Another national chain about to go

Blockbuster have appointed administrators with a potential total job losses of 4,190. Can't say it's surprising. Who uses a video store these days?

 

Potentially nearly 10k people losing their jobs in a couple of months, and unfortunately will mostly be young people

 

The Job losses are a big problem, but tbh I'm suprised blockbuster were still around.

With the relative simplicity and low cost of the on demand movie businesses either by digital TV or on-line the writing has been on the wall for a while. Blockbusters typically situated in high rent local areas.

The highstreet is starting to look very different. It's cafe's coffee, food and charity shops left. If anyone is invested in coffee shops I'd suggest getting out now. Their trade is typically propped up by shoppers and shop workers so unless there's a decent supply of office workers they will be the next to go. Of course all franchise based, the companies themselves won't suffer, just the poor sods who have bought a franchise.

 

The thing is this could a sign of recovery - banks and other creditors are prepared to write off their losses now, happier that they can swallow them, rather than keep these failed businesses limping on by extending credit to them in the hope of eventually getting debt repayment back on track.

Jessops were much too specialised for the amount of stores they had, HMV missed the boat on online trade years ago and Blockbuster aren't great either. That said out of those three I do actually use Blockbuster.

 

The Internet just sneaked up on HMV and blockbusters. Who would have thought that fad would take off?

 

I can't believe Blockbuster have lasted this long. It's easier to rent a movie from Netflix or similar, it's cheaper to buy a DVD online or at a supermarket and it's cheaper to buy a game online, at a supermarket or at somewhere like Gamestation. Online piracy is probably one of the main causes, too. How they've kept going until now is incredible.

 

Jessops were horribly miss-managed for years - I used to work in the industry. The only advantage they had was knowledgeable staff who could give advice and then sell to you on the spot but for whatever reason they started to offer the service levels of Dixons without reducing their prices accordingly and never had stuff in stock. Typically a good source of employees we had stopped recruiting from them long before I got out of the camera biz in 2006. Canon bailed them out a couple of years ago if i recall correctly, they were no longer independent and sustainable, the writing was on the wall for a long time.

An HMV boss was quoted as saying "thank goodness we didn't get in the on-line downloads business" just as i-tunes took off. Has anyone bought anything from HMV recently? Their filing system is a nightmare and their prices were well over the top even compared to other high street retailers. Their on-line presence never competed with other companies.

Woolworths started to concentrate more on CDs & games and less on the hardware just as Amazon and other on-line stores appeared. Wilkinsons is pretty much what Woolworths should be now.

With hindsight it's easy to point out where companies have gone wrong but I think most of the recent bankruptcies have all been down to a lack of understanding of their core markets and resistance to change. I don't think it is fair to level the blame solely at tax dodgers like Amazon or the weak economy, but in times of stress, poorly run companies will suffer first.

 

Job market will be flooded. Hard enough to find work as it is. Gutted for the people that will lose their wage. It's still not definite that stores will close, but I can't see many of them carrying on much longer regardless.

 

Am not massively surprised by demise of HMV. Another part of the Thorn EMI empire to fall foul of changes in shopping trends. Anyone remember Radio Rentals and DER ... was bizarre that many of us used to rent TV's etc

Interesting who takes up their place in the High Street... they I know have massive stores in Oxford Street

 

One thing that goes against the high street stores is there hours of opening. Working busy hours like I do, I never get time to visit shops - and I'm sure others don't do. If stores perhaps opened up a bit later till say 9pm people may actually go in them instead of shopping online. As mentioned, some prices are ridiculous compared to the online market to.

 

Parking charges do it for me Cude. Even if I had the time to go in and the mindset to spend a bit extra on my DVD or whatever, the parking charges on top would make me a mug to persevere.

 

The first hour is free in Tring. Dacorum council wanted to change this last year but thankfully the town managed to successfully fight it. It does make a big difference knowing you can pop in to town for a few bits and park for free.

 

Sainsbury's at the top of town is free for 2 hours.

 

Game. Treading water.

 

I vote WH Smith. God knows how they keep going.

 

WH Smith are a major wholesaler for newspapers and magazines. That's probably the only thing that keeps them going as the actual shops are crap.

 

I don't think Smith News and WH Smith are the same company anymore Nas, not sure.

 

Righto, in that case they could end up in the poo.

Edit: The demerger was in 2006. Finger. On. Pulse. :doh:

They also own Funky Pigeon.

 

WH Smith have a lucrative deal with stations. Otherwise I would agree, just look at the rubbish they sell now. Similar to Woolies towards the end. Books and cds at full retail price!

