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Fitter Stoke 2612 posts |
Edited Jan 06, 2020, 09:20
Jan 05, 2020, 23:57
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Well, I've done my best to support a struggling high street business, but after today I'm walking away. Like most of you referencing these auspicious pages, I'm a music lover and ever keen to satiate my addiction for music. Although I now (belatedly) indulge in streaming, it's usually to audition recordings which, if I dig, I'll go on to buy in a tangible format. More often than not I do so at HMV, if only because independent record shops are, geographically, a little out of my reach most of the time. Today I ventured into my local HMV, as I do at least once a week, for a bit browse. Wow. CDs and LPs that have lay gathering dust for months were still there, but with fresh price stickers showing higher prices than before. "Two For £10" stickers have suddenly become "Two for £12". Naxos CDs are no longer two for a tenner but are £7.99 each. Vinyl seems to have risen by even more. Keith Jarrett's 'Koln Concert' CD - a 45 year old recording - is now priced at a ludicrous £17.99. And that's only a few things I remember seeing. Then there's the farce that is the reintroduced loyalty card scheme. Assuming you can actually access the damn thing (a challenge for even the most experienced hacker), you can only spend any accumulated points on discounts of £5 per umpteen thousand points, and then only if you've got a smartphone to show an accompanying barcode. And only on purchases you've made in the last month. And by 10 January. The conditions are so restrictive I suspect few will get anything. (I never did get the six month subscription to Mojo I'd earned just before HMV nearly went tits up at the end of 2018, but that's another story.) All told, I don't think that HMV's new owners seriously expect the chain to survive. They certainly don't appear to encouraging custom from long term punters like me. With the greatest respect to their long-suffering employees (I used to be one, long, long ago), HMV can bugger off. I'm done with them. |
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thesussexidler 64 posts |
Jan 06, 2020, 09:53
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| I agree, sadly. The prices are crazy & its stock is heavily geared towards older product. No vibe, silly posters, mugs & album frames. Luckily, I do have good access to the excellent Resident in Brighton which is a world - a universe, in fact - apart. In stores, cutting edge music and old skool passion. | |
Zariadris 286 posts |
Edited Jan 06, 2020, 11:32
Jan 06, 2020, 10:59
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Does anyone ever make it over to Ultima Thule? They still around? As a New Yorker I lament the passing of Other Music and Kim's, and fondly remember the Great Krautrock Revival of the mid to late 90s when I could always go in and discover a new release by Spalax, Germanofone, Garden of Delights, etc, all imports for which I'd shell out $20 a pop. Bought Krautrocksampler at OM too. One of my great regrets was not spending $100 for the ultra-rare Private Tapes box set by MG. I still wake up screaming sometimes, vividly picturing it just sitting there, all alone behind the glass of that special box set display case...Ah, the ones that got away... |
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Zariadris 286 posts |
Edited Jan 06, 2020, 11:25
Jan 06, 2020, 11:24
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...and I'm floored you guys still have HMV. I thought they were D-E-D dead. The big box stores like HMV and Tower (Virgin, R.I.P) have all gone the way of the Dodo bird in America's insane rental market. Somehow the excellent Amoeba records in LA and Frisco hangs on. God, I miss those daze of flipping obsessively through the bins, the clack of the jewel cases, the surreptitious glance at what your neighbor just snatched up before you had a chance... And now what? To paraphrase the Stones: Amazon, Bandcamp, it's just a click away, it's just a click away... |
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Fitter Stoke 2612 posts |
Jan 06, 2020, 17:07
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Zariadris wrote: ...and I'm floored you guys still have HMV. I thought they were D-E-D dead. Well, they've been given the last rites more than once in the last decade, only to be bought out at the last minute by third party funders who've shed stores and attempted to revamp the few that are left without success. The current owner is a Canadian conglomerate which has gamely tried to rebrand HMV as a record shop (!) with an increased focus on vinyl, albeit at now stupidly high prices. I can't see them holding on much longer. Thankfully I've amassed enough of a collection to keep me going though what time I have left! Loved the Stones reference by the way!
