The rolling downhill "ZAVVI are actually Discounting before closing FOREVER!!!", ahem, thread.

Because 10% off don't make it.

Because they could, potentially, just shut up shop and redistribute the stock back to suppliers (like Fopp sort of did).

Or they could host a big bang shutdown sale a'la Woolworths.

And if/when they do, we need to know about it, right?

http://soundbiteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/vultures.jpg

Fair point, but then I never liked Zavvi, and never really ventured into Virgin Megastore since they changed emphasis from music to mobile phones.

I got that Monty Python all the films and all the TV series box ridiculously cheap from Zavvi.

I keep going in there and picking up the Friends boxset. I need help.

So are they actually discount now?

er, discounting

i wandered in, saw nothing desirable and left swiftly with a somewhat sullied soul. should probably have taken advantage of the WestWing box set for £50 before christmas though.

That WestWing box set is about £50 in HMV and from Amazon (where I bought it from...) so not really a special offer in Zavvi. If they're actually discounting I hadn't noticed. The shop I went into seemed to be full of the same crud at the same prices the last time I looked (about a week ago)

they had all five peep shows for £15 and yeah that west wing box, but otherwise not much to report.

xpost

I went into Sainsbury's at lunchtime and they were still selling individual DVDs for £15 and CD albums for a tenner, like they were mocking the high street.

I went in yesterday and most things were still more expensive than Fopp even with 10% off.

I was in Zavvi in Argyle St just before xmas and it was as shite as usual. I walked straight past the huge one in Buchanan St, as last time I was in there they had hardly any cds as they were only on the top floor while dvds took the other floors. Fuck them. I wont miss them like I'll miss woolies.

I do wonder if HMV can last. I'm surprised anyone is still asking £15+ for new CDs and DVDs.

HMV at least have some decent back catalogue cds of lots of bands, but yeah the prices suck.

Seven or eight big boxes of sealed smooth jazz and obscure AOR cut out LPs in the basement of the Tottenham Court Road store. £2 a pop, with loads of copies of each. One of the most curious lots of stock I've seen, but there's one or two decent albums to be had.

I had a flick through some of the £2 LPs but the only one that grabbed my attention was a Dobie Gray LP just cos I know the name from some Northern Soul comps. I didn't bite.

They had the £2 selection in my local Zavvi ages ago and I got http://www.discogs.com/Chuck-Brown-The-Soul-Searchers-Any-Other-Way-To-Go/release/376048 which is pretty good

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7815396.stm

I got luck with one or two good comps, went back for seconds and got burnt with a bunch of duds. Straight to the M&VE.

I may well pick up that Chuck Brown LP if there's any in the Picc C branch. Need more go-go in my life!

I tried to buy some music in Zavvi last week. Totally failed, and found myself laughing out loud at FOURTEEN POUNDS for one CD all over the place. Honestly, they'd shift three times as much if they halved everything. I did buy this for six quid though, which is in my bag ready to be read.

Might check out TottCtRd Zavvi on Friday.

Because they could, potentially, just shut up shop and redistribute the stock back to suppliers (like Fopp sort of did).

Well, as I said on another thread, most of their classical stock (ftom the Piccadilly branch anyway) seems to have disappeared already

I don't understand this. Music sales on actual physical formats are back to the early 90s numbers. And yet, what is the point in stores that were around in the early 90s closing now? Most of the decline has been for compilations anyway.

I noticed the same as Tom D. I go in there for classical CDs every now and then, and when I went in last weekend a lot of stuff seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. Lots of gaps, and I very much doubt through sales.

I don't understand this.
OK, lets' have a go.

Music sales on actual physical formats are back to the early 90s numbers.
OK...

And yet, what is the point in stores that were around in the early 90s closing now?

Zavvi were 'around in the early nineties' inasmuch as they were called "Virgin", but their emphasis changed to promote their mobile phone biz at front of store. (loads of branches, you had to go up or downstairs to get to 'music'). Subsequently, Virgin phones split and became separate shops. Then, the emph changed to DVD sales.

When the mamageement takeover happeneed, Zavvi came into being, but still the eemphasis was on the 'bulky/cheap' items with big profmargs, again you had to go further in to browse and/or find something specific. The likes of Debenhams do this with perfume at front of store, because people will venture in for what they want, and the casual browser will buy perfume, then comee back when used up.

DVD's / phones / Boxsets etc, do not get used up, they hang around taking space in yr house. Eeventually, you reemeember that that DVD got playeed onece, and the box set not even that much.

So, browsing gets easier online, and more difficult instore, guess what happens?

Most of the decline has been for compilations anyway.

How do you mean, decline, there?

(Apologies for rubbish spurious 'e' keyage)

Then, the emph changed to DVD sales.

Entire UK music retail industry to thread

yep.

Entire UK music retail industry up shit creek. Now, is there a connection there?

How do you mean, decline, there?

In sales. The music bizz started making hit compilations in the 80s, and they increased sales by a lot.
Then people discovered they could download the hits instead of actually having to buy compilations, and compilation sales dived again.

But sales of actual full albums by longtime artists with an empasis on lengthy careers sell now as they have ever done, because those of us who are into albums rather than single tracks will still prefer physical format CDs. So there is still a need for record stores, although of course I do realize that people also use online stores to buy their physical CDs cheaper, so there is a change regardless of downloading too.

Are you basing that on actual sales figures or some kind of Opium dream?

Citation needed.

Compilations are easy money, if sales slack off, the reccomps can just make less of them. But have sales 'deeclined'?

Are you basing that on actual sales figures or some kind of Opium dream?

^_^ ^_^ ^_^

"No thanks, I don't do the horse"

Zavvi announces 22 store closures

ZAVVI STORE CLOSURES
Ashford (Designer Outlet) (8 staff)
Ayr (5)
Bideford (Atlantic Village) (7)
Braintree (7)
Braintree (Freeport Village) (7)
Bridgend (Welsh Designer Outlet Village) (8)
Castleford Outlet (8)
Chatham (13)
Edinburgh (Cameron Toll) (4)
Hempstead Valley (9)
High Wycombe (Octagon) (8)
Huddersfield (7)
Liverpool (Clayton Square) (28)
Livingston (McArthur Glen Outlet) (5)
Manchester (Salford Quays) (5)
Mansfield (McArthur Glen Outlet) (6)
Newcastle (Royal Quays) (6)
Sterling Mills (10)
Street (Clarks Village) (7)
Swindon (Great Western Designer Outlet) (8)
Torquay (5)
York (McArthur Glen Outlet) (7)

The remaining 92 stores will stay open, with a sale of up to 50% off beginning on Friday, Ernst and Young said.

I was in the Newcastle Royal Quays one, not much. Think Tank, Blur, £2 but I have one already, you know...

The remaining 92 stores will stay open, with a sale of up to 50% off beginning on Friday, Ernst and Young said.

"Happy days are here again, la la la la la la!" That is if they've got any stock left worth buying.

Most of those closed ones are small units, what used to be XS Music/Video...

Other than the Piccadilly store, I'm not sure if any other Zavvi's are any good, the one in Glasgow is utterly shite and that's a big shop.

Right, what of the things that you might actually buy givene a decent discount?

I did see Bill Drummond's "17" book, I'd possibly buy that eventually. But, the 10% discount (i.e. one pound off) wasn't enough to make me buy it ahead of when I'd be having time to read it.

There's a ton of classic soul LPs in the Piccadilly branch I would be all over if they were discounted.

The £7 ones? Been wondering what the deeeeeal is w/ them for a while - overstock from somewhere?

I want a non-bashed-up "This Life" Series 1 & 2 boxset and a whole slew of classical CDs at knocked down prices.

I think the Buchanan Street, Glasgow Zavvi (nee Virgin) got rid of all its interesting musical stock in the big £3.99 sale a couple of years ago. Even coming late to the party I still managed to spend just over £120 that time and was seriously gleeful about a lot of what I got - dream come true when I went in and saw the kind of things they had included in that sale. My best purchases were 3 or 4 Necks CDs at £3.99 each with the original >£20 price tags on them to make me feel even happier about it, along with a bunch of the lesser-spotted Kranky & Constellation titles. Oh happy day!

Yep those are the ones. Lyn Collins, Curtis etc. I've been eyeing them for a while but I'm skint. £6.30 is a decent price but it's above my current budget for an album, at least for the next few months.

xpost

I think Zavvi's main problems are a) shit name and b) their supplier went bust, so they didn't have the stock to sell at Christmas, which is when they make all their money, and they couldn't return stock they had overordered, and they couldn't negotiate new lines of credit with other suppliers on favourable terms.

HMV should be fine, in a last-man standing kind of way, shouldn't it? IE Zavvi, MVC, Fopp failing = less competition.

Their vinyl selection is plain weird. I guess they got a good deal on a really random bunch of represses, but why would they buy thousands of special effects records? Don't people only buy those things because they're rare/collectable, so what's the point in a shitty repress?

I bought Lonnie Liston Smith Expansions, though, and If all the £7 ones are going to be £3.50, I'll pick up some more of the soul and jazz things.

The word which comes to mind with Zavvi (see also Woolies, M&S etc.) is "tired."

We went into our local branch (Fulham Broadway) last week to look for bargains but it was a painful experience going in there.

The same old mass produced rubbish that everyone's bought a thousand times over and the same rubbish overhyped indie stuff being discounted. The few decent things we saw were all £14 or £15, non-discounted.

And a total absence of atmosphere and friendliness - endless misfiling of albums, misspelling o of names on browsers, the detritus of a business that just doesn't care.

Clinging on to the exhausted old fifties idea of "retail" and they wonder why they're going bust.

Clinging onto the nurse of the tried and tested rather than risking the new.

