2019 Retailers in trouble thread

[jakesmith]

As the 2018 thread is not on the first page and the year is nearly over I thought I’d start this with some bad news from HMV

They are owned by Hilco who effectively restructured and saved them years ago. They have arguably kept it alive longer than many would have thought 6 years ago last time they were in receivership

I have heard unsubstantiated rumours that they have in some cases aggressively renegotiated or negated rents to extremely low levels in some malls due to the footfall the HMVs bring in and the impact on the malls if they decided to make that store one of their closures in past years

I believe they have traded pretty well over peak but you can only hold the tide back for so long

[Troubleatmill]

All of them??

Apart from London and destination shopping malls, you would be nuts to open a chain of retail stores.

[anonymous-user]

Tbh Jake, I'm surprised they've held on this long.
Tower my favourite store on Picadilly Circus has long gone now, the flagship HMV store on Oxford St was another great place to visit. Both shops had a huge choice of CD's with lots imported from America which were unavailable elsewhere, I could end up spending £100 and come away with 4 CD's, this was as recent as the late 90s within 5 years into the start of the new millenium I could go online and get the same 4 CD's for £30, with downloading music that was the final KO blow, I guess they held on with games and the like but they must of realised the inevitable.

[bloomen]

Anywhere specialised in physical music and film was always going to be 100% toast. That's a phase that's now over for better or worse.

I don't know how much further they could've diversified into the things surrounding them like headphones, posters and books but that was the only option open to them. Gaming is now heading towards being fully digital too.

I think it's the type of store people will bemoan the loss of, but they expected other people to use it instead of them. That'll be repeated over and over again.

[gamefreaks]

I thought HMV had gone years ago.

Netflix/Spotify etc have made them pretty much redundant.

[Mojooo]

Argos - maybe

Looking to buy a few items and half of them not available for delivery to my house or in 6 or 7 of my nearest stores - I suspect its a case of lisitng a few items on sale in a few stores so they can say that those items are on sale and advertise on their website but its pissed me off using them for the stuff they do have in stock.

[Chrisgr31]

Argos are part of Sainsbury's aren't they? I guess it depends on what you are trying to buy from them, but there has always been an issue when something is end of line, or very keenly priced that it will sell out, and you really need to search to find a store with stock left.

[w00tman]

Mojooo said:

Argos - maybe

Looking to buy a few items and half of them not available for delivery to my house or in 6 or 7 of my nearest stores - I suspect its a case of lisitng a few items on sale in a few stores so they can say that those items are on sale and advertise on their website but its pissed me off using them for the stuff they do have in stock.

Sainsburys will be "fine" in the sense that I don't see it going anywhere, and thus Argos the same, albeit who knows what the big-store format for food retailers will look like in the future.

I had the.. pleasure.. of taking the wife and kids to Cheshire Oakes yesterday (think: Northern Bicester Village) and it took us 40 minutes to get a parking space. Heaving was not the word. But, certain stores more than others were feeling the pinch - GAP was practically empty, Next much the same. M&S had half a dozen men but lots of older women, Ralph Lauren was heaving.

It was, as a casual observer, interesting to see what was flying off the shelves - even some of the 50+% off couldn't get people into certain stores.

[ian in lancs]

Not surprised! A store well behind the times. At one time I had c500CDs. I downloaded to iTunes ages ago and for years any new music was bought on-line. Today its Spotify around the house and running. In the car it's a bit of a faff to play Spotify or podcasts otherwise they'd dominate there too. That will kill (idiot) DJ radio; hopefully.

[anonymous-user]

ian in lancs said:

Not surprised! A store well behind the times. At one time I had c500CDs. I downloaded to iTunes ages ago and for years any new music was bought on-line. Today its Spotify around the house and running. In the car it's a bit of a faff to play Spotify or podcasts otherwise they'd dominate there too. That will kill (idiot) DJ radio; hopefully.

No people like time checks and latest news with radio so they know what's going on in the world so I can't see radio DJ's disappearing for quite a while yet.

