Farewell to HMV

[tony]

A pity but the selection was fairly poor as stated above. Funny it seems obvious the only hope of surviving is to do something like tower but garish lights were the order of the day for HMV, Give you a headache but terrible to see more jobs go.

[cybot]

Like Johnny I agree with all that's been said about HMV. And I remember the Classical section upstairs too. I recall asking them to play an ECM recording (Forgotten Peoples - Veljo Tormis) and time actually stood still as the sounded wafted around the room from those B&W speakers.....It was a lovely little section too. To echo Johnny's sentiments: thank God for Tower and Freebird and Spindizzy and ?????? Also it'll be the very first time in living memory that Fundalk will be without a record shop!!!!

[Ivor]

the other side of this is that some brave person might try to fill the gap HMV leaves particularly in regard to classical music. It stricks me that your average classical music fan isn't interested in downloading MP3s from iTunes or whatever so there is a market for a 'bricks & mortar' shop selling classical CDs and vinyl.
It would take somebody with an existing premises, footfall and patience but there's an opportunity there. I doubt if Tower will step up to fill that gap.... they have enough of a job just staying open as it is and so are unlikely to refocus.

[Diapason]

The MDT shops are ubiquitous in Britain from what I can tell, and I've often wondered why they don't open here. Possibly not enough anticipated business up to now, but as you say, Ivor, the classical fans are least likely to download.

[Rocker]

The Grafton street shop was open today. Everything had a 25% off sticker. Stocks of pop and rock CDs seemed plentiful, I got a cd of Slade Alive for €6, I saw one guy heading to the checkout with 5 or 6 disks. Genuinely sorry for the staff, hope some buyer will come forward. We need somewhere to go to browse and buy our CDs

[Claus]

It was always my dream to open a small classical/jazz/blues record shop with vinyl and audiophile recordings and some basic but good sounding hifi gear. It would also need a very good little espresso bar in one corner! :D But with overheads and competing with online shops and downloads....Dream on!

[jaybee]

I can see it now.....

tir-na- hifi popup store.....

[Jared]

ah, I wondered where this thread had got to! thought I was going daft!!

I don't know whether these names mean anything to you in Dublin, but we are being hit by a real economic storm on the high st at the moment... almost every day brings a new closure, with attendant huge loss of jobs...

just before Xmas, Comet (Electricals) went, followed by Jessops (Cameras & Optics), then HMV and now Bockbusters (DVD Rental) is the latest casualty.... Hereford is looking like a ghost-town, as we had all four of those... we have also just lost our Homebase (DIY) whilst JJB Sports, Past Times, Burton, Stead & Simpson & Julian Graves have all closed within the last few months...

meanwhile, they are building a new retail park on the edge of town.... hmm.

Btw Darren, I've just read a headline from yesterday 'Anger as Comsumers unable to spend HMV Xmas gift vouchers'... I think you got in there, just in time!!

[Adrian]

Very sorry for all those who lost their jobs.

I very rarely went into HMV, it was all merchandise, DVD boxsets and little or no music. In Dundrum the CD section was about 10% of the total shop area. The rest was mainly junk.

Management obviously took a wrong turn several years ago.

I just hope Tower will not be next............. however I suspect the news is not good there either. High rents and high council tax rates are killing everything off.

Somebody was explaining the 'Doughnut effect' recently, where the centre of a city / town is empty, all shops have been pushed out to the periphery, hence forming a type of commercial doughnut.

[jaybee]

normally the doughnut effect is restricted to smaller towns, where multiples operate at a loss until the owner operated businesses at the core collapse leaving a social and supply vacuum, at which point the special offers and low prices shrivel up and the serious coining commences.

In cities it usually limits the travelling footfall, like December 8th but the centre remains for the suppliers that can't or won't operate in a mall, you've struck the issue on the head though.

Serious lobbying and short sighted short termist decisions by the the council and government has lead to the punishment of the centre of Dublin. Fine Gael's biggest disappointment to me has been their utter lack of gonads in tackling rent reviews....