Suggestions for all remaining record shop chains, including HMV:

Make your shops places that people want to go to. As the Apple store in Regent Street has managed to do. Places with atmosphere and feeling. You can't induce any atmosphere by creating a bottleneck at the front of every branch because of rubbish DVDs and Guitar Hero boxes that won't sell even if you gave them away.

And sort the prices out. Whatever anyone has to do to achieve it.

What about making every CD album in HMV the same price - say, £8? That would encourage people to delve deeper into the shop, find the unexpected, make random purchases, take chances that they can afford to take.

Yes, the shareholders wouldn't make as much profit. But how much more do they expect to make if the business collapses because people decide that Amazon etc. is overall much less hassle?

nb: my wife came up with the "every CD the same price" idea and we are both sure there are many sound economic reasons why this will never happen (as Grouty has underlined upthread) but driving people away from shops isn't exactly sound economics either.

Places with atmosphere and feeling.

this.
it has worked for bookshops surely it cant be that far removed to think a similar thing will work for music.

can't induce any atmosphere by creating a bottleneck at the front of every branch because of rubbish DVDs and Guitar Hero boxes

And this ^

Zavvi/Virgin has always tried to point the customers at things they want to sell.

HMV, in fact, all shops, do this to some degree. But it's the same with Virgin media in general: Treat the mass population as one humungous lump of the same generic person type. Sattelite TV, Holidays, phones, etc, evereyone 'wants' the same thing, and that's all they should be offered.

(Try buying an 'off the shelf' TV package without Sport or Films, and you apparently do not exist as a type)

That's freedom of choice for ya

and here's Virgin's first Freeedom of Choice offering, in happier times...

http://deaconlight.com/music/recordcovers/1980/devo_freedomx.jpg

So Alex was the guy who got the Constellation/Kranky cd's I was looking for. *shakes fist*

The Buchanan st one is all dvds. A small shitty selection of cds on the top floor now was all they had in september. I walked straight past it to the bus station when i was last in Glasgow. (hey alex i got 1 of the gore lps i was looking for but not the other)

I went on a massive gaps-in-back-catalogue-filling splurge in the Nottingham Zavvi yesterday, mostly paying £3.59 or £2.69. Shadows best of, Presley best of, a Sun Records 3CD comp, Stylistics best of, Mastercuts Ohio Players & Funkadelic comps (£1.79 each), a tidy 80s Soul Weekender 3CD comp, a Tommy Boy 80s comp for £1.79, Eagles Greatest Hits, Tusk (at last!), a couple of others but the memory's gone. Dead atmosphere, as few people browsing as ever, weird and random price discrepancies (why are they still selling any CDs at £15?), and the whole thing left me with an underlying "they're remaindering my dreams!" malaise.

Meanwhile, we've still got a Fopp and it does steady, good business. Intelligently laid out, pleasant atmosphere, still feels like a place run by and for people who care about music.

Two minutes' walk away, Selectadisc is also still going strong - albeit with half the floorspace of 12 months ago since they sold the building next door and contracted back to their original size. There's still a massive US import hardcore/thrash section, and the vinyl department upstairs looks stronger than ever. It ain't over yet.

tomorrow i venture into bristiol for first time in 2 weeks.
during my lunch hour release i have 45 minutes to browse.
do i head for fopp and at least have a chance of finding something i might enjoy, or check out this Zavvi clearance.
cant do both as the boss doesn't allow afternoons off for cd browsing, and the shops are a distance apart.
ohhh the dilemma.
[if i knew there was a chuck brown album for £2 i would definitely head for Zavvi, but i know the chances are very slim given that 2 weeks ago the place was full'o'shite that no-one wants]

xpost : actually i want that tommy boy comp.

I got round the whole ever-shrinking music section in 30 mins, Mark. The most heavily discounted stuff was racked separately, which helped.

TBH I can't really blame any major retailer for largely giving up on CDs and devoting most of the space to DVDs. At least people still want to buy those in significant numbers.

MarkE, check Zavvi: Fopp will still be there in another 2 weeks...

TBH I can't really blame any major retailer for largely giving up on CDs and devoting most of the space to DVDs. At least people still want to buy those in significant numbers.

Do they?

More than CDs, yes, I believe.

Make your shops places that people want to go to. As the Apple store in Regent Street has managed to do.

This is OTM x50 though. I'm wondering if there's space on the high street for a music store layout that doesn't require you to negotiate alleyways of CDs that only a handful of people. Like an Argos* with CDs filed away out of sight, lots of listening points and maybe the opportunity to transfer music straight onto your MP3 player.

*Except not shit.

Given that you can buy them anywhere and everywhere.

Though, of course, you can but the *Zutons' 2nd album everywhere too

(*my shorthand for CDs that nobody wants to buy so shops end up with millions of them)

Rows and ROWS of Courteeners CDs still clogging up Zavvi last we looked.

i can never get over how many people queue up in these places with a piles of dvds.
i have never watched a dvd movie more than twice.
this country has gone crazy for dvds.

DVDs are cheaper than the cinema?

"those kids have gone dvd mad!"

I'm still buying DVDs, more than CDs. There's something about knowing that a rare movie is MINE, and I can watch it any time I like, and bore friends with it. Then again, I have things I've watched four or five times.

Still, once I get my act together to suss out downloads, I suspect that'll be the end of it.

I never developed any kind of attachment to owning videos or DVDs so I'm happy to just download (steal), borrow or rent them, I hardly ever buy DVDs, I probably have less than 20 of them. I still haven't got over wanting to own physical copies of music I like though.

DVDs are cheaper than the cinema?

2 x cinema tickets = approx £12

I might pop into the local branch tomorrow after work, it's gradually become a more and more depressing place to visit over the last year or so. Lots of copies of the last two Kaiser Chiefs albums... HMV is marginally better but the music section is shrinking and, yeah, the pricing is ridiculous. I don't know anyone who'd pay £16 for a CD album yet I kept finding them.

2 x cinema tickets = approx £12

more 1 x down here (or 1x = £9 at least).

OTM on those buying DVDs in bulk. At most of the big chain U.S. retailers I am constantly seeing people, usually in their 20s-30s walking out with literal armloads of DVDs.

Lots of copies of the last two Kaiser Chiefs albums...

Ah yes, the "BEST OF LEEDS" section, featuring said albums and some Leeds Rhinos highlights DVDs and nothing else. Yay adopted hometown!

Just hopefully Gamestop will not end up buying all those stores like they bought all of Free Record Shop around Europe. There need to be some record shops around to stand up against the evils of downloading and too much empasis on single tracks over album concepts and longevity. The world needs to get back to the album bands of the early 70s again.

Listening to Frampton Comes Alive is just what's needed to beat the world recession - Bank Of Hongro

Sale DVD section in Piccadilly Circus store today seemed to be mostly unsorted blockbusters from 5 years ago for £3.99. And the World Cinema section has basically disappeared. Fopp had Dog Of Two Head by Status Quo for £2, so beat that for a bargain ya cunts.

Howzit today?

I'll be checkin' 'em out later

20% off cds.
still, racks of mainstream crap that everyone has already, mainly at full price.
dance music/electronic section is clearly still a seller, as nothing on offer, except lcd soundsystem, and 100s of copies of massive attacks compilation for £7.
i did get the tommy boy 2cd set as mentioned above for £2, after a lot of searching, so chuffed about that.
noticed in the queue i was the only person buying music, the rest, yup, you guessed, boxsets of csi, the wire etc etc.
over heard one couple : "the prices aren't that much lower are they"
oh, and the soundtrack to this enjoyable lunch hour experience : another one bites the dust by queen.
clearly, the staff have a sense of humour.

Fuck a 20%, we were led to believe 50% was in the offing!

haha i was reading through, saw 50%, got coat, now not so sure.

The remaining 92 stores will stay open, with a sale of up to 50% off beginning on Friday, Ernst and Young said

The Zutons' second album may well be 50% off, to be fair

UP TO.

The Zutons' second album may well be 50% off, to be fair

So, it'll be like 25p now? And still no-one buys it.

50% off vinyl!

I got some quite boring but great things that I only ever had on tape (Stevie Wonder - Innervisons and Talking Book, Massive Attack - Blue Lines) and then Come Away with ESG, Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different, Minnie Ripperton - Perfect Angel, and Mark E's namesake's Fazer/Smokescreen single. £30 all in, which is pretty good.

I wanted to get Sing me a Song of Songmy by Freddie Hubbard, as I'd almost got it at full price, but none left. In fact the jazz LPs had been decimated. Loads of stuff worth having, though.

Speaking of Peter Frampton, I nearly randomly bought The Art of Control, as it was £1. Also nearly got RAMP- Come into Knowledge - should I have?

It was very busy, both there and upstairs (this is Tottenham Court Road one, btw)

I just hit the 50% vinyl and got these, all £3.50 each:

lyn collins - think (about it)
new york dolls - s/t
kraftwerk - the man machine
edwin starr - 25 miles
marvin gaye - what's going on
archie bell & the drells - tighten up
curtis mayfield - superfly

There were no Chuck Brown LPs left unfortunately.

This was at the Piccadilly Circus branch.

never saw the chuck brown album, nor any good jazz albums, in the old one.
while the new fancy big store in cabots circus (bristol has 2 zavvis!) has no vinyl at all.

Vinyl 50& off - picadilly branch.

Lyn Collins - think
Andy smith - Trojan collection.
Janes Addiction (repress) - ritual de la habitual
Roxy Music - for your pleasure

slim pickens even at arouns 13:00.

things seemed to be at RRP and then with the obligatory 20% off. for DVDs et al. much cheaper with Play / Fopp.

Dont believe the Hype.

