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HMV calls in the administrators

January 15, 2013

Music and film chain HMV has announced it is calling in the administrators, putting about 4,500 jobs in doubt.

The company's 239 stores, including one in The Oracle and one in Charles Square in Bracknell, will continue trading while potential buyers are sought.

However, the shops will not be accepting or issuing gift vouchers.

The 90-year-old chain has struggled against the growing popularity of downloading music and films and competition from supermarkets.

A statement by the company said: "The board regrets to announce that it has been unable to reach a position where it feels able to continue to trade outside of insolvency protection and in the circumstances therefore intends to file notice to appoint administrators to the company and certain of its subsidiaries with immediate effect."

The news comes just a week after camera retailer Jessops closed down and follows the collapse of electrical goods store Comet last year.

At one point, Reading had a second HMV store in Friar Street as well as a Virgin Megastore, in St Mary's Butts and Fopp, in West Street.

The Oracle HMV is now the town's sole surviving dedicated music and film retailer apart from charity and second-hand stores.

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The times say we have to buy everything at the cheapest price regardless of quality or the whole shopping experience. We'll probably save a few quid. Then when our town resembles a cross between a post apocolyptic Detroit and and all you get are bookies, tescos and charity shops, we'll jump in the car on our days off and drive 100 miles and spend all our savings on petrol to get to the nearest place that still has a soul and dream about living there. Then when we manage it we can buy online rather than supporting the local shops but hope others do and screw that place as well.

Fanny Saltaire, Saltaire
15/01/2013 at 10:01

If you consider Marks & Spencer: their recent 2012 Christmas profits were down, concerning mens' wear and women's wear clothing, yet they recovered with children's clothing and food. HMV had nothing to fall back upon, and were clearly failing for the last few years.

Also, appointing the former managing director of Jessops, may not have been a good idea.

THOMAS CASAGRANDA
15/01/2013 at 10:01

Agreed, Purple Turtle.

One of my main complaints re: the Stonesarchive recordings is that I'd love to see liner notes concerning the Brussels Affair, 1973, concert. However, Googleplay does allow you to burn music to disc, whereas Itunes doesn't. I recently attempted to burn Ray Charles & Cleo Laine's Porgy & Bess to CD, but couldn't; ergo, I can only listen to it on IPOD.

However, the main question is: what business is next ? I see that the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield has also had to call in the receivers today. Entertainment and leisure are having tough times.

THOMAS CASAGRANDA
15/01/2013 at 09:49

Sad news. I for one enjoy the artwork on a CD and reading the sleeve notes, its part of the package which you don't get from a download albeit that it's cheaper.

And where are all these pop stars and musicians going to meet their fans to launch CDs and do signings now?

Purple Turtle
15/01/2013 at 09:35

Failed to adapt quick enough to changes in technology; market conditions; how people shop; quality of product. Fact of life and a sign of the times.

Only themselves to blame.

Big P, Reading
15/01/2013 at 09:30

"Makes you wonder what the average High St will be like in a few years time". One who knows, Chaversham

Coffee shops, bookies and charity/£1 shops will be the high street IMO. Chuggers, junkies, and ignorant members of the public will be the main obstacles on the street itself. With parking running at a few quid per hour too, it's not as if we're being tempted offline.

IB Fudger
15/01/2013 at 09:25

One who knows, Chaversham, I do wonder about the effect of so many delivery vans. As I understand it, these are often franchises where you have to make lots of drops a day to make a poor living; this dosen't encourage good driving and sick days are out of the question.

My information is about 20 years old, but a friend reckoned he had to do 100 drops a day, which is why the Slough Industrial Estate patch was so popular.

Alf Tupper
15/01/2013 at 09:20

very sad news for the whole music business whether HMV kept up to date or not. How many people buy their music online/download films after wandering around HMV. I think this means there will be no more record/CD shops except for the independents? so no more Saturday afternoon or christmas sales browsing. it just won't be the same.

Unfortunately HMV is not a charity and needs people to buy rather than getting the cheapesr price online but I imagine this will have a huge impact on the high street as I can't immediately think of another business that has been driven out of business by the internet where it was such an essential part of our culture. It's just that we hoped other people would pay for it and now we have lost it.

Fanny Saltaire, Saltaire
15/01/2013 at 09:20

The trouble with HMV was that it was spreading itself too thin. It, no longer, was a music store, but rather a games/headphones/dvd/blu-ray/cd superstore. The music side of things began to diminish, and unlike Waterstones selling Kindles, HMV also couldn't acknowledge the download , and online, revolution.

I also understand that each store is trading with £1,000,000 in the red, so the business has become fiscally unsustainable.

I would add that HMV also had to compete with Amazon and Play.com, and that staff no longer have the specialist knowledge that they had years' ago. For example, there's no longer a soul, blues, jazz, or country specialist in the store. Certain new titles, or reissues, are not in stock, whereas Amazon certainly do stock them, and at considerably cheaper prices. For example, the 40th Anniversary reissue of Jethro Tull's Thick as A Brick retails with HMV for £33, whereas, with Amazon, it is £21. In this age of recession, people will go to whoever's cheaper.

The downloadable music scene has even had our venerable establishment, The Rolling Stones, provide us with selected concerts via Google Music. Someone as astute as a former LSE student, i.e Mick Jagger, must have known what way the wind was blowing re: HMV, and hence why the concerts were unissued on CD for HMV.

There's also another issue: if, musically speaking, you are interested in classical, blues, rock, soul, jazz, there's plenty of mail order shops that you can contact: again, they are cheaper than HMV.

THOMAS CASAGRANDA
15/01/2013 at 09:20

Yeah, charging £15.99 for 8 songs on a CD in a plastic case, when you can just download the one song on the album that you actually want from iTunes for 69p was only ever going to end in one way.

Daniel in Reading
15/01/2013 at 09:19

Makes you wonder what the average High St will be like in a few years time. I can hardly remember the last time I went into a shop to buy something (apart from food & clothes) - everything else is purchased on-line. No traffic, no car park charges, no elbowing my way through the crowds. Just a few clicks of the mouse and my purchase is delivered to the door a few days later.

One who knows, Chaversham
15/01/2013 at 09:10

Another chain who brought this situation upon themselves. They continually over-charge on the vast majority of their products, putting prices up and up assuming that will achieve their revenue desires. Too stupid to realise that all they were doing was pushing potential customers away to their competitors who are selling the exact same products for much, much less. If they had dropped their prices to match those of said competitors, that would have got customers back in their store purchasing and they would not have found themselves now calling in administrators. It's not like they don't have the buying power to get products in cheap, they're just being greedy on the mark-up. They're another Clinton Cards IMO.

Bruce Wayne
15/01/2013 at 09:08

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