Looks like HMV in the UK may survive after all...

Yes Mine had a similar stash of Scott Walker ( who h is where I happened upon the Moody Blues box set). However a day or so later all had disappeared or was redistributed. I may have investigated further had the box not dematerialised. I'm pretty sure that it would not all have been sold.

 

The big store in Brum is fun, unfortunately in the **** end of town but it’s big , loads of stock and pleasant to stroll around ..had a small guitar exhibition which was cool and loads of books about ..planning on putting in a 4K viewing room soon too.

 

The Canterbury branch also has a box of reduced CDs and a lot of them were by Scott Walker.

 

His CDs are also reduced to £3 on Amazon.

 

HMV faces the music in Christmas crunch test

 

My mate works at HMV and they were told to spend days taking all the “2 for x” deal stickers off DVDs and CDs. Which is an... interesting way to improve sales over Christmas.

 

Probably so that they can put them back on immediately after Christmas for the "Sale"

 

Interesting quote within the article, you wouldn’t know it from my local HMV where the vinyl is in your face when you walk in. They better not take my custom (new CD’s) for granted.

Under Mr Putman's ownership, stores have given more space to vinyl albums and displayed them prominently, although he admits that CDs are still bigger than vinyl for HMV.

 

Nice!

Until HMV can accommodate customers who don't use smartphones and apps, they can wave goodbye to my custom.

EG.

 

How are they making it impossible for you to buy music and movies without using a phone?

 

The loyalty scheme is currently only for phone users (and sounds like a total mess anyway). I've been told this is merely a temporary solution, and a proper scheme is coming, but we shall see. Until I am able to be part of the scheme, I will boycott HMV on principle. It's also a bit cheeky of that article to claim the reward scheme has returned, the points have been devalued by about 80% of their previous value.

EG.

 

And in the meantime, you’ll buy what you would have bought at HMV somewhere else which presumably doesn’t have a loyalty scheme at all?

 

Yes I know. It's the principle; there's an actual shop which could have my business, but no they want to chase the (overpriced) vinyl market and make the stores a nightmare for wheelchair users, and gear the loyalty scheme around apps and phones.

That's their choice, and I'm sure people like myself are a minority, but I also have the choice to take my business elsewhere. I can browse everything I want, get it cheaper, order it without a phone, and get it delivered.

EG.

 

It is temporary, think you have until the 20th January to earn/use points (certainly before the end of Jan 2020). It was only open to former loyalty card holders who opted into an email a while back.

So it’s clearly an interim measure, they wouldn’t limit the people who could use it if it was their scheme going forward. I have a small voucher to redeem, guess I’ll use it.

 

Let's hope so. You do wonder if these people making decisions just think everyone has a phone. I'm sure I am of a small minority. I did reply to the questionnaire back in the summer, and made the points about preferring to keep a new scheme that isn't phone-dedicated. My 90,000 points aren't worth much anymore, so I didn't lose out in the end.

I can see the way their business is going, and that's fine. They're not there to meet my personal needs. But scaling back on CD, putting the racks out of reach, filling the floors with tight displays and loads of vinyl.....that's not for me.

EG.

 

yeah, you’ll be the same as me, you needed 100k points to get £10, but not quite there so a whole £5 voucher. Ah well I’ll probably use it as I am often in the shopping centre that it’s in.

 

I witnessed this happening in a store - also saw higher prices being put onto some items i.e. £10 up to £11/12 and £15 up to either £17 or £20.

 

yup. Can’t quite decide whether this is a really bad sign at the state of the business or not!

 

I think it's a tactic to get the most out of their less regular customers. People who are just in buying Christmas presents won't be as aware of price fluctuations. Meanwhile, their core customer base - who just had a good sale and 20% off vinyl for 2 days - will twig what's happening and hold off.

 

It might turn out to be good business sense, but it doesn't sit well. Then again, amazon chop and change their prices several times a day. Up 7 quid, down 4 quid, up 3 quid, down 12 quid etc etc.

EG.

 

The app is a mess , I managed to get my points converted to a voucher worth£10 but when I got to the store , no WiFi , no reception and app crashed , and I haven’t been able to get back into it since, and staff had little clue what to do . The amount of cash value was also significantly down ..

I’m liking the new improved vinyl racking and The Birmingham store had a great space so was a pleasant shopping experience.. however , I’m bulking at some of the prices and finding I just buy from hmv in sales , although I like the exclusives, so might pick up the new who lp in its 1921 edition this week

 

Birmingham is sadly way beyond my reach, but I am intruiged by the idea of this mega-store, especially in 2019. Are there any photos online? Just to torture myself a bit more!

EG.

 

If you have a problem getting around in a wheelchair there, speak to the staff. I did so at my local store and they moved things around to make it more accessible. They don't know the difficulties with such things if you don't tell them. It's not always obvious to able bodied people.

As for getting it cheaper, I tend to find HMV is the cheaper option compared to online stores if you are looking beyond the top 40.

 

This is quite normal. The prices on a range of classical music was reduced for a few months (no notice on the discs that they were part of a sale) and then went back up again.

 

When it's something like the width of an aisle, or a display blocking access, then yes. I have done that in the past, and even checked with the manager at Reading a while back when they were renovating, to ask if they were putting in those horrible new tall racking shelves (thankfully, they didn't...they're the only ones left who haven't yet). But HMV have made their CD racking in a style that literally puts it out of reach to wheelchair users. Now, I could ask someone to flick through every disc/section out of my sight/reach, but that is exhausting and not an enjoyable way to browse for music.

HMV aren't going to alter their entire shop format and approach to stocking CDs now, if someone came up with this idea and thought it was a good idea. Same with the phone/app thing. It's done to either save space (CD racks) or make them look as though they're staying modern (the apps), but too often these decisions are made without thinking of those who will be worse off as a result.

It's a frustration, but this is the way the world is going and I will try and raise awareness of things which are possible for the staff to affect, but some decisions are taken above them and all I can do is shop elsewhere when HMV can't offer a service which meets my needs. I doubt they'll miss my few CDs a month.

EG.