The Life and Times of HMV

[witwicky]

so when exactley the the one at the Trocodero closing?

Last I asked they weren't sure but at some stage this month.

I will try to visit the store before it closes.

It was inevitable that HMV would have closed, it’s surprising that it had lasted this long, as the method of consuming music, movies, games and TV has changed. (Can’t see how they can justify the TV licence. What a nonsense that is!)

I have fond memories of HMV, but due to the high prices, it did limit ones choice, and iTunes etc. seemed the way to go.

[Rainey]

I got some great bargains in HMV Trocadero on Monday, lots of kids/family films for between £1-3, some do appear to still be marked up higher but there are signs on the shelves such a 70% off marked price, which is already 50% off etc and then the additional discount come off at the till.

I am sure I only pa*d 90p for a couple of Christmas films, which I will use of store away until December as stocking fillers.

[weirdfilms33]

Oh no! Trust me to commit myself to AS revision at a time when HMV Trocadero is closing! Dagnabbit, I'll have to get up there at some point...

[stuartboy]

I, for one, will miss hmv. I loved nothing better than a mooch around there which is something you can't do on the electric web. Yes that is great for searching instantly for what you want, but not for just browsing. There was nothing wrong with hmv's prices. When I think of the first CD I b*ght back in 1986 for my newly puchased CD player cost £16.99, prices have generally been much less than this ever since. hmv have had several sales per year where titles can be got for less than £5 and this also goes for dvds. I have managed to add to my collection including recently released movies for less than the cost of seeing the film at the cinema. Yes t'interweb can offer far better economy now whith its warehouse-wholesale mentality without the overheads of a shopfront. The same could be said for a supermarket. How long before all our grocery shopping is done online from a central warehouse and no actual physical "market" to wander around to chose your goods. Who wants to b*y fresh vegetables without being able to feel them? How soon before there are no shops at all. No sales staff. No shopkeepers. Britain will become a nation of warehouse operatives, delivery drivers and postmen instead of a nation of shopkeepers.
Come on people - wake up! We are killing our High Streets. Shopping is a pastime and a social interaction. We are in real danger of losing that option altogether. Who wants a Tesco.com wbsite for groceries and an Argos.com site for everything else? No choice. Fixed prices. No competition. No shopping around. That is what you'll get and you'll only have yourselves to blame.

Whoever heard of queuing for the midnight release of the latest blockbuster dvd or eagerly awaited CD release on web? Who's heard of bands appearing live to promote their latest single in the web? Who's heard of authors doing booksignings in towncentres on the web?

hmv rules! Hopefully something of it can be saved. Recall the cinema piracy advert we've all seen 100 times with the people vanishing from an increasingly empty cinema auditorium.....all gone!

I'll miss it.
His Master's Voice.

[raj101]

mooching for music is something I have missed for some years now, especially when they had headphones you could listen to music to at listening posts, which was great when you couldn't afford to b*y CDs. And you had to put effort in to get to the store to listen to music rather than sit at home and youtube it ...But then the end started ...first Virgin megastore closed, then Borders, now HMV. The age of the album is over, so mooch no more. What a waste of a decade's mooching encyclopediac knowledge of my music A to Zs.

But lets face it, record companies and stores stitched us up with their pricing for bits of shiny plastic. I am glad that aspect has come to an end and that big bands will increasingly need to actually go out and tour to make money rather than sit at home and do nothing but wait for royalties to live comfortably on. But I don't want there to be no jobs around for normal people either!

[stuartboy]

Firstly why did the search function not find anything for hmv or HMV? It is shit.

Curiously I was in my local hmv today and it is like nothing had ever happened. It seemed fully stocked again and all of the special offers/fire sale shenanigans had gone. It seemed like business as usual with lots of newly released dvds and cds etc. Could this be good news?

[lightscamerareaction]

It's sad that so many are closing.

[stuartboy]

I was under the impression that ALL in Scotland were to close. I can understand the need to downsize especially when there is one in every town centre and multiples in each city, but I think they should plan some sort of presence in Scotland at least. Good news about Jessops though. It could be a start of a renaissance for the high street?