 

The only WH Smiths shops I ever use or see other people in are the airport and train station ones. Surely it's not enough to support the rest of the chain though?

 

Just to add to the comments about HMV, personally I thought all of their stores had the same problem. They looked a bloody mess.

Box sets dotted around everywhere, pretty unclear 'offer' stands and clueless staff who when asked about someone specific you can't find would lead you to where you've already looked to say 'dint fink we got it m8'. You go to the tills, through the maze of trying to sell you **** books and DVDs to be confronted by some idiot checkout person with funny hair who tries to sell you gift cards, store cards and the latest x-factor single.

The prices were stupid as well. Clearly no idea in higher management on the state of the market. I popped into the chaos that is the store on the last Sunday before Christmas and spotted a box set I might have bought, it was £30 more than Amazon and that was the 'sale' price. I refuse to believe that they couldn't follow that price themselves and match it when possible.

Games consoles populated by chavs, unclear games section, hugely overpriced used games - completely backward and behind the times across the board.

All the stores were the same. Horrible little stores. I won't miss them.

 

HMV gift vouchers being exchanged by Tesco on the new burger offer. Horse Meat Vouchers.

 

As for Game, I was astounded to find they've got a shiny new store in 'Intu' (that slips off the tongue).

But for all the shiny new fittings, the same old Game problems exist, overpriced, tat on offer all over the place and too many staff.

 

Can't see BHS going bust, Arcadia are very successful.

 

I am sad and still buy all my music in CD format as I don't trust mp3 storage on it's own (refuse to use itunes for a start) and don't want to loose all my collection if a hard drive packs up. With CDs, you have it physically and when you have over 400 albums like myself, cloud storage is also an issue. I am interested in how Amazon will use their new cloud storage system where you buy a CD and it will autorip and give you a digital storage of it as well. They are back-dating it well to from they started trading in the late 90s so eventually, the majority of my collection would be up there. A great way to entice people to purchase something like a Kindle fire. I am sure, eventually, you will see the same happen with DVD/BR purchases as well in the future.

This is moving with the times, HMV have stayed the same, not even changing the cluttered shop layout for years upon years, the same with Blockbuster. You would have thought that when DVD first came out and replaced videos that they would have looked into future methods of film distribution and thought ahead, they didn't. These shops deserve to go. Look ahead or go back to the basics that we all need like Poundland and Wilkinsons,

 

Used to rent videos and games back when I was a little kid.

Then I learned how to download.... never had to even think about buying music, a tv show or a film since. I could download a film in blu-ray and be watching it in 10 minutes and not even pay a penny. As if I'm going to use Lovefilm/Netflix or rent from box office when it costs more and takes more effort..... so if I won't do that what chance is there of me going to HMV or Blockbuster? Ha... it used to be a haven for me as a kid when I got dragged around shopping... but I don't do that any more, I barely ever go shopping for anything... just order online.

I'm sure us pirates don't help at all, but you land lubbers who have benefited from catchup, recording, Netflix/Lovefilms.... that has put the nail in the coffin. Why go out to buy or rent when it's so much easier to do it from home?

The problem with the Kindle Fire right now is that it's too restrictive. Amazon have their own version of Android on the Fire which sucks and that's the main reason why I went for a Nexus 7 instead.

 

QPR will be next.

 

Thorntons own-store sales dropped and they said commercial sales (supermarkets etc) would soon become the biggest part of their business. They currently have between 180-200 stores so I expect some of those to go eventually.

Edit: 120 store leases expire in the next year and won't be renewed...

 

Thorntons are going to become one of those stores that just operate within department stores I think, they're heading in that direction already, as are Hotel Chocolat.

I just don't think large scale companies like that are sustainable, they aren't expensive or exclusive enough to survive on ridiculous pricing and loyal customer bases and people would much rather buy run of the mill confectionery from convenience stores (supermarkets).

 

I used to work for HMV. I spent three years working there. I left in June 2010. Zavvi had gone, Game were seemingly in trouble and we were the titans when it came to CDs and DVDs.

Then, HMV decided to branch out. T-Shirts, Books, Technology, Gadgets, Mugs - even lampshades were sold as long as they said 'The Godfather' on them. We also didn't go for the competetive online market; the fact that loyalty cards and gift vouchers couldn't be used on the website meant customers who preferred online shopping went to Amazon.

 

HMV have sold t-shirts, books and tech for as long as I can remember. I used to buy band t-shirts from them in mid 90's.

 

How many burgers can I get for £15 HVM vouchers?