I already have superfly on vinyl but for £3.50 I would buy it again. Will likely not resist paying the TCR branch a visit on my way home but MUST resist buying stuff I'm not that bothered about simply due to cheapness.

will be in london next thursday/friday... not much chance of anything decent left on vinyl by then i suspect... :-(

> I am constantly seeing people, usually in their 20s-30s walking out with literal armloads of DVDs.

i am curious to why this should be true given that there's now a ton more things to watch than there used to be without having to resort to buying dvds, the same as happened to cds. in fact, dvds are more expensive, which i'd think would count against it.

i would say wrt 'you only watch dvds once' that in a sense a lot of people only play cds once, when they upload them to computer, thereafter listening to digital versions, and deleting what they don't like. the object sort of goes away.

also: i think it's still relatively unusual to be able to play video d/ls on a television (and the drop in quality is more significant? even on a laptop screen it's suboptimal).

for geeks like me the extras are part of what dvds are about.

that said, i mostly rent dvds now.

Totally uninspiring today in the Buchanan Street branch. Just hurry up and die already.

I told you. Only the very top floor has cds. Everything else is dvd. Fuck zavvi.

Today in the Buchanan St. shop I bought:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/c/cymande~~~~_cymande~~_101b.jpg

Vinyl.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/Bdp1.jpg

Vinyl.

http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/japrocksampler2.jpg

Book, obv.

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/61XG4VCAXML._SL500_AA240_.jpg

CD, Van Gelder (for what that's worth, not listened to it yet).

http://www.jazz.com/assets/2008/4/15/albumcoverArtBlakeyAndTheJazzMessengers-ANightInTunisia.jpg

Same as above.

Cost me less than £19.

You have a better eye than me.

me and jonny got the last two japrocksamplers. There was some A Certain Ratio vinyl that jonny got the last of as well, but I'm not sure that was heavily discounted. There was some faintly ridiculous shit too, like really common CDs being sold for £16 with a 20% discount, i.e. £12.80.

There was some A Certain Ratio vinyl that jonny got the last of as well, but I'm not sure that was heavily discounted

in fact it was half price, going from £12 to £6. So not amazing but ok.

Also to my shame there was a bunch of Richard "Dimples" Fields vinyl going for £1 or £2 and I never bought them because I didn't remember if he was any good or not. Big mistake.

I bought one of the Dimples Fields records. I listened to it with your girl.

damn, son.

How much did you manage to get the Japrocksampler for? I ran out and bought that pretty much the day it was released. I'm a fan boy all over, not just for the 'gwai!

I got Japrocksampler from FOPP a year ago for £7

The Newcastle branch provided me with the following vinyl Lps at £3.50 a pop:

Stevie Wonder - Music Of My Mind
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces of a Man

a further pound got me V/A This Is Fort Apache

I also got the Beach Boys Pet Sounds Sessions box for £20. I hummed and hahhed about it, but eventually decided that if a friend texted me to say that he was looking at a new copy for £20 and did I want it, i would probably have said yes.

On the whole though, nothing was discounted enough to warrant impulse buys.

I didn't know they were still open. I must go!

But hey this Lou Reed £15 box, wow.

Oh yeah, the Northumberland Street one is still there, and will be for a bit. They're never going to clear their stock at those prices. 20% discount on cds, it's nothing!

And I swear they've bumped the Kind of Blue box set's price UP by £15 since before Christmas. £65!! Even with 20% off, that's taking the piss.

Dundee branch has all stock on the shop floor, loads of budget dance comps. Sadly I got the only CDs I was interested in at an uninspiring 10% off, but was happy to get the deluxe version of "Different Class" by Pulp for £7.19 when it was stickered at £12. Only vinyl I could see was the most recent Travis album, so no excitement there. A couple of books I might go in for at 50% off. Otherwise I was a DVD buyer, complete Sopranos box for £80 seemed reasonable enough.

I used to work there when it was still Virgin so it's sad to see it go, but I'm not really surprised in the slightest (that's if it is going, I don't think there's been much official word on that yet?). I'd agree with the statement upthread that most of the interesting CD stock went in that £3.99 sale a couple of years back.

I'll need to check out the Buchanan St branch. The Argyle St one, which was useless anyway, had barely anything of note. Just the 20% off the same old shit. That store is mostly games and DVDs. Criminal Minded and cheap jazz though...
How long is left before it all closes down?

No idea, anyone I've spoken to that still works there is saying that they've not really been told much - I think the remaining stores are continuing trading for now, but they've not had any deliveries of stock since before christmas. No talk of closing dates, but it's hanging pretty heavy over eryone. If I was an optimist, I'd maybe say that the sale is just to get some cash coming in while new supplier agreements are negotiated.

How much did you manage to get the Japrocksampler for? I ran out and bought that pretty much the day it was released. I'm a fan boy all over, not just for the 'gwai!

― krakow

think it was about a fiver.

the Dundee branch is terrible, but I did manage to get The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for £4. Perhaps some other more box-sets and so on I could've gone for, but now is not a good time for such splurging, even if it is bargainous. I suspect that the Buchanan Street shop will be empty by the time I'm able to visit.

That's a good price. I bought Umbrellas for £7 in Fopp a couple of months back. Any other Demy?

I bought Japrocksampler for £3 in a charity shop, I win.

Anyways, did pop into Zavvi TCR for a look: As you say, 20% off is not 50% off is it?

The book sale (30% off) reasonably good, and there were very cheap vinyl Ramones and TimBuckley albums, and Verve latest one for only £14 as opposed to £28, or thereabouts.

I was going to get that book about the Fall members, but the queues were mad, so left it.

Did get "17" for £7 in Reading Zavvi. Will have to check again later...

Chicago "17"?

Went through the Piccadilly shop on Saturday afternoon on my way back from a funeral. Depressing all round really, bought nowt.

New York Dolls first album, Curtis Mayfield 'Superfly' OST, JBs album and Kraftwerk 'Trans Europe Express' LPs for £3.50 each ie half price - pretty pleased with that

Yeah I was listening to my NYD LP yesterday, I've had that Rock'n'Roll CD which has most of the 2 albums for years but it's great having the album on vinyl. Especially for £3.50.

Is "Check me out if you don't know me by now" by Lyn Collins any good? Also wondering about a couple of late 60s Isley Brothers LPs. If there's any left by now.

I'm wondering if there's space on the high street for a music store layout that doesn't require you to negotiate alleyways of CDs that only a handful of people. Like an Argos* with CDs filed away out of sight, lots of listening points and maybe the opportunity to transfer music straight onto your MP3 player.

The problem with this is that you can't make impulse buys or unexpected discoveries if all the CDs are stocked in the storeroom or behind the counter. You come in, you know what you want, you order it on the terminal, you go and collect it at the checkout.

All of which is economically very sound but you lose the magic - the spontaneity of finding something you never knew about, the ecstasy at stumbling across something you didn't even know was on CD, the curiosity stirred by thumbing the new into view. And so going to the music store becomes the exact equivalent of going to Argos - prepackaged, everything in its right place, no room for mistakes or risks.

General moral for music stores should be: the focus needs to shift from "retail" to "entertainment."

how the mba coming along?

Upthread:

"17", the Bill Drummond book.

The problem with this is that you can't make impulse buys or unexpected discoveries if all the CDs are stocked in the storeroom or behind the counter

You can if are there enough listening posts enabling people to actually browse and listen to stuff - the entire contents of the store could be digitised and playable. It's a better rule of thumb for making impulse purchases than thumbing through a rack of CDs and buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch.

A little surprised Apple hasn't tried this (at least in partnership with some high street retailer)--physical itunes stores.

Or Amazon.

You can if are there enough listening posts enabling people to actually browse and listen to stuff - the entire contents of the store could be digitised and playable. It's a better rule of thumb for making impulse purchases than thumbing through a rack of CDs and buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch.

Sorry, Matt, but to me that sounds like throwing out the baby with the digital bathwater.

For a West End store to work like that, for instance, you'd need about a thousand listening posts, all fully functional. Otherwise you have queues stretching halfway up the street permanently and where's the fun in that?

For me the "buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch" mindset is what makes looking for music special. Where's the romance and magic in just coming in and looking through a catalogue? That simply presumes that you already know what you want or at least the kind of thing you want. And why bother going to a music store to do that when you can do it on Amazon without leaving the house?

If every CD cost the same as per my suggestion above impulse buyers wouldn't be put off by expense.

The real challenge is for music stores to take positive risks. Number one rule: throw the concept of "market reserach-led" into the bin. Go by What The Public Wants and all you'll get are bad Xeroxes of what The Public already knows.

Give them a music store they didn't know they wanted and you'll clean up.

For a West End store to work like that, for instance, you'd need about a thousand listening posts, all fully functional. Otherwise you have queues stretching halfway up the street permanently and where's the fun in that?

Could there be some techy solution to this where you're listening wireless-ly through your mobile phone and headphones while you're in the shop?

I'm with Marcello with the "buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch" thing though, it's always great when you discover something this way.

Hey I'm all for the "buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch" thing, but couldn't "giving them a music store they didn't know they wanted" include different models of music-shopping?

For me the "buying something based on artwork/received wisdom/a hunch" mindset is what makes looking for music special.

This approach is in decline with the physical format really. I'm not sure many people actually buy CDs this way any more, no matter how cheap they get.

For a West End store to work like that, for instance, you'd need about a thousand listening posts, all fully functional. Otherwise you have queues stretching halfway up the street permanently and where's the fun in that?

Haha yeah I've been grappling with that slight structural problem as well.

TBH I think the era of the enormous record store is just over, period. Smaller shops doing vinyl/classical/dance/whatever really well will survive. I'm not sure what future there is for the one-size-fits-all store, even HMV.

Could there be some techy solution to this where you're listening wireless-ly through your mobile phone and headphones while you're in the shop?

