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

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Sound of the Suburbs, Feb 3, 2019.

  1. Exitmusic

    Exitmusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leicester U.K
    Here's another example of how HMV do themselves no favours.

    The new Lana Del Rey album Blue Banisters is out in a few weeks and HMV are charging £29.99 for the standard black vinyl.

    Blue Banisters | Vinyl 12" Album | Free shipping over £20 | HMV Store

    Banquet Records are selling the black vinyl for £22.99 plus shipping about £3 which is still about £4 cheaper then HMV.

    Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters

    Both are bricks and mortor stores so I really don't know why HMV are charging so much extra.
     
  2. Pop_Zeus

    Pop_Zeus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southport, UK
    The new Mono album on CD is £17.99 in HMV. I remember many years (including recently) of new release CDs being around £10 to £13 in there. I walked out without it as I consider a penny short of £18 for a single new CD to be an absurd price.
     
    Pouchkine likes this.
  3. norliss

    norliss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    I've been in HMV a few times of late as I'm working centrally at the moment. I have to say that HMV's pricing on vinyl is really silly: they are almost always way more expensive than anywhere else. Oddly, they don't seem too bad for video since (from what I've seen) their Blu-ray/DVD pricing is pretty much the same as that place with the name of a large river.
     
    Pouchkine and Man at C&A like this.
  4. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    I was back in Scotland at the beginning of the month and I couldnt believe the price of some of the LP's in the local store, £49.99 for Kraftwerks "The Mix"!!!
     
    LivingForever and Man at C&A like this.
  5. norliss

    norliss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    As one of the most famous Scotsman of all time would would have said:

    "Sssssccchhhocking!"
     
    johnnybrum and Rufus rag like this.
  6. followmehome

    followmehome Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Ah, but what are others retailers charging? Banquet is an odd one. I've seen them sell new releases at price points which meant they weren't making money on them. I guess they are willing to sell some releases at no profit to help them up their buying quantities to get better deals from the distributors and labels (and RSD stock). Good luck to em.

    Their shop is tiny too, and they felt comfortable/confident enough to not open their shop for months after they were allowed to. The rent must be astronimal in the middle of Kingston upon Thames. Their owner is Lib Dem councillor too.

    That isn't HMV related... I saw an independent shop comment on the ridiculous wholesale price a couple of years ago.

    Rough Trade had it listed at £39.99. Seeing as they don't appear to be able restock, it looks like maybe the label just upped the wholesale price based on how few copies were left.

    https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/blur/parklife-6d795a5d-ca2d-4704-ae5a-dc4ba5b55375
     
  7. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I see a HMV thread has just been removed and not made reference to this one or been moved here, just totally deleted. Do we really have to approve of these breakfast cereal selling rip off merchants?
     
    Pouchkine and carlwm like this.
  8. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Interesting comment. What's the context?
     
    Pouchkine likes this.
  9. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    The Middlesbrough HMV branch is selling breakfast cereal! I'm not kidding. For some reason they've been selling Japanese sweets and lukewarm Coca Cola (£3.50p a can!). Now they've added breakfast cereal to the range. Also, for some reason they are selling Star Wars T-shirts in a cereal style box (why?!) for £19.99. It's an absolute joke of a shop.
     
    carlwm and Pouchkine like this.
  10. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    That's just ridiculous.

    I've got out of the habit of calling to my local HMV because it never has copies of the CDs I'm looking for. If it's not ultra mainstream, then it's not there. But breakfast cereal? :doh:
     
    Pouchkine and Man at C&A like this.
  11. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    Stopped by the Blackpool branch yesterday & picked up the Let It Be CD box set along with the Beatles BBC 1&2 albums as they were on offer/sensibly priced (£10.99 and I'd previously bought them on iTunes in 2013). Unlike previous Beatles sets where there would be a prominent display stand facing the door, unmissable as you walked in, the CD & vinyl boxes were behind the counter with the 2CD & LP versions in with the new releases.

    Instead facing the door as I walked in was a mass of garishly coloured confectionary packets (Japanese? American? Didn't look long enough to find out). On the one hand, kudos to the store for actually having the box sets in on release day (Amazon couldn't deliver for several days despite pre-ordering months ago), but I got the feeling that as an actual music buying customer, my day in the sun is coming to an end. I've no idea who is buying all of the confectionary - presumably the same people who buy all those Funkopops that look little like their namesakes but an awful lot like one another.
     
