HMV going into administration

cloud493

If it hypothetically meant a few stores here could stay open though.

starviewadams

ixoy wrote: »

They'll take your name and note down the number of the card. If the value is greater than €50 you'll need a receipt.
No other catches and it worked out fine. Still curious as to what they get out of it - publicity is one thing but this will surely cost them.

But how can they know how much is on the card?anybody could walk in and claim they have €50 on a card and they'd be none the wiser.

ixoy

starviewadams wrote: »

But how can they know how much is on the card?anybody could walk in and claim they have €50 on a card and they'd be none the wiser.

No idea. In the same way as that card could have been spent already. They certainly didn't scan it.

Tar.Aldarion

ixoy wrote: »

They'll take your name and note down the number of the card. If the value is greater than €50 you'll need a receipt.
No other catches and it worked out fine. Still curious as to what they get out of it - publicity is one thing but this will surely cost them.

Publicity, everybody and their dog is talking about them today, I never heard of them. Now everybody has. So i could say mine was 40e and just walk in there? Not that I even have one, crazy stuff.

Max Power

A HMV voucher is not just for Christmas. It's for life.

Eathrin

If the administrators decide to make the vouchers valid if the store were to re open then Grafton Lounge can cash in then.
Otherwise, it's just for the publicity.

poisonated

Just redeemed my HMV voucher in the Grafton lounge there. It's fairly packed. Great publicity but I don't understand how it could be worth that much. Especially since anyone could just say that they have 50 euro value on their HMV voucher and there is no way of proving it. I wouldn't do something like that but there are many who would.

cloud493

Apparently gamestop are offering discounts in exchange for HMV vouchers now.

Basq

Yep, according to Facebook:

Attention HMV Customers;
present your HMV gift card in store and get
10% off all New Games and
20% boost on all Software and Movie Trades

Frank Bullitt

A few shops are staging sit-ins around the country...at least they have plenty of DVDs to watch.

Capt'n Midnight

branie wrote: »

Bcause they are easy to buy, and very cheap. I'm not tight by the way

Just means you've very little imagination.

Money + a note to suggest that what they should get is far better.

The only voucher that were barely acceptable were book tokens for kids in the days before electronics.

Thrill

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/hmv-cork-workers-begin-sit-in-581673.html

HMV Cork workers begin sit in

Former workers from HMV's store in Cork are carrying out a sit-in.

The workers say they will occupy the premises, on St Patrick's Street in Cork city centre until they are paid what they say they are owed by the company.

Hangballlouie

Thrill wrote: »

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/hmv-cork-workers-begin-sit-in-581673.html

I know some of the staff that work in the HMV store in The Square in Tallaght and they have just re-entered the store and have began a sit in. There is a bit of a stand-off taking place as far as I'm aware at the moment.

Solair

I just stumbled across this

http://www.property.ie/commercial-property/Hmv-80-82-St-Patricks-Street-Cork-City-Centre-Co-Cork/86412/

It would seem they were paying €580,911 / year in rent for that store!
or €1591.53/day before you even sell a CD!

Just gives you a sense of the overheads they had in many cities around the UK too. No way they could compete with online at that kind of rate.

It's also a FRI lease.
The abbreviated term for a lease which imposes full repairing and insuring obligations on the tenant, relieving the landlord from all liability for the cost of insurance and repairs.
So, basically you just get the building and have to pay for everything as if you owned the place outright.

Corruptedmorals

Solair wrote: »

I just stumbled across this

http://www.property.ie/commercial-property/Hmv-80-82-St-Patricks-Street-Cork-City-Centre-Co-Cork/86412/

It would seem they were paying €580,911 / year in rent for that store!
or €1591.53/day before you even sell a CD!

Just gives you a sense of the overheads they had in many cities around the UK too. No way they could compete with online at that kind of rate.

It's also a FRI lease.
The abbreviated term for a lease which imposes full repairing and insuring obligations on the tenant, relieving the landlord from all liability for the cost of insurance and repairs.
So, basically you just get the building and have to pay for everything as if you owned the place outright.

I can only imagine with the Henry Street and Grafton Street rents are, those stores are pretty big. Only Dunnes afaik own their stores outright, but not all of them.

Solair

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

I can only imagine with the Henry Street and Grafton Street rents are, those stores are pretty big. Only Dunnes afaik own their stores outright, but not all of them.

Yeah, I'd imagine they're pretty high. Grafton Street & Henry Street (Dublin) and Patrick Street (Cork) in that order were always the most expensive city centre locations though in terms of footfall they're all very desirable locations for a major retailer and that's why they attract so many big name brands.

It's also possible HMV might have quite reasonable rates in Dublin as those stores are quite old, so the leases could be from the 1980s... These things can be weird as the leases are often very long.

There's been a pretty massive drop in rent though *IF* you are in a position to sign a new lease based on today's rates. It was all long leases and upward only agreements and stuff in the boom days.

Most of them are a *lot* more realistic now, if someone can sign a new lease.

I'd be far more worried about the smaller HMV stores sitting idle indefinitely.

While it's a shame to lose HMV, you could find some interesting retailers going into some of those stores and getting much better deals on rent as they'll be brand new leases based on today's rates.

