Does Hmv Music Stores Have A Future ?

[LochNessMonster]

The company has appointed administrators to save its stores.

[boxtops]

Yep, it was on the radio just now. The feature didn't sound very promising.

[MrIncredible]

Cant see how can they can compete with amazon play.com etc! Won't be long until all you see on the high streets are charity shops and coffee shops

[boxtops]

...and betting shops - yet another closed pub in our town is opening up as a branch of William Hill's

[emmie]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1207232-2.html#answer-7643861

[emmie]

what one doesn't use, like the local shops will eventually close, it isn't hard to see why HMV have struggled.

[tonyav]

I think book shops may well get hit next ie Waterstones.

[emmie]

tonyav, quite possibly, the fact that amazon undercuts almost every business, if we all didn't use it, some of these established businesses might have survived. Our shopping habits have changed out of all recognition in the last ten years, or less. I see high streets where only the biggest chains survive, and in the case of HMV, it has seen it's sales go down because of the easy availability of shopping online, cheaper and perhaps quicker

[tonyav]

Yes em, thats exactly right.

[AB Editor]

No, not really as far as I can see.

"I think book shops may well get hit next ie Waterstones."

Waterstones has made an agreement with amazon to set up a kind of "waterstones store" through amazon - in exchange for selling kindles in-house. It seems pretty reasonable and I can't see them dying our right now. Boarders has already gone (although went because of mismanagement, not online pressure/threat.) so I'm not sure if there's any big book sellers left?

[tonyav]

How about WH Smiths Ed ?.

[Old_Geezer]

I'm unsure why any of them struggle. They had the same opportunity to create a web presence and trade didn't they ? And the advantage of already having funds, not having to rely on venture capital. Sure they may have old stock that's difficult to shift, but if it's a liability one can always get rid of it if the price is right.

But I can see that even if a particular established comapny survives, they may need fewer shop fronts. It's good to have a reminder as folk stroll by, but it needs not to lose more than they'd gain from the effective ad of them being there.

I tend to think HMV must have the same future as, say, Woolworths or Comet, given they have reached this stage.

[AB Editor]

"How about WH Smiths Ed ?."

They're not much of a book shop!

Besides, their main business plan going forward is to ensure they've got a store in every airport and train station - places where you can charge £5 for a ballpoint pen... While this is fine, I don't think this is helpful for "the highstreet".

Nicely put O_G.

What will take the place of these stores in the long run? They're massive, usually too big for local start-ups?

[AB Editor]

Additionally, HMV hasn't got the range it used to. You used to be able to find anything in there - but recentlt it's been rows of the same, popular, stuff.

The real sadness will be if Fopp goes - they catered for a few niche genres thoroughly.

[bibblebub]

What will take the place of these stores in the long run?

in some of them, indoor markets with stalls run by individuals

[jno]

OG, I think having shopfronts and people to man them is a major expense Amazon doesn't have. (So is paying tax.) All they need is a barn off the M1. They have used Waterstones (etc) as a shopfront: people see a book in a shop, like it, but buy it from Amazon. I wonder if life will be quite so easy for Amazon when they don't have other people's shops to display their wares?

[AB Editor]

"in some of them, indoor markets with stalls run by individuals"

Have you seen this happen already? Certainly a nice idea.

[AB Editor]

"I wonder if life will be quite so easy for Amazon when they don't have other people's shops to display their wares?"

I don't know, I get most of my book ideas via recommendations - I've not just gone to "browse" for a long time. Possibly because I don't have time to read something if it's not going to be good any more, and the recommendation does something to ensure that I don't pick up any crap :)

Amazon is, however, very poor at displaying its wares.

[jno]

there's already a book market under Waterloo Bridge. It's huge by market stall standards but tiny by Waterstones'. I suspect the same will be true of CD/DVD market stalls.

[tonyav]

Your right about the lack of range Ed, went into a HMV store fairly recently thought that I would have a browse through their Northern Soul section, they had two cd's and that was all ( and both of those were compilations ).

[bibblebub]

indoor markets - there are just one or two locally, but there are so many stands clogging up the high street that getting at least some of them into one place would seem like a good idea all round (easier for pedestrians to walk down the street and they would keep dry).