeds where others have failed.
Otherwise they too will be doing impressions of dodos.