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

They did have that ridiculously good sale after the first lockdown.

 

I did buy my son a Star Wars figure last time I was in there so you may be onto something.

 

Some of mine go back 10 or 15 years...you can tell by the different styles of stickers...

EG.

 

They seem to have absolutely no buying power for vinyl, or an incredibly large mark-up.... My local independent record shop, which is the size of a family caravan , is able to beat them on vinyl prices. How can that be right? There's something fundamentally wrong there....

 

I do wonder if the the two administrations have made the labels reluctant to give them good deals. Independent shops are usually significantly cheaper, or if it's possible they are paying off previous debts with the high mark up profits.

 

No buying power for vinyl
3 labels control the market & pricing these days

 

I think HMV probably survives on the merchandise they sell - which the staff tells me sells very well indeed - and their blu ray/DVD selection. They cover most of the collectors blu ray labels (except Eureka), and often have very discounts on them, too. Amazon often has the same discounts, but it's much harder to come across 2 for £15 on Arrow, for example, than on HMV's site (poor though I agree it is). They currently have 25% off most DVD and blu ray, I might add, for Black Friday.

The other issue is there's a heck of a lot of youngsters going in the HMV closest to me - and HMV's social media presence (particularly Twitter) is actually very good.

 

It does annoy me that they constantly have decent offers on DVD & Blu-ray but hardly any on music.

 

I guess that they have to do what they can, but, if it keeps them no the high street, I'm happy.

 

Yes, I'm in a similar situation! I bought a lot of those £2.99 CDs in the last 2 years and I haven't got round to opening them!

Whenever I have time (maybe once or twice a month), I open 10 of them and rip them.

 

Yes, that's what I learnt when I had a chat with an HMV staff. The £2.99 sale prices were not decided by HMV... they were decided by the distributors/labels.

 

I think they survive on youngsters buying vinyl. I've seen youngsters buy all types, from Harry Styles - Harry's House (his latest album) to David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

 

I always kept on top of everything I bought, usually playing it within a day or two, but in the last year I've been volunteering in a charity shop donation centre and the amount of CDs I've been getting is making it impossible to keep on top of. Good ones too! Not Robbie Williams and Steps etc...

 

The ones in Leeds & Swansea (essentially my two locals) seem to sell more breakfast cereal & American "chocolate" than music or films. Diversifying seems to be the way forward!

 

What a lovely 38th birthday present.

 

(he’s actually 6, but there are a lot of adults in that aisle when I go in there).

 

The store in Kingston closed some time ago and as far as I know hasn’t reopened…

 

That was my favourite one too

EG.

 

It's strange, though. They used to concentrate on films, games, merchandise and electronics, with a reduced music selection and that business model led to the collapse last time. They seem to be following the exact same business model again,bar the games, and are now expanding?!
Did they have a lot of debt previously to venture capitalists? Which I guess might explain the collapse if they were trying to service the debt whilst also trying to deal with a declining market.

 

Very possibly so. The people who took HMV into administration had done the same with other businesses under their control.

EG.

 

I think what might be working is the large amount of space dedicated to collector's editions now. By stocking those at the same price as Amazon, I think they have found a niche market that has spare cash, too - and would rather buy a copy on the high street than receive a battered one from a shop online. The merchandise and those pop-up things also seem to be doing well. There is lots of room for improvement, but they're still here!

 

If they are a high volume buyer they would likely get better wholesale pricing if available in general.

The bigger issue for HMV UK may be lack of good credit terms. Labels/distributor might be reluctant to extend credit so they might be on a COD type situation. That would limit their ability to purchase unless they had a lot of cash reserves.

 

All I know is the vinyl prices in HMV are ridiculously high ...

 

The Cardiff HMV has just been refurbished, with CDs and vinyl moving to the first floor and DVDs to the ground floor with all the other stuff they sell. The CD section is now smaller.

Last time I was in there it was a busy with a lot of younger customers.

 

It’s a bit of a shame when in a music store, music is shoved to the back or up a floor, whilst bobble headed toy crap and weird sweets seem to be given some bizarre priority.

I’m just glad they are still around, even if I don’t get to one that often, there’s mostly something I buy when I go in there. I mean actual music of course, not snacks or toys!