    Man at C&A and carlwm like this.
  12. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    I think a few of you are being a little unfair to HMV, considering under different ownerships they’ve been clawing and fighting to survive for what seems like years.

    I’ve no idea if they are doing a bit better now, and if they are and that is partly due to them selling plastic figures and overpriced sweeties and cereal, it’s a small price to pay.

    We have one HMV in Edinburgh and it’s not even in the city centre, it’s in a shopping mall in Leith. They sell all the nonsense that has been described but they still have a good CD section including decent back catalogues. Ok, so they won’t have every Neil Young or Prince album, but they have a fair selection. I don’t think they ever had everything, even back in the glory days.

    We do have a Fopp in town which is pretty good as well, but if HMV doesn’t make it, then Fopp goes as well.

    I expect the likes of HMV will get a huge boost from the upcoming releases from ABBA, Ed Sheehan and Adlele, if they can’t make some money next couple of months they never will.
     
    coffeetime likes this.
  13. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    I did wonder this shortly after posting; is the confectionary and Bobble headed toys what is keeping them afloat along with vinyl? The concentration on iPods, Bluetooth speakers etc al over the years didn’t pan out, and there is likely not enough profit to run the chain, pay rents etc from discount CDs (cf no more the Entertainer stores anywhere near me now)
     
    wallpaperman likes this.
  14. norliss

    norliss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    Not sure whether those typos were genuine or deliberate but they gave me a laugh anyhow :laugh:
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2021
    wallpaperman likes this.
  15. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    I’m sure it’s a combination of everything that keeps the lights on.

    Don’t underestimate CD sales in the UK. From memory in 2020 the revenue from CD’s was broadly the same as vinyl, so they are as vital to HMV’s bottom line as records.
     
    coffeetime likes this.
  16. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    Ha ha, not sure if that was predictive text, I’ll blame that. At least I got Abba right. :D
     
  17. norliss

    norliss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    One of my uncles (who is an intelligent man) expressed surprise when I recently mentioned that the name ABBA comes from Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid i.e. the names of the four members.

    "Oh I never realised that" he said :laugh:
     
  18. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Although it's obvious once you know, it's not something I think anyone with no interest in ABBA or pop music from that era would know.
     
    Pouchkine likes this.
  19. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Thanks for the info. :thumbsup:
     
  20. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    [​IMG]

    Don't all go rushing at once...
     
    Pouchkine and coffeetime like this.
  21. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    So Sunrise's focus on turning HMV around and focusing on the music didn't work out. I've only been into an HMV once in the last two years - partly due to COVID and mainly due to there being no branch in central London - and my God was it depressing.
     
    Pouchkine and Man at C&A like this.
  22. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    Ha ha, I am up in Aberdeen with the family for the school break, and went into the HMV there. Decent size, two floors and I saw a lot of CD’s I could have bought, but trying to limit impulse buys so left them.

    The only thing we bought was a box of Mike and Ike’s for £3.49 (well, my daughter bought them) :sigh:
     
    Man at C&A likes this.
  23. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    If selling a bunch of overpriced imported sweeties and drinks is the price to pay for still having somewhere to go in and buy the a new release on the day it comes out, and also getting a reasonable back catalogue selection, then I won’t complain.
     
  24. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I know what you mean, but these were displayed well before you see any vinyl or CDs in the shop, which are right at the back. There isn't even a chart wall display anymore. Just about six random LPs displayed at the doorway then no music in clear sight from the entrance. I know mainstream music retail is an antiquated thing, but it is a depressing place to be for me now. I'll always love independent and second hand record shops.
     
    wallpaperman and Pouchkine like this.
  25. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    Yeah, I agree with what you are saying. The Aberdeen store has all the tat hitting you as you come in, the rest of the ground floor was DVD’s, with the CD’s and records on the first floor.

    Edinburgh, where I live, has a pretty poor selection of independent shops these days, twenty years ago it was a very different story, we were spoiled, but probably everywhere was.
     
    Man at C&A likes this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine