bye bye HMV.......

[RedRobin]

We need to come up with a structure which in part links business rates to the turnover and profitability of the tenant/ business, this would then capture more business rates from Coffee shops et al which have a small footprint employ very few staff but have high turnover and profitablilty.  

....I think that's a good idea in principle but in practice I think that many businesses are far too clever at concealing their true profits, and that applies to big and small businesses and who can blame them when the UK taxes success to death (as 'gerrardrj' points out).

The key to economic stability is the movement of money - Whether it's legal or illegal it still has to flow amongst folks.

[zerolag]

As we all know there is no competition between the prices from the high street shop and the internet, couple this with the ease in which you can buy things on the net, opposed to going into town / city... pay for parking, fuel, or god forbid public transport.. the net is going to win everytime.  Shops that have a presence on the net and high street, probably sustain the high street shop by using the net profits.

Dixons was a very early adopter to this, closing all its shops many years ago and being soley an online business (they were part of pcworld / currys group then) but now are even conglomerated into Currys online website too...  It seems even keeping the brand seperate is too costly these days.

Where's it all going?, as others have said... the high street will (most are almost there) become ghost towns... charity shops / banks etc.  It's a shame for the specialist shops, as there are some very knowledgable independant sellers out there that can assist us in a purchase far more quickly and efficiently than trawling through endless online forum posts about a topic e.g. Camera / Telescope purchase.

[BlueGraphite]

I thought this might happen so popped in yesterday and spent all my vouchers. My worry is the loss of Fopp (owned by HMV) who always have good prices and I visit well…erm..EVERY day!

[Hedge]

Well that's fooked my £20 Xmas voucher. 

[AnilS]

WH Smith are near the edge of the cliff too.

[BlueGraphite]

That’s so irritating Hedge.I’ve been pestering my mum to spend all her Waterstones vouchers ASAP as you never know.

[wycombe_gti]

WH Smith are near the edge of the cliff too.

Disagree. Got a source for this?

They've excelled in the past few years, shares have doubled with Kate Swann at the helm, hundreds of millions paid back to shareholders, etc.

[AnilS]

WH Smith are near the edge of the cliff too.

Disagree. Got a source for this?

They've excelled in the past few years, shares have doubled with Kate Swann at the helm, hundreds of millions paid back to shareholders, etc.

Only mentioned to me by a mate in banking. He's fairly good at predicting these things but for everyones sake, I hope all this would end. Our high street is nothing more than charity shops, coffee bars and mobile phone shops!

[Saintsteve]

Well that's fooked my £20 Xmas voucher. 

Used mine last week thank fook

[richtung]

I also have a £20 voucher..danm!!



Rich

[MC71]

Went into HMV this mornings for a nosey around and have never seen so many people vultures in there! 

Still walked out with nothing, even with a few reductions on certain items its still more expensive than the interweb. My local high street is dominated nowadays by Coffee shops, mobile phone shops, pound shops but most of all a LOT of empty shops and this in the heart of a "supposedly" affluent Sussex market town. Crazy days! 

[mikeedwilson]

HMV has never been so busy in my hometown. Sad to see it go though and Waterstones disappeared a few months ago from next door so the town centre is slowly dying, much like everywhere else in the country.

[Poverty]

The likes of tesco, mcdonalds, KFC etc is killing our high street. There should be a movement to bring back quality.

Cant stand big chains. Love privately owned restuarants that u usually find in the richer parts of london. Its all about variety, and big chains are killing that. Doesnt help that so many people waste money on the likes of mac'd but I suppose its the convnience, plus the fact that councils have ruined the high street with over zealous parking restrictions!

rant over

[RedRobin]

^^^^
I agree. Let's hope that all the big chains go bust. Pandering to so called convenience is a killer. Variety is the spice of life.

[Lone_Par]

On the back of this, an independent music store in Aberdeen also announced today that its to close after 33 years in business. Citing similar issues - also had a dig at Amazon and their issues surrounding VAT.

It's a shame, but I went in there for the first time and every CD I looked at was fairly pricey!!