I am generally a few years behind the beat WRT technology I own but this being a generally achieveable thing is surely a few years away, right?

I buy CDs off Amazon (and other online places) on the basis of a hunch quite often - granted it's not the same as holding a physical product but it's not at odds with it either

Question being - what replaces them in town centres? Birmingham, for instance, has three decent-sized HMVs within very easy walking distance of one another.

How are Borders doing? That seems to me a pretty good model for a retailer. Somewhere you can go and browse without the supermarket aspect you get in Zavvi/HMV etc.

Borders is lossmaking I believe.

The selection of music in the Brighton Borders is getting worse all the time, and that whole section is slowly shrinking in size. You used to be able to find the odd surprise there, now it's basically nice-price back catalogue stuff and major releases only AFAICT.

The occasional clearances at Leeds Borders are brilliant, particularly given that last time all the clearance CDs were £2 each. Did raise questions as to who thought they needed to order at least 20-25 copies of Sons & Daughters' second album, mind.

But yes, their regular stock isn't amazing.

HMV website for some reason offering half-price tickets for Avenue Q.

isn't hmv booming at the moment? prob due to games/technology etc...

nothing, absolutely nothing in the sol called hmv sale.
their music selection in the new shiny bristol shop is far far worse than you could imagine.
just really boring.

yeah borders is on the brink of going under, and its music (and dvd) selection (at least in islington, charing cross road, cambridge) is suckage.

How am I going to do all my Christmas shopping in 15 minutes from now on? :(

start now?

TBH I think the era of the enormous record store is just over, period. Smaller shops doing vinyl/classical/dance/whatever really well will survive. I'm not sure what future there is for the one-size-fits-all store, even HMV.

I agree that specialist stores who know their customer demographic will be more likely to profit than the megastores in a severely contracting market - see somewhere like the Portobello Road with its Rough Trade Shop and Minus Zero and Intoxica! and Honest Jon's; all serving different musical needs yet all complimentary to each other, whether by accident or design, since all are staffed by people who actually give an F about the music they're selling.

The "Mega" store was a reflection of the 'boom' days of the seventies and eighties.

The small store (i.e. as it was in the sixties) seems to be the surviving 'format'.

Unfortunateely, most of them were driven out of biz by the big shops. Oh, and the cutprice Tesco sales which also did for the zavvi types.

just a shame that smaller towns/cities will be unable to support this specialised marketing needs.
ie. you need a populace like london in order to make a specialist shop pay the rent.
bristol had a lot of decent specialist music shops 5 years ago, now, there are none.
(oh, ok, one - rooted records for dubstep fans)

isn't hmv booming at the moment? prob due to games/technology etc...

The instrument section has done really well for it which kind of surprised me given that (a) I'd always imagined musicians would prefer small established independent shops staffed by obvious fellow muso dorks (having said that I think HMV's demographic might be more kids ready to move on from Guitar Hero) and (b) they called it 'Hooters' FFS

Yeah Borders seems to be in stasis - the same £4.99 sale CDs (Blood On The Tracks, Blue, Johnny Cash At San Quentin) on display for about 18 months now. I went in at the weekend and it looked like they'd got a load of stock in - on closer inspection it turned out they'd just filled each rack by putting a load of empty CD cases behind two or three actual albums...

Borders in glasgow has a shitty cd bit and the jazz section is rundown. Which is a pity as it used to be really good. Also the amount of magazines on sale seems to have declined from years ago. Wh Smiths is the same in that regard.

and no its not because magazines went bust.

These days I think of Borders as a decent bookshop that does a non-essential sideline in CDs.

Nice haul in Buchanan Street today. £3.50 each!

Black Sheep - Wolf In Sheep's Clothing (Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up! Ahem)
Lyn Collins - Think
James Brown - Say It Loud
Charles Wright - Express Yourself
Donnie Hathaway - Everything Is Everything
Meters - Rejuvenation

Those are some funky bargains.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HNPRVCQ2L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

finally crumbled and bought this at the oxford st zavvi for £23, down from £44. pleased with my bargain - been coveting it for 13 years - but i've just noticed it's only £20 on Amazon! curses...

funny how that first rehearsal tape has Lou more fractious than the Beatles on that "Let it be" film...

Popped in to both TCR and Piccadilly Zavvis, both shit - apart from vinyl, which was very good, but I don't buy vinyl anymore. Jazz stock seems to be going the way of the classical stock, i.e., somewhere else.

Oh, I forgot PicZav.

(xxpost) "Hey! Introduction!"

(xxxpost) sorry to say this, but I got it in HMV for £20 seven years ago

If you mean the VU box...

I ordered it from CDNow back in the day, and it arrived the same day as I managed to book cheap return flights to New York for me and my girl.

Happy times.

Everything -20% in Piccadilly Circus Zavvi today. Still shit though.

What about making every CD album [...] the same price - say, £8?

― Brother Belcher (Marcello Carlin), Thursday, 8 January 2009 13:29

I think Rise in Cheltenham pretty much does this does it not? Never been there, but that's what I've heard.

The sad thing is - all those Virgin Megastores that helped to define my youth are going to disappear. But you may say they already did.

they already did

Piccadilly Circus Zavvi to close, according to the BBC. Dunno when.

What was that site, before it was Tower?

It was a department store.

Hang on....

Swan and Edgar.

There you go.

Closes today, apparently.

Presumably, going to become a flagship HMV.

Any further discounts likely? I'll probably pop in at lunchtime anyway, it's only about 2 minutes from my work. xpost there's an HMV across the street already, although it is a bit smaller I suppose.

Yeah, they always looked like they were LURKING there, just waiting for the day.

TODAY'S STORE CLOSURES AND JOB LOSSES
Basingstoke, 16
Belfast (Castlecourt), 22
Cambridge, 10
Cheshire Oaks (Outlet Village), 11
Crawley, 18
Londonderry, 15
Edinburgh (Gyle), 13
Gateshead, 12
Glasgow (Argyle St), 18
Grimsby, 9
Hull, 19
Newry, 11
Newtonabbey, 11
Piccadilly (Tower), 110
Romford, 13
Stevenage, 10
Watford, 24
Woking, 11

Ouch, that's lots of jobs.

I'll nip down at lunchtime and report back. The signs were still saying 20% off when I went past this morning.

I may be in LonTown tomorrow or Friday.

Guess that's too late for the Pic branch.

I did pick up that "old bandmembers of the Fall" book when I was intown last weeek, but the queues were way too long.

flying to uk tonite... london tomorrow afternoon..

will be checking out the tottenhan ct road branch for vinyl bargains (if there's any left)

any other london recommendations for zavvi vinyl bargains???

A shame about the Piccadilly one. We were planning one last visit/foray for Friday teatime - not that we would necessarily have found anything. Clearly more expensive to maintain than our dump of a local branch.

Oh well, it'll be back to Fopp then...

does fopp have much (any?) vinyl?

Yeah, the Charing Cross one does, downstairs.

Not sure how cheap it is, though.

Last time I went to Charing X Fopp there was no vinyl downstairs, it was all DVDs & books. Although the sign still said vinyl downstairs. There was a bit upstairs, but the only thing that looked both interesting and cheap was some reggae reissues, Gregory Isaacs maybe? I didn't buy any of them.

Yeah, the Fopp vinyl is upstairs now and most of it isn't really cheap. And that section looks really unloved.

Piccadilly already closed!

Ah, that's saved me a tube trip.

Hey Krakow, thanks for the Rise link! Speaking of Cheltenham record shops, do you know if Vinyl Vault and Badlands are still going? Not been that way for a while now. I've found bargains in both before but I know it's hard times for independent music shops all over.

badlands is still there, as of christmas and my annual visit. haven't heard of the other two...

the bruce springsteen fanbase keep badlands going dont they ?
there is some official connection between bruce and that place as per a discussion with bloke behind the counter there last year.

"oh yeah, bruce often comes in here for cheap Trojan boxsets.."

Bruce Given Free Copy Of Sam Sparro Album "Still Not Good Enough" Quips Boss

you guys.

Thanks koogs and mark. Glad Badlands is still there, because last time I went there were big reductions on a lot of older stock, which seemed ominous but let me get some good stuff cheap. Didn't buy any Bruce though.

Vinyl Vault is/was a second-hand music shop (mainly vinyl, a few boxes of CDs at the front of the shop) under one of the Georgian townhouses on Cambray Place, sharing a basement with a vintage and retro clothing shop called Browsers. Not somewhere I ever came out with real armfuls of stuff but I'd always come away with a couple of things, if only bargain box CDs.

No idea if it's still there or what it's like now if it is, but that's the street opposite HMV, if you find yourself going that way...

I think it's time for me to go to a record shop.

> but that's the street opposite HMV, if you find yourself going that way...

i will look out for it next december 8)

oh yes .. Vinyl Vault.
that place was v. interesting, but i had already dragged the tribe around town for 5 hours, and so i was unable to really dive in once i chanced upon that particular spot.
did seem very prog rock centric from my quick perusal, meaning that i wasn't overly keen to dig more.

Entertainment retailer HMV has said it is to buy 14 Zavvi stores - funded by selling new shares.

Hmm, is this why they shut that Picadilly Circus one so sharply?

Would be weird, because HMV already have a branch just over the road in the Trocadero.

The Zavvi stores it is buying are all profitable, HMV said, and are primarily in locations where it does not currently have a store.

It expects the cost of the purchase to be about £2m - including fitting out and rebranding the stores. Nine of them are in the UK and five in the Irish Republic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7829339.stm

ZAVVI STORES BOUGHT BY HMV
Bournemouth Castlepoint
Crewe
Dundalk
Dundrum
Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Silverburn
Liffey Valley
Limerick
Newbridge
Peterborough
Plymouth (Drake Circus)
Salisbury
Southend
Stockton-on-Tees

Piccadilly Circus branch to turn into a Jobcentre then.

