FOPP stores close

That's OK Dean - I would be in a CD shop everyday if I worked there too!

Cheers
Geoff

quote:

Though my point was if you really don't want shops to close pay the the premium to keep them open, thats what I'm willing to do.

And my point was, regardless of how we feel, the internet has brought about a massive transformation in how we shop. Faced with the choice of paying full price from a megastore or a few quid from Amazon, the reality is most people (myself included) will forsake HMV et al. I too, prefer to browse in a quirky little indie shop, which is precisely what Fopp was before its ill advised expansion.
Personally, I wouldn't be sad to see the megastores close, they have ripped us off with inflated prices for years. If you want to demonstrate a committment to retail outlets that's fine but I honestly believe the days of mainstream record shops are dangerously numbered.

quote:

Originally posted by Malky:

And my point was, regardless of how we feel, the internet has brought about a massive transformation in how we shop. Faced with the choice of paying full price from a megastore or a few quid from Amazon, the reality is most people (myself included) will forsake HMV et al. I too, prefer to browse in a quirky little indie shop, which is precisely what Fopp was before its ill advised expansion.
Personally, I wouldn't be sad to see the megastores close, they have ripped us off with inflated prices for years. If you want to demonstrate a committment to retail outlets that's fine but I honestly believe the days of mainstream record shops are dangerously numbered.

Malky


Take a trip to one of the bigger HMV's and have a look at the prices they range from £5 to £20 for Dbl CD titles and SACD's, most new releases are under a tenner so I don't see the Myth of ripping us off at all its the under value from places like Amazon that has warped the perception of what an album is worth. Prices have to rise thats the nature of our economy.


Just like people are rediscovering Vinyl as a superior format and kicking themselves for dismissing it so readily in the 80's, I wonder if in 20 years CD's and record shops will have the same cache and people with slap themselves on the forehead and wonder how we let it all disappear. But you will not miss it til its gone though.



Dean..

Absolute shame, excellent record store. I heard that alledgedly they went down because of bad investment not because of their record sales.

I could never understand why they had three stores in Bristol.

The significant problem for me was when the megastores became more interested in DVD's and T-shirts than they did music. They dropped vinyl very quickly when I was resisting CD's, so I have no loyalty to them at all.

Buy all my cd's over the internet (Amazon mostly) as I rarely visit town anymore (age and commitments and tbh price).

I'm as guilty as anyone of killing little music shops. When I was younger and had the time they were my life blood. Times change. Still a big shame. Keep it up Whizzkid.

Diccus

Independent stores can do well if they market themselves well with a good range of cd's and vinyl.

Steel Wheels (heres hoping it's still open!!) inNewcastle was always busy and did a roaring trade in vinyl because you could always get stuff there that you couldn't get in HMV.

There is something to be said for paying a bit extra for buying from a shop. Does the same mentality hold that if you can get your Naim gear off the net cheaper then you are going to forsake the dealer and his service to save a few bucks.....I don't think so and would seriously hope not. But its ok to do so for music......Isn't MUSIC why we are all in this hobby anyway!!!!!!

Ryan

They were just about to open a fopp near me too.

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
Keep it up Whizzkid.

Diccus

I need some help though, c'mon everybody as Ryan says would you do the same with your Kit?



Dean...

Thing is, even UK internet stores will suffer, most of my CD's come from Caiman USA either direct or via Amazon website. This is basic international trade and economics at work, supply and demand, currency gearing.

Now we can easily buy goods overseas without travelling, we can shop around. It's cheaper to buy (largely better quality) CD's in Japan, pay shipping, pay tax, pay extortionate 'handling fee' for someone to work out the tax, than it to buy online in UK, let alone drive 10 minutes into town, park and vist Virgin shop. Go figure.

Typical CD at HMV/Virgin = £12

Tesco £10

Amazon £9

Caiman (from USA) Typically £7 incl postage(!)

Given I buy hundreds of CDs/LPs a year, guess where I buy?

Hmmm, yes this feels very similar to some of the Borders book shops I've been in. Quite a few of them I absolutely love. You go in and they have all the new books out that are good in every category, you fell as if the people who work there love books.

And yet, the new big one next to me just has loads of stuff. All commodity, no interest in books.

Guess what, I don't shop there and shop for books online.

Roy.

I don't fully understand the reasoning that shops care about what they sell and websites don't. Amazon have a wealth of reviews, encourage customer reviews and offer several versions of the same CD. You can buy new from lots of small dealers. Just because it's on-line doesn't mean they are any less a record shop. I have bought CD's from FOPP as well as Rounder Records and Essential Music in Brighton that always did great prices, but it's the council policy to stop me going into town that kills it, not the price of the CD itself.