HMV closing (again)

Marty McFly

pixelburp wrote: »

For the sake of the city centre economy and consumer choice, I hope HMV do well; everyone wins if they're successful. Presumably they've done their sums and figure Grafton's worth the high rents, and as anecdotal as it is, anytime I've been in the Henry st. branch it has seemed busy enough, within reason - we are in a recession after all.

I'd say most here are savvy and passionate enough to buy our DVDs online, but to me HMV isn't really for us, its for coffeetable enthusiasts, so there's prob still money to be made from them...

Personally I prefer buying my films in a shop, I often wake up and decide I wouldn't mind watching such and such a film Ill go buy them today not I wouldn't mind watch such and such a film ill buy them now and watch them in two weeks . I'm impatient usually any film I buy online is because I can't get it in a shop.

It mighn't be savvy but I'm sure there are lots of people like me.

Deleted User wrote: »

Just because it seems busy in one of these stores doesn't mean it does well. I wonder how many are there to decide what movies they should pirate as soon as they get home.

By busy I meant people at the register .

Jumboman

http://www.spin1038.com/page/1.74.416/12807/0/HMV_Grafton_Street_re-opening_next_Saturday


HMV Grafton Street re-opening next Saturday

The store has moved to the old A-Wear premises, and will re-open on Saturday the 19th of April.
There'll be live performances during the afternoon, and loads of deals.
This brings the total number of HMV stores in Ireland to eight, and a ninth shop is planned for Edward Square in Galway.

I'm really hoping that in the year to come HMV start getting back to what they used to be. Before they went into administration they were far more competitive than most gave them credit for and since they had issues the prices on amazon have sky rocketed and there's still no sign of them coming back down again.

When HMV was still HMV you could almost guarantee that a new release Blu-Ray would be as cheap, if not more so than amazon. And the ones that weren't were only more expensive because amazon were actively competing with HMV. Now that there's no such competition in place and amazon are effectively charging £4-6 more than they used to.

Going through amazon and looking through my basket and everything is just too expensive. Tetsuo: The Iron Man / Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer is not £22.22, thankfully I found a copy through a seller for half that a few weeks back. Kotoko is £17.53, Bullet Ballet is £17.63, The Story of Yonosuke is £18.16, For Love's Sake is £18.71, Love Exposure is £18.63 and so on. Even releases from the big studios are pushing £20. I can recall a time when Third Window releases were 16 euro in HMV and most Blu's were 13-18 euro if you preorded them. Hell there was a time when amazon were far cheaper than buying directly off the distributor but now you'll save £5 if you buy directly off of Arrow and the likes over amazon.

Agent Coulson

The remaining 4 Irish stores are closing.

There are moving into the streaming market.

The HMV brand is now looking to focus on a new online video-streaming platform, bringing it into direct competition with services such as Netflix.

It is expected to boast 3,000 films available to buy or rent on virtually all smart devices, and arrive either in late 2016 or January next year. It will roll out in Ireland, the UK and Canada initially, with a China move also possible.

Hilco is investing €6.4m into the offering as it looks to a fully digital future.

McGowan told the Irish Independent:

"It's looking pretty good already, we now have heads of terms with all of the major Hollywood studios, plus all of the international guys as well."

http://www.newstalk.com/Glad-HMV-came-back-Well-theyre-closing-their-Irish-stores-again

ButtersSuki

I actually meant to post this last week. I still buy a lot of physical product and know some of the managers "to see"....one of them told me this last week. It's sad for the people who'll lose their jobs, and to a much lesser degree nerds like me.

Amazed Belfast will be the largest store in the world. I remember spending hours in Oxford Street, Belfast by comparison is a pop up.

MilesMorales1

Proper annoyed I am, not getting that Batman V Superman steelbook now.

Agent Coulson

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The remaining 4 Irish stores are closing.

There are moving into the streaming market.



http://www.newstalk.com/Glad-HMV-came-back-Well-theyre-closing-their-Irish-stores-again

I would love if they could get decent content to compete with the scutter netflix offer here outside their original content but I can't see it and Amazon could bury them overnight if they wanted to and got their stuff licensed and rolled out here.

pixelburp

An extensive catalogue is only as good as its updates; I'll be curious to try it, harbouring the same concerns of monopoly with Netflix, but if 6 months after launch hmvs stock hasn't kept current with the latest releases, it'll only die a death from consumer apathy.

Decuc500

As somebody who watches Blu-rays all the time and loves browsing in shops this is really **** news.

ButtersSuki

Decuc500 wrote: »

As somebody who watches Blu-rays all the time and loves browsing in shops this is really **** news.

Tower will be the only shop left in Dublin selling anything other than very mainstream physical product from now on. Sad.

Loughc

Are they closing immediately or is there a date they will close?

Greyjoy

Will they still continue with online dvd/BD sales? They were a good source for Bluray steelbooks / special editions. Of course I'll probably have to use parcelmotel to order from their UK site.

ButtersSuki

Greyjoy wrote: »

Will they still continue with online dvd/BD sales? They were a good source for Bluray steelbooks / special editions. Of course I'll probably have to use parcelmotel to order from their UK site.