No word on Buchanan Street?

nope, but 2 extra HMVs in Glasgow should be enough !

Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Silverburn

both in large shopping centres

which are far from the centre (well relatively, nothing within Glasgow is far from anything else in Glasgow).

Fingers crossed this means it's on the way out...

Sandy waiting to lease it?

At around ~£600,000 a year, it might be a bit of a stretch.

don't think I'll be buying any CDs this year even if they are cheap

and the students wont walk that far alex either!

x-post

why not blueski? you a vinyl guy or mp3?

have a guess

Well you might just have given up on music completely.

but then i would've said music, not CDs. last CDs i bought a few weeks back i still haven't listened to so not much point for me.

re the browsing digitally in-store, probably no point when you can 'browse' online already. but people should always be able to hear their discoveries before they buy. i don't see the magic or romance in not knowing, only the romance/magic in the music matters.

blueski killed record shops

right, will check out TCR today lunchtimey.

Do they still have vinyl downstairs?

I was in the TCR one yesterday, layout-wise it wasn't that bad. That said, I didn't buy anything, because it was only last week I actually boxed 80% of my CDs up and put them away, because I was sick of them gathering dust and never ever being touched. The prospect of adding to that stockpile seemed faintly ridiculous.

I'm not really going to mourn the passing of a format that has only really existed as another means of holding data. At least vinyl feels like a physical artefact, CDs never have.

Well, I got a book. John Lydon and the making of Metal Box. Pretty damn good so far. £9.23 or somesuch.

HEY, FOPP HAS BEDAZZLED THE PETER COOK AND DUDLEY MOORE DVD FOR £2 !!!!

I got one, there's loads left...

Do I really have to be the one who whines/whinges about how none of the artists or labels will receive any money from these purchases or is everyone pretty much past all that sort of sentimentality?

HEY, FOPP HAS BEDAZZLED THE PETER COOK AND DUDLEY MOORE DVD FOR £2 !!!!

That movie is fucking shocking.

I forget when I was talking about my purchases up thread that I also got a Jay-Z 2009 calendar for £1.

What are the pictures in the calendar? I was pleased to spot a Smiths calendar in amongst the Chippendales and Babes from Hollyoaks ones on a stall at my local mall, but the pictures in it were absolutely rubbish

I've seen similar things in Hamilton town centre.

xpost. just different pictures of Jigga but September or October was the cover of Reasonable Doubt if I remember correctly.

gah i mean the blueprint.

That movie is fucking shocking.

?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!!!!!??!

i like peter cook and dudley moore as much as the next man but i just found it overlong and tedious. Only thing I can remember from it is Raquel Welch.

You. Me. Outside now.

it's raining here

xpost. to be fair it's probably been ten years since i watched it and i may have been drunk. i'll give it another go if i see it on telly again. I do love Pete and Dud in general. Even Arthur!

I like it better each time I see it.

Wonder what the 'extras' are like?

bedazzled was great!

zavvi in TCR was shite for vinyl when i got there thursday evening.

Went to an HMV sale and picked up the Metal Box book for a fiver and the Billy Bragg bio for 2 quid...

Jealous of all your £3 vinyl scores, couldn't see any vinyl at all in Oxford (the city, not Oxford St) Zavvi. Downstairs is 4.99 90s jungle compilations, unreduced ipods and headphones, and books with torn covers for £9. Upstairs is exactly as it ever was, no obvious stock depletion, possibly because everything is 80% of 14.99 or 16.99.

Went to HMV instead (their vouchers don't work on the website, unfortunately, so I never did get that Fall boxset) and got, along with the Lou Reed 5cd - couldn't find Mahavishnu or Miles - and some unreduced new CDs which were still cheaper than Zavvi's clearance stock, Simon Reynolds' "Bring the Noise" for £6 and hardback of Ralph Steadman's book about Hunter S. Thompson for £4.

(PS nothing against 4.99 jungle compilations but I did buy about 600 of them in the 90s and don't really need any more, especially not when I've got a hard disk full of unheard oldschool mixes now too)

It would be nice if Fopp (via HMV) got the Piccadilly Zavvi store.

The one in Covent Garden's great but far too cramped.

But whoever gets it (unless it turns into something other than a music store) needs to make sure that everything gets stocked there and not just the boring loss leaders anyone can buy at HMV over the road.

Favourite sight in Leeds one at the moment - at least five or six copies of Robin Thicke's second album, all priced at £19. Second favourite - the big yellow price sticker on the various copies of Paper Trail, all proudly boasting: CLEARANCE £15.

I got my copy of Paper Trail for £7 from HMV although it was hard to choose between that copy and the one on the same rack priced at £11... Still haven't listened to it yet though.

the zavvi in leeds is so awful. i'd rather hang out in boots.

hasn't this thing died yet?
surely it cant be long.
on friday in bristol : the van she cd : £23
oh, and racks and racks of the courteeeners album

the zavvi in leeds is so awful. i'd rather hang out in boots.

Hmm - close-run thing for me, this. Big pile of DVD-based bullshit vs. out-of-position Check Your BMI machine (scales)... They're both still better than WH Smith, though.

Made a couple of trips to M/cr Zavvi recently (which I think is staying open?). Loads of banners trumpeting 20% discounts etc, but on inspection the pricing is well off, as has been mentioned a few times upthread. eg. blu ray of Zodiac at £22, so with discount works out about the same as Amazon. Also this is actually *more* than the RRP, which led to me making some pissed off harumphing noises and walking out without buying anything...

Zavvi, Leeds, within the last 2 weeks; Sly and The Family Stone's Fresh! and Wilco's A Ghost is Born both £5.60 - agreed a terrible place to hangout.

Problem with Borders (one of many) is that the listening equipment and headphones are all falling to bits. It was all quite modern when they opened in the UK. They can't be bothered to replace them i imagine. I once tried to listen to Robyn Hitchcock on one, and there was quite clearly a woman singing. I told the sales assistant who reliably informed me: ''No, that is Robyn Hitchcock.''

I guess none of you lot got Zavvi vouchers for Christmas then. They're not redeeming them at stores even though they're open. Why is this? Are they worried about a flood of unused vouchers suddenly being dusted off and brought in?

As a voucher holder, I suppose you'd technically be one of Zavvi's creditors and you'd have to pursue the debt through the receivers just the same as everyone else (like the distributors that supply them etc). Bit rough innit?

As they've already received the money for the vouchers, they would rather sell the items for cash than swap for vouchers alreday paid for. They also know people with vouchers wont get the money back off them and sicne they know the chain is closing down they dont give a shit about future bad will.

OK, in Reading they are doing a chuckout of stuff that hasn't got inlays/original boxes.

Got Specials DVD, Rapture 2nd CD, G&RGHits, &TT 2006 Cd, for £2 each.

You could have "Chinese Democracy" for £3, I wasn't bothered.

Do I really have to be the one who whines/whinges about how none of the artists or labels will receive any money from these purchases or is everyone pretty much past all that sort of sentimentality?

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 16 January 2009 21:56

is this true?

Right, Books/tshirts are 50% off now (got the Kinks story for £2.50, full price *was* £10)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7857899.stm

still no mention of the fact bristol has 2 Zavvis each with piles of unwanted kooks cds

Henceforth I suggest members of the Kooks, Courteeners and Zutons to be present, in a ceremonial role, at the closing of each Zavvi store

Store (job losses)
Birmingham, 29
Bromley, 28
Canterbury, 13
Colchester, 17
East Kilbride, 7
Exeter, 28
Ipswich, 17
Kensington, London, 15
Kings Road, London, 23
Merryhill, 21
Newcastle, 31
Norwich, 25
Oxford, 16
Stirling, 8
Taunton, 17

xpost to sing "woh Stacey, look wot we dun"

RIP cambridge zavvi, formerly virgin. you were always a bit out of the way tbh and i wonder if you were at least partly responsibly for the demise of all the other record shops in the area, like andy's, though that was rubbish apart from the second-hand bit upstairs.

Zavvi was formed after a management buy-out of the Virgin Megastore division of the Virgin Group in September 2007.

Oh I didn't know that. Well done guys, you made it past a year.

Henceforth I suggest members of the Kooks, Courteeners and Zutons to be present, in a ceremonial role, at the closing of each Zavvi store

They will then be incarcerated at the Piccadilly Circus site, shortly to be converted into a Guantanamo-style detention camp for failed indie bands.

Think of the problems of overcrowding though

What, all of them? They'd need all the Woolworths as well! (xpost)

Okay, Zavvi management buy-out of Guantanamo when Obama shuts up shop.

That's bound to close it for good

I heard that the owners of the Piccadilly site were keen for a fashion store to open there but I still hope we get a mega-Fopp instead.

RIP Oxford Virgin: when last I wandered your floors the best part of a decade ago your stock was erratic but not too bad and I'm sorry that Portakabin-sized HMV is effectively all Oxford has left in terms of record shops (unless anyone knows different).

RIP Kensington Virgin: when you were Kensington Tower you were terrific back in the eighties/nineties day but I never went in there after Tower went bust and didn't feel I was missing anything since in the latter Tower days it was speedily going downhill anyway. QED.

blimey, oxford too. rip, you were better than the one in cambridge.

wonder what will replace it.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23617198-details/Jamie+Oliver+is+back+with+yet+another+venture/article.do

^^^hopefully a branch of Recipease

The Nottingham Zavvi has been confirmed as staying open - even though Selectadisc and Fopp are both less than 5 minutes' walk away, better stocked (music-wise) and cheaper.

But where are people going to buy their DVDs? (xposts)

Yes, we passed that Recipease building site last weekend (and it's in Clapham Junction which is not actually Clapham kthnxbye).

