HMV set to go into administration

[originalbadboy]

A shame. In a few years time we'll be telling our kids about the days when Amazon wasn't the only shop.

I would be laughing if it wasn't for the fact that will almost certainly happen the way things are going.....

[gambit6613]

Whats even more sad is if HMV do indeed go bust just where the hell am i supposed to go when the Mrs drags me shopping? I used to just entertain myself in HMV, Jessops and before it was ruined by Game, Gamestation. What the f'ing hell am i supposed to do now

[Grapple Convoy]

However, I'm not sorry to see HMV go. Like GAME they insisted on non-competitive prices for seemingly no reason at all. I also had a bad experience with getting my 3DS from there, although in the end they did sort it out.

We're one step closer to a future where entertainment retail is online-only. That is NOT a good thing. Yes, Game and HMV very often have/had prices that are uncompetitive, but just you wait and see how reasonable prices will be on Amazon et al when they have a de facto monopoly over those sort of goods. Never mind the fact that the games, music etc industries are going to take quite a dent once the average punter can no longer buy entertainment media on the high street.

[EvilBoris]

Well we only have ourselves to blame as consumers.

[Neil]

I feel sorry for anyone losing a job but lets face it HMV were crap.

[CMcK]

Amazon is making life very difficult for retailers. Amazon turn tiny profits on a massive turnover and don't seem to get any bother from investors. It's mental.
Game, Zavvi, MVC, HMV, Jessops etc all suffer when profits aren't so good but everyone just turns a blind eye to Amazon. How on earth do you compete with a multi national Goliath that doesn't have to play by the same rules?
Once Bezos has achieved his goal of making Walmart look like Nisa wait and see how long it is before prices rocket. We'll be glad digital distribution is an option for entertainment products.
Old fashioned gits like me that use CDs and Blu-ray are running out of places to buy discs now. Supermarkets will never replace the likes of HMV for range of titles only stocking new releases and compilations.

[tokyochojin]

Wow, this is a shock to hear and a shame for all those who are working there. In the 90s I loved HMV as they were one of the first place to start stocking Anime and it was my main place to go to buy Dreamcast games. Still, it's the way of the world and I think Japan must be the only place left in the world where video rental and game shops, rather than streaming, are still the norm!

[buster_broon]

The administrators have been called in now

[Yakumo]

HMV in Japan went tits up years ago. In fact they were doing **** in the 90's as well. I remember the Japanese coming to HMV Liverpool to see how the store should be run.

It is indeed sad news to see HMV go. I worked there in the mid to late 90's. Staff knew their **** too unlike other stores. Prices were always HMV's biggest problem. The head office management were too far up their own arses that they couldn't understand things such as price matching even in the mid 90's. I remember I got a load of import Saturn games in to the store to sell before the UK system was ever released. I planned on selling titles for about 60 pound a pop still making about 15 to 18 pound on each game. The big wigs wouldn't allow it and wanted to sell **** like Side Pocket 2 fort 80 pounds!!! I told them nobody would pay that but they said we have to make so much % on mark up no matter what the item is. Bloody idiots. It's probably this way of thinking which ****ed them over.

[kryss]

Guess that's me out of a job, then. Bugger.

Sorry to hear that dude :-(

[charlesr]

The Big Games Sale:
Halo4: ?42.99

Er.... I paid ?40 at launch in Argos.

DeciderVT - bummer

What shops can survive on the high street? Oil and Vinegar?

[Neon Ignition]

There's already reports of peeps being turned away with gift cards as of late yesterday so I can't be bothered trying it today. With the company size and low value the likely guess is it'll end up following GAME and being downsized with all the needless multiple stores in single locations being shut and business streamlined. It might not save it but hopefully will buy it time to allow customers to use the giftcards rather than get ripped off. Ironically, I'm now almost left with GAME as my only choice, either that or wait and rely on CEX. Bad news for the publishers :/

[arcnas]

WWE 13 is also ?40 in the sale, amazon and shopto do it for around ?20, so you can cleary see they are nowhere near competitive, i still thinks its a real shame that another big store is going down the pan.

[vanpeebles]

How on earth do you compete with a multi national Goliath that doesn't have to play by the same rules?

You need protection and laws from the goverment to back your own companies, something this country has struggled with and failed to do for decades. We had the best national companies in the world and let them all get ran down or go for a song to foreign multi nationals.

[originalbadboy]

How on earth do you compete with a multi national Goliath that doesn't have to play by the same rules?

I don't think its about Amazon not playing by the same rules, I just think they have a different attitude to how they run things. And in all fariness you cannot blame them for that. If Amazon have profitted from how they run their business, then maybe the other companies in question should have done the same thing?

In the end you have to adapt to survive, and UK shops are not doing that, its that simple really.