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Monganaut 2380 posts |
Edited Jan 06, 2020, 18:12
Jan 06, 2020, 18:04
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Brum store for the chop, though I read in some local rag that it was to make way for a 'mega' HMV store. Dunno if this is to go ahead, we'll see. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/hmv-returns-birmingham-ikea-new-16832051 edit, looks like it's opened already, though in adead part of the city centre, so I'm guessing it won't be there long https://thevinylfactory.com/news/hmv-new-store-birmingham-25000-records-hmvvault/ There are several more stores for the chop in the midlands, mostly larger market towns like Worcester, Coventry etc...I must admit, that I feel bad for those places as most don't possess a indie store. So I guess it's online shopping for music for those peeps. Must admit, I don't think I've been in an HMV store in about a decade or more. Back then music was giving up space to DVD and blu ray, so can't say it's a personal blow.
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garerama 1115 posts |
Edited Jan 06, 2020, 20:50
Jan 06, 2020, 20:49
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Edinburgh one closing on 25th January. We still have a Fopp and fortunate enough to have some great secondhand shops throughout the city - two are in Leith Walk, walking distance from my work (lunchtime browsing). I too much prefer to have physical copies and also to use physical shops rather than the internet but then again there is an option here. Finding that quite a lot of second hand shops now use Discogs as a price guide so depending on what you are after you can often get good copies a lot cheaper than you would from the likes of HMV and Fopp. Vinyl is my preference lately so it is usually a hit or miss with re-releases from HMV and Fopp. Sad to see HMV go though and that it's closing before my next payday ... January is never a flush month - so I think I will avoid HMV as I do not want to see the closing down sale as there is sufficient stuff there that is near impossible or expensive to find secondhand .... so the only way would be to take the chance and get new.
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keith a 9573 posts |
Jan 06, 2020, 21:02
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I try and support my local independent shop which mainly stocks vinyl, but I do buy cd's from my nearest HMV in Chester. Got to say on I totally disagree with the sentiment here. Sure there are some expensive items in there, esp vinyl, but vinyl everywhere has gone up. The record industry has always been quite happy to rip us off! If they are too expensive there then I don't buy them. But there are lots of items at decent prices, too. I have picked up some really good recent stuff at 2 for £15 of late, older ones for 2 for ten and some cheap vinyl in sales, too. The staff in my local one are helpful, too. Can't fault them, and would hate them to lose their jobs. Call me old-fashioned, but I think we should be supporting record shops. not having a major bash at them because of a bad experience. The High Street will be a worse place for not having a HMV as far as I'm concerned. |
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ayjayemm 32 posts |
Jan 06, 2020, 22:44
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Over twenty years ago I worked in a record shop (..part of a small independent chain in the Northwest). Even Back then, in order to make a (relatively small) profit on a full price LP you were looking at over £20. Full priced CDs had to be retailed at between £15 and £20. Unless we got significant deals from the labels, we struggled to match prices with Virgin, HMV, and the supermarket chains. Eventually, in 1999/2000, the shops had all been closed. All this before internet culture became what it is today. I'm sick of hearing people say physical formats are too expensive whilst simultaneously bemoaning the loss of independent ( and big name) stores. People seem happy to spend a fortune going to the cinema, or to gigs these days, but seem reluctant to actually pay an artist for their work. Streaming services pay artists in millionths of a penny per play, making it impossible to financially recoup from then unless you're Beyonce. If people stop buying music on physical formats (preferrably direct from the artist a la HH), it's over. Virtually all artists will no longer be able to afford to make new music. Even without allowing for inflaton, most Records and CDs are cheaper now than they were twenty years ago. So it's a simple choice; support the artists or watch them disappear.
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Popel Vooje 5373 posts |
Jan 07, 2020, 02:18
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Zariadris wrote: Does anyone ever make it over to Ultima Thule? They still around? As a New Yorker I lament the passing of Other Music and Kim's, and fondly remember the Great Krautrock Revival of the mid to late 90s when I could always go in and discover a new release by Spalax, Germanofone, Garden of Delights, etc, all imports for which I'd shell out $20 a pop. Bought Krautrocksampler at OM too. One of my great regrets was not spending $100 for the ultra-rare Private Tapes box set by MG. I still wake up screaming sometimes, vividly picturing it just sitting there, all alone behind the glass of that special box set display case...Ah, the ones that got away... Ultima Thule still exists as an online mail order business, but the brick and mortar shop in Leicester closed a long time ago for financial reasons. Alan Freeman still moderates a krautrock group on Facebook that I post on from time to time. |
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