Nice idea - I wonder whether a similar idea would work with music stores (i.e. you go in and buy music under the guidance of professional musicians/music writers ahem)?

"Noh, you don't want THAT! It's totally derivative and unoriginal! Here, let me point you at the SOURCE myman!"

Give me "would you like a toblerone" any day.

"I strongly advise you to test yourself with this copy of "Bat Chain Puller" first, you might decide you want more "Clear Spot", or you might go the "Trout Mask" way...

"Can I have The Seldom Seen Kid by Elb..."

"DON'T FUCKIN TRY IT CUNT"

Well, it works for Marco Pierre White...

(ok, you got me!)

xpost to MC: Ah, so you've shopped in Nottingham Selectadisc then? The only record store I've been in where the staff openly sneer at people buying STUFF THEY ALREADY STOCK. When they had a separate singles shop, there was one guy who literally wouldn't serve you if you were buying the wrong stuff. He almost never deigned to serve me, and this was back when I was a club DJ buying on a pre-agreed discount!

I have, um, heard of the legendary customer service policy at Notts S/Disc but never actually gone in there/to Nottingham.

But given the roaring success they made of their Soho's INFAMOUS Berwick Street branch I wouldn't be surprised if it went under before long.

Oh, I think Selectadisc will do OK. They've sold the building next door which used to house the genre-specialist stuff, but somehow they've managed to squeeze everything back into the original building. The import hardcore/thrash section is as massive as ever, and the upstairs vinyl department ticks over nicely. (I love browsing through the new release LPs up there, even though I never buy them, just for the thrill of seeing the artwork properly enlarged.)

I have no knowledge of the Berwick Street experiment. What made it infamous?

Mike, a reporter from the Independent decided it was INFAMOUS when she was sent out on a dangerous assignment to buy a record there or something. There was a thread on it. Almost as exciting as when John Harris got sent out to buy a toaster. Almost.

Well the Newcastle branch is now closed. No final Woolworths-style "everything must go" blowout either. From what I could see through the shutters they were boxing up all the stock.

Yeah, they need the unsold stock to re-stock the other branches. They will keep doing this as more and more branches close, until they get down to one last store in Oxford Street and it will be like a giant Zutons mountain inside.

Canterbury, 13

Funnily enough, was debating whether or not to go to Canterbury!

I'm sorry that Portakabin-sized HMV is effectively all Oxford has left in terms of record shops (unless anyone knows different).

;_;

Though tbh I didn't buy anything in Zavvi under that name and precious little there over the previous 5 years, but still. Generally I preferred HMV, but Virgin would have occasional periods of being cheaper, or having better stock, or interesting displays of staff picks, and then rearrange itself to lose it again.

HMV not that bad but the music area is ever shrinking as games/books/DVDs expand. Vinyl selection now relegated to one rotating rack probably designed for wall calendars, which on my last visit two weeks ago contained two LPs, two copies each.

Must go to monthly record fair, which I gather is still on (now in much smaller room) but I haven't been to in a LONG time. And try to buy something from the video shop on the Cowley Rd which sells a handful of local band CDs.

(end Oxford chatter)

According to my google map, there (were) two Zavvi's in Canterbury...

discounts : not impressive

I got Band of Brothers bluray for just shy of £30, and Amongst the Believers by VS Naipaul for £4. Quite impressed with the latter deal, I was on my way to Waterstones to buy it at full price anyway and wasn't expecting to see it in amongst the piles of Banksy tat

According to my google map, there (were) two Zavvi's in Canterbury...

there is/was really just one. tonight there is a sign on the door saying that the nearest Zavvi's are now in Lakeside and Bluewater. luckily, there is also an HMV just up the road...

I was kinda hoping to pick up a copy of that Pearl Lowe from Powder biography for a couple of pounds but they had none left when I checked last week.

Exeter, 28

came here a lot when I lived there, seven or so years ago. checking out the new singles every monday. back when it was a Virgin. and they still sold singles.

Oh and RIP King's Road (or King's Mall) Virgin: pretty bloody useless most of the time (certainly not a patch on the great Our Price branch that used to be across the road from it) but that means no record shops left at all in Chelsea. Don't know what, if anything, is keeping the Fulham Broadway branch going but I fully expect that to dive into oblivion shortly (25% off everything STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH!).

also, Fopp in Bristol.
Stock looking decidedly sparse this week. jazz section decimated. all the £5 offers now gone, and everything back to full price.
dance section - nothing new for weeks now, just the usual massive attack/mylo/groove armada stuff.
a "groundhog day" scenario, or are hmv influencing the way the shop is going.
ie little music, and more and more shelfspace being given over to more of those lovely dvd boxsets.

That's the way the world will end, not with a bang but a 10DVD dad's army box set.

I'll have a Dads Army 10DVD box set for a fiver.

i'd rather have the fiver

http://www.retail-week.com/News/2009/02/zavvi_management_table_bid_for_business.html

That Fulham Broadway Zavvi sure is a stubborn motherfucker. CDs - STILL only 25% off! Give up the ghost, face the fear, &c.

(not that there's anything left inside that any sane person would wish to buy but...)

in bristol there are a couple of hidden goodies amongst the crap
- but highly priced even after 25% off.
i can wait.

I just got the "Village Green" 3CD set, £10.82

Does this mean that HMV now has sort of a monopoly in London when it comes to actual new physical CDs that you can buy an item of in a shop? A bit like Platekompaniet does in Oslo? (I had to pick up the latest Springsteen at a petrol station because Platekompaniet are only stocking an annoying special edition that doesn't fit into my racks, and I didn't want that one)

I mean, surely, it's not like either actually has a monopoly, as there are still online shops, digital downloading and also second hand shops. But they are still seemingly alone in the old fashioned record store league?

Hmm, old fashioned record stores...

HMV, and independant ones.

s'about it.

And with independant you don't mean all the second hand ones in Soho?

Oh yeah, and some supermarkets. Tesco, Smiths, Sainsburys.

xpost no, but some of those are like independant shops you get in towns.

Plus Fopp in Covent Garden.

(which on second thoughts is HMV-owned so nope)

Sounds still a bit less dramatic than the situation in Oslo then. There are independent stores here too, but they are very genre specific. I know there is one classical specialist, one jazz specialist, one (rather good, actually) synthpop specialist and at least one dance/techno specialist.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Nottingham-zavvi-store-bought-HMV/article-707891-detail/article.html

"Ernst & Young's Tom Jack, Joint Administrator of zavvi UK, said "Another five stores have been sold to HMV, meaning 111 employees will transfer across to HMV immediately and over the course of the next two weeks these zavvi stores will be rebranded as HMV."

This includes the Nottingham branch - which is weird as we've already got two HMV stores in the city centre, one within three minutes' walk of the existing Zavvi.

OFT INVESTIGATES!

Head Entertainment (which is the bloke who used to run Zavvi + some other feller) have snaffled eight stores, one of which is the Leeds one.

Marcello will doubtless be overjoyed to hear Fulham Broadway is one of the ones HMV is taking. Along with Croydon.

(to be fair Croydon Virgin was actually fairly half-decent, back in the day - never too busy, nice and spacious, increasingly dark and forbidding the nearer you got to the classical section... pity it was stuck in the Drummond Centre)

Can't see a branch list:

Reading?

and TCR?

thx.

It's only broken in the past hour - apparently Head's confirmed stores are Bluewater, Dundee, Leeds, Liverpool One and Manchester Arndale.

Manchester Arndale.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_94uCJVGMSyc/RgO-tlND1-I/AAAAAAAAAnU/mzhblzmlglk/s200/Freshies%2B-%2BLove%2Bwith%2Bthe%2Bgirl%2BMegastore.jpg

"I'm in love with the girl from the Manchester Head Checkout desk"

It's gonna confuse the hippies tho.

"I'm off to the head shop"....

PA says the Oxford Street branch will be closing. I presume that's what you mean by TCR?

yeah, guess so.

So is that, as of now?

All Zavvis will cease trading by Friday. Apparently Head & HMV have purchased all the stock, so I'm guessing those fire sale prices are basically history now. Dunno if anywhere will be open today, half-tempted to head townwards to see if Leeds is still running. Suspect not.

"By" Friday? Hmmm....

One last 'passsing through TCR' visit, maybe.

A guy i know who works in Glasgow Zavvi told me about this on monday, but he didnt know which stores would be kept on.

the full gen: http://www.retail-week.com/News/2009/02/zavvi_name_disappears_from_the_high_street.html

TCR Zavvi was closed this lunchtime. Pity - I was hoping that CDs would go down to 50% off first.

All those tight assed vultures waiting for further reductions in the sale missed out completely.

don't think there was a single thing in the leeds store i'd have bought at any price. pity it's going to carry on as 'head'. virgin was much better when it was on the briggate (although may have been something to with my being eleven years old)

Head's five confirmed stores are: Bluewater, Dundee, Leeds, Liverpool One and Manchester Arndale.

Tom Jack, joint administrator at Ernst & Young said: "This is a fantastic result for the employees and customers of the stores concerned".

The administrator said the sale of all remaining stock means that "Zavvi trading will now cease", resulting in the closure of the remaining Zavvi stores by 20 February 2009, and the loss of 446 jobs.

So, possibly open tomorrow...

this decade gone: Our Price-then-Vshop-then-Sanity, Andys Records, Tower, MVC-then-Music Zone-then-Fopp chain reaction of downfall and now Zavvi

Fopp went under because Gordon Montgomery expanded too fast by acquiring Music Zone stores and being financially incompetent to service the debt. Up to the point Fopp was performing well in the UK.

Zavvi stiffed because their one and only wholesale supplier went belly up.