The staff member I spoke to said "some time in August". Even they didn't know.

rogercross

ButtersSuki wrote: »

The staff member I spoke to said "some time in August". Even they didn't know.

It was inevitable I think, better they give digital streaming a try than to simply keep going and then close with no backup plan.

I get all my games from UK websites as they're cheaper or direct from the PlayStation store for convenience, and movies etc are all from on-demand services online.

I'd be interested to see how this goes for them, very sad for all the staff of course!

karaokeman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

The staff member I spoke to said "some time in August". Even they didn't know.

Is that when he/she said the actual stores will all be closed?

I too hope they will continue with the online physical media business.

ButtersSuki

karaokeman wrote: »

Is that when he/she said the actual stores will all be closed?

I too hope they will continue with the online physical media business.

Yup. All stores to be closed then.

No idea if they'll continue online with physical product. They'll have a lot of stuff to shift before then though if they decide not to continue with it. Might be a decent sale for once?

Simon2015

When they reopened I didn't think they'd last long.

Very few people under the age of 25 pay for their music.

There business model just didn't have a future.

rogercross

Simon2015 wrote: »

When they reopened I didn't think they'd last long.

Very few people under the age of 25 pay for their music.

There business model just didn't have a future.

Its true, so many people have Spotify or iTunes for paid music and the rest is just from the usual free locations, who wants to pay €20 for a cd.

McLoughlin

rogercross wrote: »

Its true, so many people have Spotify or iTunes for paid music and the rest is just from the usual free locations, who wants to pay €20 for a cd.

New CD's are rarely 20 quid they were at at time I can recall my local having new releases at 22 quid but that has changed most new releases are between 10 and 15 Euro.

Problem with music stores is that they were over charging for years then people realized the true value

rogercross

McLoughlin wrote: »

New CD's are rarely 20 quid they were at at time I can recall my local having new releases at 22 quid but that has changed most new releases are between 10 and 15 Euro.

Problem with music stores is that they were over charging for years then people realized the true value

Ah i'm definitely showing how long its been since i bought a cd then :-)

For me it was definitely the 22 quid kind of price for an album (that i was just going to rip and put on an mp3 player anyway) that stopped me buying them from shops like this.

Penn

I hate the idea of them getting into a streaming service. It's already splintered enough with the likes of HBO having their own subscription service, and Amazon Prime, and Netflix, and I think Disney have their own one too now. It means you either have to subscribe to all or you miss out on several shows. These services are only as good as their selections, and if the selection of shows between services keeps getting splintered, the cost of your subscription becomes less value.

I though HMV were going to partner with Tesco and take over their media/tech sections?

rogercross

Penn wrote: »

I hate the idea of them getting into a streaming service. It's already splintered enough with the likes of HBO having their own subscription service, and Amazon Prime, and Netflix, and I think Disney have their own one too now. It means you either have to subscribe to all or you miss out on several shows. These services are only as good as their selections, and if the selection of shows between services keeps getting splintered, the cost of your subscription becomes less value.

I though HMV were going to partner with Tesco and take over their media/tech sections?

I'm happy to see them try the streaming option even if the market is getting full with those offerings, its better than just putting overpriced physical media into somewhere like tescos where most people won't buy it.

karaokeman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Yup. All stores to be closed then.

No idea if they'll continue online with physical product. They'll have a lot of stuff to shift before then though if they decide not to continue with it. Might be a decent sale for once?

I'll keep an eye out for emails and on their site anyway. Surely, if their physical media business is ending period in August they will want to have the biggest closing sale ever to clear the warehouses.

I'm going to miss it honestly, I enjoy Netflix and whatnot, but it was always fun to look around at whatever movies and music they had .

Nervous Wreck

Went in to HMV today. Their sale is 30% off all stock. Some stock appears to have been increased in price to reduce the amount of the discount. Pretty crappy sale tbh and, though I saw loads of people browsing, I only saw one guy actually buying something (around 9 CDs). I'm sure there'll be further discounts closer to their close date but for now, save yourselves the trip!

MilesMorales1

There's quite a few steelbooks in there I want, but its still too rich for my blood.

MilesMorales1

Might as well ask here, are they definitely not getting Batman V Superman in next week? I have the steelbook pre ordered there, and it has on the website for a release on the 29th, and I'd like to know before I order from HMV UK and possibly be double charged.

ButtersSuki

They're not getting new releases from certain studios/distributors, The Hateful Eight is an example. Amazon prob your best bet

MilesMorales1

Alright, better to know so.

dublinman1990

I was in their Henry Street store in Dublin last Friday and got a number of bargains for myself & my mam.

Some of the cheapest blu-rays that I got there with the 30% off in store were Mrs Browns Boys D'Movie for €4 reduced to €2.80 & a double blu-ray set of The Hobbit Battle of the five Armies for €5 reduced to €3.50.

While I was there on Friday I saw a guy nabbing a big tower of DVDs on sale while browsing upstairs. You will probably see many more of them at any of the remaining stores around the Republic I'll bet over the next few weeks.

MilesMorales1

Well I've just been charged by xtravision for batman v superman, so I can only presume it is still coming.