AnarchistKen

Solair wrote: »

Yeah, I'd imagine they're pretty high. Grafton Street & Henry Street (Dublin) and Patrick Street (Cork) in that order were always the most expensive city centre locations though in terms of footfall they're all very desirable locations for a major retailer and that's why they attract so many big name brands.

It's also possible HMV might have quite reasonable rates in Dublin as those stores are quite old, so the leases could be from the 1980s... These things can be weird as the leases are often very long.

There's been a pretty massive drop in rent though *IF* you are in a position to sign a new lease based on today's rates. It was all long leases and upward only agreements and stuff in the boom days.

Most of them are a *lot* more realistic now, if someone can sign a new lease.

I'd be far more worried about the smaller HMV stores sitting idle indefinitely.

While it's a shame to lose HMV, you could find some interesting retailers going into some of those stores and getting much better deals on rent as they'll be brand new leases based on today's rates.

I completely agree.

I reckon they wouldn't have had it any easier in Dublin. Just think the amount of times the buildings along Grafton Street changed hands from landlord to landlord.

With landlords dogging tenants with upward only rent reviews I'd say every landlord along Grafton Street hopped on the bandwagon.

Table Top Joe

Solair wrote: »

It would seem they were paying €580,911 / year in rent for that store!
or €1591.53/day before you even sell a CD!

:eek:


Holy ****,i knew it would have a huge rent but i wouldnt have guessed anywhere near that,im stunned it stayed open as long as it did with that rent,thats incredible,nearly €16,000 before you even add wages and bills??......Christ almighty!

Frank Bullitt

Those figures are insane!

Solair

Gintonious wrote: »

Those figures are insane!

Welcome to the ghost of the Irish property bubble!

rob316

Table Top Joe wrote: »

:eek:


Holy ****,i knew it would have a huge rent but i wouldnt have guessed anywhere near that,im stunned it stayed open as long as it did with that rent,thats incredible,nearly €16,000 before you even add wages and bills??......Christ almighty!

Dont forget rates which are collosal on a building that size and location. its mad money I dunno how any business can work on these overheads.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Listening to a discussion tonight I heard the top brass were warned of this impending problem back in 2006 when the company was still very profitable. I mean come on! you didn't need to be a psychic to see what was coming.

My question is though what could they have realistically done to stave off the situation, I mean they did diversify by becoming a tech and games retailer which didn't save them. The business model just couldn't withstand the current market when you consider the size of their company.

starlit

Can't believe this has really happened but I hope they sort something out. Pay out the credit/debit they need to pay off and any money they owe and pay people's wages. I am sure they keep the online website going though? Be a bit unfair for HMV to go completely after 90 years!

squod

Solair wrote: »

http://www.property.ie/commercial-property/Hmv-80-82-St-Patricks-Street-Cork-City-Centre-Co-Cork/86412/

It would seem they were paying €580,911 / year in rent for that store!
or €1591.53/day before you even sell a CD!

Tax free since 2008 I think. Rents have gone up and taxes have come down by 12.5% on those figures. That's €70k per year the government don't want apparently.

squod

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Listening to a discussion tonight I heard the top brass were warned of this impending problem back in 2006 when the company was still very profitable. I mean come on! you didn't need to be a psychic to see what was coming.

My question is though what could they have realistically done to stave off the situation, I mean they did diversify by becoming a tech and games retailer which didn't save them. The business model just couldn't withstand the current market when you consider the size of their company.

Open a a Starbucks on the ground floor and hire a decent tax consultant.

*Available for financial consultancy and children parties*

Allyall

What he said ^^^

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Listening to a discussion tonight I heard the top brass were warned of this impending problem back in 2006 when the company was still very profitable. I mean come on! you didn't need to be a psychic to see what was coming.

My question is though what could they have realistically done to stave off the situation, I mean they did diversify by becoming a tech and games retailer which didn't save them. The business model just couldn't withstand the current market when you consider the size of their company.

They could've downsized loads.
They could've started a proper website business. Many French/American companies profit mostly on the internet. Apart from the obvious ones, there are many stores that went online and are big.

Nothing stopping them doing that now, but they should've done it in '06/'07

Capt'n Midnight

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

My question is though what could they have realistically done to stave off the situation,

They could do something like parcelmotel ?

shed head

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Aw, HMV are actually good value for games.
Lets face it, digital downloads are taking over.

Yes they are, crap mp3 quality audio and the zombies don't notice, how the world is failing, maybe some dre beats will you all! fools

SilverScreen

shed head wrote: »

Yes they are, crap mp3 quality audio and the zombies don't notice, how the world is failing, maybe some dre beats will you all! fools

So your ears are immaculate enough to notice a huge difference between a CD and a 320kbps mp3? Yeah right.

Custardpi

shed head wrote: »

Yes they are, crap mp3 quality audio and the zombies don't notice, how the world is failing, maybe some dre beats will you all! fools

Ah don't be so pessimistic. There's a growing number of sites offering 24/96 & even 24/192 FLAC downloads for people with serious equipment. Plus sales of vinyl are rocketing the past few years, pretty much everything worth listening to (& plenty that's not) is getting a vinyl release. Yes the mainstream will revel in 128kbps mp3/aac of Justin Bieber/One Direction through their Beats but for those who want to actually listen to music properly there'll be people to supply that market. Not necessarily in high street stores of course but it will be there. The sky really isn't falling in, even if bricks & mortar stores are being replaced by online retailers, whether of physical or digital product.