HMV virtually last music chain standing in many cities / towns in the UK. Even taking into consideration the decline in CD sales and the financial downturn - there must be some business opportunities in certain towns/cities in the UK for some realistic and viable competition to HMV / HMV owned Fopp.

Checked the Reading branch just now: Closed (in fact, re (or de) fitting happening right now.

Whither TCR, anyone?

"Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on TCR"

there must be some business opportunities in certain towns/cities in the UK for some realistic and viable competition to HMV

I think that's what Zavvi were trying to do.

Zavvi didn't sell anything HMV didn't and weren't cheaper. I don't see any large chain doing anything differently.
Hopefully more independent shops will start up, those who know their audience and cater for it like Monorailmusic and Avalanche Records do in Glasgow. Forget trying to compete with the big boys and practically going bust (Hello Missing Records in Glasgow).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7897506.stm

See, this says Zavvi's Glasgow city centre store has been picked up by HMV, but makes no mention of Glasgow Fort and Silverburn, which last month were reported to have been sold.

Fopp were doing fine until they bought the Music Zone chain - i wonder what Gordon Montgomery is doing these days

For all that Fopp are HMV owned, has anyone noticed any difference?

http://www.bitterwallet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/picture-35.jpg

For all that Fopp are HMV owned, has anyone noticed any difference?

Not much but slowly moving over to DVDs to slake the ravenous thirst of a nation of crazed cineastes

Definitely more dvd based now. jazz and funk etc which there used to be fantastic selection of on the 2nd floor basically gone. Pointless even going in there now. I ignored it on Monday.

weird.
i thought zavvi stores were all closed now ?
as of today, one of the bristol ones is still open and full'o stock [more than when i last drifted in a couple of weeks ago].
i just wonder if they have sucked the stock out of all the others and thrown it into this one ?
ie lots and lots of cheese filled 3 cd dance compilations that are still a tenner.

The Bristol one has been sold to Head Entertainment, a company co-run by a former Zavvi boss. I don't know if they'll be rebranding it, and the other Zavvis they bought, at some stage.

ah ha .. i missed that part as i was offline when the story broke.
ta alba, mystery solved

Yeah, that's what's happened in Leeds, too. Not so sure about the stocking levels, but I think they're keeping it open til they can rebrand it properly. Memories of the slap-up job that Zavvi did in rebranding the Virgin stores abounds...

well, if it worked the first time....

Holy shit, don't normally post online deals but you gotta see this http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=51;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=683061

Bah, try again Sun: 50 Golden Years 8 CD Box set

Blimey! They've got something like that in FOPP, for £15 approx

Grabbed one.

Likewise.

(bet it's wrong and we don't get owt!)

Nigerian arm of HMV is it?

I went to buy one and it tried to charge me £68.99!

Same thing here. Sneaky fucks.

(bet it's wrong and we don't get owt!)

True, but you've got to be in it to win it, if you don't buy a ticket you'll never win the lottery, you don't ask, you don't get.......etc

Mine says its shipped.

Dang it. Good luck peeps!

Who else got an email saying it had shipped? Checked my dads account and he was definitely charged £3.99.
I was buying it for myself but he decided he wanted it, heh.

Yeah, got an email too. Fingers crossed.

I wish some of those Miles box sets would be sold at £4!

It's back up to £68, my dad will be checking his credit card very carefully methinks. If they hadnt sent the email that it had shipped im sure it wouldve been cancelled by now.
Tho im half expecting it to be cancelled anyway or my dad charged full price.

Got the 'shipped' email also

Whoever gets a CC bill in first, check that you only got charged £3.99 and let everyone know.

I also ordered one, but apart from the initial order confirmation I haven't heard anything. Under my order status is says the following though "Item deleted - we are trying to obtain this item from alternate sources", so it looks like no joy for me. They can't change the amount they charge you after the fact can they?

Mine's supposedly shipped also.

We shall see.

Farewell, Nottingham Selectadisc.

If even one of the best independent record stores in the UK isn't safe, then All Is Lost.

"We've been trying to avoid this for two years," said owner Phil Barton, who bought the shop two years ago when closure loomed. "The shop has been basically uneconomic for the last two years. We've been trying to keep it going more as a social service than as a normally functioning business.

There comes a point where you just say 'I cannot do this any more.'

ooh .. can we blame the Kooks for this one too ?

"More recently the Magic Numbers and the Kooks have turned up."

Yes we can.

Whoa! RIP.

From further upthread:

Ah, so you've shopped in Nottingham Selectadisc then? The only record store I've been in where the staff openly sneer at people buying STUFF THEY ALREADY STOCK. When they had a separate singles shop, there was one guy who literally wouldn't serve you if you were buying the wrong stuff. He almost never deigned to serve me, and this was back when I was a club DJ buying on a pre-agreed discount!

Hmm...wonder why they're going out of business?

"We've been trying to keep it going more as a social service, educating people with their crummy tastes in singles etc"

(don't worry, meaenspiritedness ends now)

Modified statement from Phil:

"We sneer at people who come in to buy records we don't like even though we stock them. We treat our customers as minor irritants who interrupt our fanzine reading and tea drinking. We think of them as inferiors who should consider themselves lucky to be allowed into this holy temple at all. Then all these ungrateful urchins take their money and their custom to HMV where the counter staff smile at them, offer no comment on what they've bought and wish them a nice day.

"I just don't understand how we went under."

Well, there is that factor! It's an intimidating place, and I know a lot of people who have felt so uncomfortable in there that they prefer to avoid it altogether. And there's also a large and thriving (and friendly) Fopp on the next street, which consistently beats Selectadisc on price and has hoovered up the fifty-quid bloke market. Selectadisc's vinyl department was second to none, but "niche" will only get you so far...

In times of credit crunch I'd have thought "intimidating" as a luxury most shops can't afford, but heigh ho.

Any word about what's happening with the Piccadilly Circus Zavvi? Last I heard Primark had expressed an interest but obviously I'd still prefer it to be a mega-Fopp.

mega fopp would be great, esp if it had another juice bar with good smoothies and live band space like the former TCR location.

Um, Marcello, I shopped at Selectadisc for YEARS, and the staff there were almost invariably lovely. If they sneered at you, it was because you are clearly a fucking twat.

Still, it isn't a surprise that they're going under, though it is heartbreaking news. They almost went a couple of years ago, but I was really hoping their downsizing (for want of a better word) would save them.

um, it wasn't Marcello saying that, originally. Check upthread.

Probably went out with (at least) one of the staff for YEARS, eh?

Blargh, I'm really hungover and over-defensive of that shop. It was probably the best record shop I have ever known. Taking a statement like the one above at face value and then proceeding to rip the piss out of the demise of the hub of the Nottingham music scene is still call-you-a-twat-worthy in my book.

And no, I never went out with any of the staff of Selectadisc, and I'm not entirely sure why that would be relevant if I had. OH WAIT, I'm a woman, and thus clearly have no opinion on music of my own, right? TWAT.

(at least)

Calm down, Doris.

It's very simple.

If record shop staff choose to sneer at me, I choose not to give them any of my money.

If record shop staff choose to sneer at enough customers, enough customers will choose not to give them any of their money. Hence they will not make enough money to keep the record shop open.

On the contrary, if record shop staff smile at enough customers, say the right thing and give me CDs in exchange for the substantial sums of money that they are given, then the customers keep returning to that record shop and the shop continues to prosper.

It's not exactly JK Galbraith.

Well, none of your premises are in themselves false, but they ignore all other external forces, and thus you do not have a valid argument. I would wager that Selectadisc had more brand loyalty than any other record shop, and thus your third hypothetical would apply (customers keep returning to that record shop), but in order for a business to prosper, it needs to garner new customers as well as keep its old ones (who will at some point stop shopping there regardless of their treatment, as they will move away or die or have children and thus not be as interested in keeping up with music). However, the ability to attract new customers is waning for all record shops, as the internet takes over, and in addition to that Fopp became a major competitor (particularly for the student market).

In summary: you are entirely wrong.

Then why's it closing?

Fopp have won because they offer a friendlier and more convenient service.

In times of economic depression it is of paramount importance for shops of all kinds to maximise the quality of their customer service.

This means, for example, smiling at me if I come into the shop with the intention of giving you fifty quid. This means serving me when I approach the counter as opposed to pretending not to see me and hoping that I drop dead before you have to raise your eyes from your copy of WSC and acknowledge my existence. So your first album tanked. I'm here to buy CDs and give you money. Smile at me and write a better album next time. So your girlfriend left you and you're all bitter and resentful. Don't come into work then. You're here to sell me stuff.

Apologies to Giles Coren but when times are tough shops make the extra effort if they want to survive. If they don't want anyone coming in except their mates then make it a private club and charge admission. That's business.

This means, for example, smiling at me if I come into the shop with the intention of giving you fifty quid.

this week i spent exactly £50 on cds.
the revelation came as quite a shock i cant deny.

Um, you do realise that Fopp broke down and had to be rescued by a much larger company, right? They won because they accepted the corporate dollar, and thus are not comparable to Selectadisc, as they are not an independent record shop. The sole reason I mentioned them as a factor is because they were the *newest* competitor, and obviously incredibly cheap for lots of goods. It has nothing to do with service, which is a factor that you're just completely pulling out of your arse because of one (1) report. The fact that there are counter reports which say that this singular piece of evidence which you are basing all of your posts on is wrong appears to pass you by. And I am much too hungover to continue arguing with someone who has no grasp on simple logic.

xpost to Marcello.

Fopp in glasgow used to have a few cunts working for them. One of them was a miserable cunt who used to work for Missing Records.
not seen him in either (or other record shops)for many years so they certainly did the right thing there.

Fopp have won because they offer a friendlier and more convenient service.

