Time to put the dog down? Why I'm going to miss HMV...
A couple of years back I found myself jobless and took a part time gig in the Bromley branch of HMV to cover the Christmas period. It was mental; hugely busy every day, but everyone there was lovely and I genuinely enjoyed myself, particularly as working in a record shop had been one of those things I always felt you had to do at some point. The problem is, I wasn’t working in a record shop. Not really. This wasn’t High Fidelity; it wasn’t even Empire Records.
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Over 200 replies already to a thread about HMV here
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/social/4423394
his master's voice?
that's not it is it? Srsly lame if it's been that this whole time
...
a good piece here as well about how they failed to live up to their potential strengths by chasing casual customers
http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/2013/01/hmv-rings-death-knell/
If HMV goes Newcastle will be left with 4 independent record shops (RPM, Windows, Beatdown and Reflex) each catering to slightly different but equally dedicated audiences.
Durham will be left with no record or dvd sellers other than WHSmith, Tesco and a punk distro.
The real worry/shame for me is that the remaining Fopp records face closure as a result...
... sad times indeed
Gap in the market then...
A Concepts II may be able to fill that gap.
I recently heard some talk that a record shop (of sorts) may be opening in Durham again
Not too sure on the details, but it sounded promising. Worth keeping an eye out, definitely.
Was in the HMV in Bromley at Xmas
They've given over half of the upstairs to cd's and seem to have given the staff free reign over what to put on up there and it felt like the closest thing to a record shop it had been for a while, even had a good chat with the guy at the counter about Elliott Smith. That sort of behaviour should be encouraged in my opinion, especially in light of the ridiculous management decisions put in place before Xmas (don't open more tills at busy times, don't allow staff to tidy or access stockroom between 11-7, etc.), management have no idea how to treat the paying public.