John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Music market value 2005 £1.8billion
Music market value 2013 £1.1billion
Shot by both sides
Music market value 2013 £1.1billion
Shot by both sides
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RIP Stafford HMV - Administrators called in, Jan 2013
- Thread starter Gramaisc
- Start date
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
A crumb of comfort - http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/ind...-first-bite-cake-shop.8224/page-4#post-174189 .
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
John Moulton, Endless and Hilco circling..
proactive
Enjoying a drop of red.
He's always circling, but never seems to put his hands in his pocket. Publicity whore?
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Or maybe the financial journalists all have his number
Should have been a funeral director
staffordjas
Well-Known Forumite
ME
The one and only time I bought a CD on line was from Asda. The next day delivery never happened....ended up waiting in 4 weeks for the bloody thing to arrive!
I'd rather walk down to HMV , buy what I want and take it home with me that day
I've never believed in gift tokens either. The few times I've received one I've hot-footed it down to the shop as soon as I can to get it spent, just in case .
em505
A few posts under my belt
ME
The one and only time I bought a CD on line was from Asda. The next day delivery never happened....ended up waiting in 4 weeks for the bloody thing to arrive!
I'd rather walk down to HMV , buy what I want and take it home with me that day
I've never believed in gift tokens either. The few times I've received one I've hot-footed it down to the shop as soon as I can to get it spent, just in case .
Same! Totally agree with this! The internet connection's so slow at mine that it's easier to go out and buy a movie on DVD rather than download it!
Sk84goal
Well-Known Forumite
Disagree, certainly in the case of Tesco's, Internet buying has one major issue called the "Last Mile" problem, This is the delivery of the goods. Most people are not available all day to receive goods they have purchased. Tesco and other supermarkets are not opening their convenience stores just to sell sandwiches, they will become the location where you can choose to go to pick up your internet purchases bought on their site. Those companies with just an internet presence are very afraid of the dominance the supermarkets could create by their ability to offer this service "on every street corner". In fact many of them warned of this when the post office closures took place, as the post offices would have made a perfect 3rd party solution to this problem, but for some reason the government seemed to think that allowing the major supermarkets to control the whol process was better.
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
If, as seems inevitable, we do lose HMV, there will be tumbleweed blowing through the Guildhall. I have an idea. How about, instead of a big shopping temple, the planners think about a really great market, full of character and really inviting for shoppers? Maybe we could have a beautiful arcade entrance, lined with independent shops? Ooh and how about a really handy DIY shop, right in the centre of town, where people who work there could pick up a few odds and ends instead of being drawn out to the retail parks all the time? 
Jonah
Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
Interesting read about HMV and their management's attitude to the changing face of the music business.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21028803
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21028803
That-Crazy-Rat-Lady
Well-Known Forumite
Such a shame - I remember in my teens when HMV was the place to be!
We used to hang out there on a saturday, dance around like idiots and swoon over the posters of greenday......
We used to hang out there on a saturday, dance around like idiots and swoon over the posters of greenday......
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
You mean something like County Woodware? It would have been somewhere near where the perfume shop is now...Ooh and how about a really handy DIY shop, right in the centre of town, where people who work there could pick up a few odds and ends instead of being drawn out to the retail parks all the time?
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
Exactly like County Woodware.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
It appears to have been expunged from history - a search only came up with one reference - Mr Marwood's previous mention of it on here - I wonder if it really was there..?
Any pictures anywhere..?
Wormella
Well-Known Forumite
Ooh and how about a really handy DIY shop, right in the centre of town, where people who work there could pick up a few odds and ends instead of being drawn out to the retail parks all the time?
Like Wilkos?
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
John Lewis solved that problem brilliantly with their click-and-collect service. I did nearly all my Christmas shopping that way this year. I shopped online and knew with total certainty that the goods would be delivered within 24 hours. I would get a text at about mid-day the next day, confirming that they had been delivered to Waitrose in Newport. Then, at about 7.30pm at night, when the supermarket was quiet and the car park almost empty, I would wander into the store in my wellies (not because the roof was leaking - I usually went straight from dog-walking) and collect my parcel from the nice people right by the entrance. I realise that if you live in Stafford itself, Newport is a bit of a trek but I live out in that direction and it was fantastic. I didn't have to worry about not being in for a package or panic that something wouldn't be delivered and I didn't have to pay any P&P charges. Blooming wonderful. The irony of their Christmas 'snowman' advert was not lost on me...while the heroic snowman was prepared to go to hell and back for his loved one, John Lewis made sure I didn't have to!
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Wilkos is (far) better than nothing, but County Woodware was like this..
..anything and everything, and in whatever quantity you actually needed..
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
You're right - Wilkos is great and never fails to surprise me with how many different things it sells. I suppose I am just being nostalgic for how things were in Stafford before the Guildhall was built to accommodate all the multiples, like HMV, whose failure has left a big hole in the town centre. I loved the atmosphere of the old market hall and of the arcade entrance with the big, swinging doors. I loved the little streets behind it, flattened for its car park. My dentist stood roughly where the shop next to the Perfume Shop is now and even as a child, I used to like going into County Woodware and wondering what everything was for! You used to be able to do a 'drive by' round the back of the market, too, meaning that people could be picked up right outside with all their shopping or, in December, with a Christmas tree conveniently stacked outside.
It feels as if the planners got totally swept along in a short-term drive to create something 'modern' and 'now', despite the fact that nothing modern has stood the test of time. Our town centre was changed, irrevocably into just another anonymous base for multiple stores. And now they are moving out, we can't knock it all down and put it back to how it was!
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
I find Wilkos has gone a bit downhill of late. Its still one of my favourite shops in town, but I'm sure they used to have more hardware?