[fizz47]

My predictions for 2019

Clinton Cards
Office World
Prezzo
Wildwood
Edinburg Wolllen Mill
Lakeland
Perfume Store
Ryman

[ian in lancs]

Raygun said:

ian in lancs said:

Not surprised! A store well behind the times. At one time I had c500CDs. I downloaded to iTunes ages ago and for years any new music was bought on-line. Today its Spotify around the house and running. In the car it's a bit of a faff to play Spotify or podcasts otherwise they'd dominate there too. That will kill (idiot) DJ radio; hopefully.

No people like time checks and latest news with radio so they know what's going on in the world so I can't see radio DJ's disappearing for quite a while yet.

DJ's are not News journalists/presenters although some try and if folk really rely on DJs to tell them what to think about world events we're screwed.

[Lemming Train]

Raygun said:

No people like time checks and latest news with radio so they know what's going on in the world so I can't see radio DJ's disappearing for quite a while yet.

No-one under the age of 40 listens to commercial radio.

[king arthur]

Raygun said:

No people like time checks and latest news with radio so they know what's going on in the world so I can't see radio DJ's disappearing for quite a while yet.

I don't know. I put the radio on to listen to music. It invariably goes like this:

• turn radio on*

"Nope, that's people talking".
Tune to next station.
"Nope, that's adverts".
Next station.
"People talking again".
Next station.
"More adverts".
Next station.
"Oh not that st again".

• turns radio off*

With a bluetooth connection in my car I can listen to whatever music I want via my phone so that's what I end up doing. And I'm an old git now, so I think the days of radio DJ's are numbered.

[elanfan]

I think unless the government acts to properly tax online retailers and/or impose customs duties on foreign based internet retailers to try to create a more level playing field our town centres will only comprise of charity shops, betting shops and coffee shops and even those will close without footfall.

[anonymous-user]

Lemming Train said:

Raygun said:

No people like time checks and latest news with radio so they know what's going on in the world so I can't see radio DJ's disappearing for quite a while yet.

No-one under the age of 40 listens to commercial radio.

I'm on about any radio station, some youngsters I dare say are not bothered about what's going on the world like I wasn't in my younger halcyon days but there's a lot of people who listen to the radio, be it on the way to work, in a garage or like the other day when I was in the dentist chair.

[jakesmith]

Argos have certainly made serious moves to keep up. 10 years ago you’d think amazon would have killed them but they have invested and grown

Computers in all their stores to check stock
Massive promotional activity
WOW deals that offer genuinely exclusive products at low prices in many categories
Move to digital advertising attempting to copy Amazon but at least picking up revenue there
Move to omnichannel using Sainsbury’s estate as pick up points with an upgraded logistics capability to support fast delivery to larger number of stores
Complete store rebrand

[Police State]

elanfan said:

I think unless the government acts to properly tax online retailers and/or impose customs duties on foreign based internet retailers to try to create a more level playing field our town centres will only comprise of charity shops, betting shops and coffee shops and even those will close without footfall.

Successive governments (mainly tory) have spent decades taking value out of this countries assets and selling them to the highest (usually foreign) bidder. Now we are in the bargain basement high street, with not much left, it does make one wonder how those hapless local authorities (usually labour) are going to manage without all that ratable revenue. Perhaps America Corp will buy some of their best assets to sustain them for a decade or so before they finally succumb. Expect an ever larger tax bill going forward while 'you' enjoy your cheap downloads, amazon deals, et al...

[markcoznottz]

Police State said:

elanfan said:

I think unless the government acts to properly tax online retailers and/or impose customs duties on foreign based internet retailers to try to create a more level playing field our town centres will only comprise of charity shops, betting shops and coffee shops and even those will close without footfall.

Successive governments (mainly tory) have spent decades taking value out of this countries assets and selling them to the highest (usually foreign) bidder. Now we are in the bargain basement high street, with not much left, it does make one wonder how those hapless local authorities (usually labour) are going to manage without all that ratable revenue. Perhaps America Corp will buy some of their best assets to sustain them for a decade or so before they finally succumb. Expect an ever larger tax bill going forward while 'you' enjoy your cheap downloads, amazon deals, et al...

That's the rub, all those eBay bargains are being subsidised by soon to be substantial council tax increases.

[vonuber]

Had to pop into Argos a few days ago to buy a tv in a hurry as ours broke, and the place was absolutely rammed - but it was surprisingly well ordered and efficient compared to the past.
Definitely improved on what they had before.