This may or may not be the case in Notts - I have nothing to say about the staff based on my one visit to Selectadisc there - but just in case anyone was thinking of running with the notion that this is generally true, it certainly hasn't been in my, equally subjective, experience

My ex used to rhapsodise about one of the Missing employees long after she moved away from there - he was in Lucky Luke and I think V-Twin which probably narrows it down to about 20 people - and she is in no way an indie obscurist (or went out with him for YEARS)

I bought many records in selectadisc nottingham (and in the one they had in soho once upon a time - presumably long gone) and they never sneered once, not even in that singles bit which i always thought was amazing. And I bought some rubbish stuff in both shops. I haven't actually encountered any elitism since the days of Eastern Bloc when it was in Affleck's Palace. Now those bastards would ignore you.

or have children and thus not be as interested in keeping up with music

OK, now, take that back this instance young lady.

This instant even...

Soz, mister!

Yeah, I bought some right crap in my time, too. And still nary a sneer.

That quite alright (goes back to listening to Miley Cyrus).

I haven't actually encountered any elitism since the days of Eastern Bloc when it was in Affleck's Palace. Now those bastards would ignore you

True - I spent my entire grant cheque in that one shop every term for two years and they would still only grunt at me.

My ex used to rhapsodise about one of the Missing employees long after she moved away from there - he was in Lucky Luke and I think V-Twin which probably narrows it down to about 20 people - and she is in no way an indie obscurist (or went out with him for YEARS)

― Luka ModReq (DJ Mencap), Friday, 27 February 2009 17:09 (4 hours ago)

That's probably Simon. I can testify that he's a nice guy, if it is he we are discussing.

I cant think what one was Simon.

This is Simon: http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p911968169-2.jpg

Currently playing in the Trembling Bells.

Probably went out with (at least) one of the staff for YEARS, eh?

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Friday, 27 February 2009 16:29 (Yesterday) Bookmark

Fuck this sexist shit btw.

ahh yes i do know who he is. He was one of the 2nd hand records experts!

Fopp FRIENDLIER? They had a remarkable no-eye-contact policy it seemed whenever I shopped there. I never encountered the elitism problem, perhaps it's in the eye of the beholder. It's a standard record shop cliche isn't it, throw it out at your leisure.

In fact they were pretty fucking great, mentioning when stuff I'd asked about had come in and putting stuff aside for me. It was part of the reason I wanted to (and did) move to Nottingham, and I'm gutted at the loss. Will be there in a month for the last weekend, glad I can make one last visit despite living on the South Coast now.

I've never encountered record store workers sniggering or laughing at anyone buying records. Never seen anyone telling them an album is crap or they shouldnt buy it. 23rd Precinct in Glasgow used to have that reputation but I never witnessed it when it was an indie shop or even when it became a dance music shop.
Does it really happen?

Well, there is that factor! It's an intimidating place, and I know a lot of people who have felt so uncomfortable in there that they prefer to avoid it altogether. And there's also a large and thriving (and friendly) Fopp on the next street, which consistently beats Selectadisc on price and has hoovered up the fifty-quid bloke market. Selectadisc's vinyl department was second to none, but "niche" will only get you so far...

― mike t-diva, Friday, 27 February 2009 11:39 (2 days ago) Bookmark

I'd argue it didn't consistently beat Selectadisc on price either, Selectadisc had a far broader range of decent stock and was great competitive value across formats. Fopp's the place to go if you want to spend money on something but don't know or care particularly what it is - to fill in collection gaps etc - Selectadisc was always the place to go to find something you didn't know had even been released. The stock had gone a bit static over the last few times I'd gone in but if they've been losing money for a couple of years I guess that's understandable.

OK, OK, OK! So maybe I extrapolated from a few isolated incidents, spread out over 28 years of regularly shopping at SDisc, in order to make an arguably exaggerated point... and to be fair, SDisc did seem to have turned a corner on the surliness front in the last couple of years... and I dunno, maybe I've been giving off the wrong vibe myself, who can say? All I can say is that I've spent 28 years feeling low-level uncomfortable in there, even when buying on a DJ discount for a couple of years, and I've witnessed and heard about some incidents of bad attitude from time to time - but maybe that goes with the territory. If others have had good service and consider the Sdisc staff to be "lovely", then fair play to 'em.

Just a note that just because a shop stocks something doesn't necessarily mean that all, or indeed any, of the staff should like it.

^ he doesnt like Glasvegas or Franz Ferdinand honest guv is what hes trying to say

The staff's opinions are irrelevant. If they stock something and customers buy it their job is to sell it.

Rising rental costs aside, this is one of the main reasons why Amazon etc. will wipe out record shops altogether sooner rather than later - people who just want their music and don't want to put up with the peremptory attitude of surly staff, inflated shop prices and inadequate stocks.

Either that or get rid of counter staff altogether and just have self-checkouts, and I'm sure that's not long coming.

To be honest, I don't even think it exists anymore, and hasn't done for years.

HMV are painfully "is there anything else in-store you would like and haven't found sir?" and so were Zavvi, which put me off more, but then that's just me. At the least, I want a record, I buy it, and counter staff have either said nothing, or "that's excellent, that!"

There's never been a shop that existed on "pssh! what? You buying for you SISTER?/GRAN?", I'm not saying it never has, but beyond the 'specialist' dance shops, (etc)

Zavvi were competent/dull, Fopp Reading were always really nice (even gave our Alice a free Aretha Franklyn CD one time), didn't help them in the long run.

At the least, I want a record, I buy it, and counter staff have either said nothing, or "that's excellent, that!"

^^^this - the strawman of the indie shop staff member disparaging the customer's taste is 100% alien to me, I don't recall anyone even hinting at that 'tude in like 15 years

Way back in 1988-9 time I was buying a Wendy & Lisa album out of Piccadilly Tower Records and the guys at the counter were shaking their head and commenting what a shit album this was and why didn't people buy real music.

Inevitably I gave them the hairdryer treatment and their manager came out and sacked them on the spot. So that was quite good.

for whom?

the fans

the consumer

Wendy and Lisa

the 1997 Denver Broncos

anybody who thinks there's still something worth fighting for in this crazy mixed up world

lets alll judge everything on 20 years ago.
I wonder if staff are only surly when customers are rude cunts to them because I have never seen any of this happen nor do I know anyone it's happened to.

I am never rude to shop staff unless they try it without justifiable cause.

I didn't mean you were rude to shop staff. I was just meaning shoppers in general. I've seen a lot of ignorant customers getting served in front of me, though funnily enough not so much in record shops.

Funnily enough, today...

In a supermarket, three things to buy, so I go to the tobacco kiosk. Woman in front has a basket full of stuff, woman just behind has 1 bag of apples only "can I go ahead, I only have this?" "Um, alright" frowns the woman in front. So, now I'm second in queue.

ANyhow, she proceds to slowly decant the basket of goodies, while slowly enquiring about ordering birthday cakes (um, go to the bakery counter?), but decides against any, continues to decant and then pack the stuff now in placcabags. Now a large queue. And now her credit card does not work (probably expired, now I think about it. She volunteers to go to Lloyds and sort it, if the counterwoman holds her packed items. Which meaens that the till is now locked in, and needs a supervisor to cancel it, who is someplace else at the moment.

So, she turns to the queue and goes "ooh, I'm holding everyone up aren't I?"

To which an older bloke behind me goes "YES YOU ARE!"

There you go, slice of life stuff.

Now, where's my Sun box set?

No sign of mine yet

btw i do see grump customers in queues a lot.

So I've been cruising local comments and forums to get the vox pop on Selectadisc Nottingham, and opinions seem to fall into 3 more or less equal categories:

1. Great service, really helpful and informed, will recommend stuff they think you'll like, will order stuff in for you, good place to hang out.

2. Mardy buggers/"morose cretins", Jack Black/High Fidelity writ large, curt, sneery, superior.

3. Yeah, sure, there's attitude - but it's all part of the game, and once you play along/work on building rapport/break through the smokescreen, they're absolutely fine.

Some of this must depend on how you present yourself at the counter. Record shops have always made me nervous/self-conscious, as I started shopping for grown-up stuff at an unusually early age, and was acutely aware of not fitting in. That's a feeling which has never quite left me, and it must account for why I've never succeeded in building personal rapport in a record shop. My loss...

The thing is, I actually did work in record shops in the eighties - in my student holidays, for pin money, admittedly - so I know that of which I speak.

The principal thing being is that if certain acts or records became popular with our customers and they weren't necessarily to our liking we would have a good moan about it off duty but we never did it in front of our customers. HMV and Virgin were both in the same street; it was a buyer's market. If we gave customers grief they'd just go there. In my time there were a couple of assistants who did their best to develop an Attitude but they didn't last long.

When you get regular customers of course you do develop a fairly long lasting rapport (or as long as they remained students since students formed the vast majority of our customer demographic) and then you go about the subtle business of introducing them - gently - to other music. What you don't do is hammer it into them and proclaim with a scowl that This Is The Only Truth. Tell your customers they have crap taste and pretty soon you have no customers.

^ he doesnt like Glasvegas or Franz Ferdinand honest guv is what hes trying to say

― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 1 March 2009 21:39 (Yesterday)

Always service with a smile regardless though. I'm a trained retail professional.

I think you should take a photo of that franz nme cover in the shop and post it here.

Have you seen our additions to the Franz poster display in front of the counter?

Nope. I was in 2 weeks ago (you were on holiday), was it there then?
What is on the poster?

Aye, it must have been up about a month or so. There's various delightful accoutrements to Kapranos' visage...

well take a photo of it as well then! i dunno when i'll next be in.

Pfunk, i think the miserable missing/fopper now works in borders if we are thinking of the same guy. the one who was always playing drill and bass crap or V/VM type crap at earsplitting vol?

i dont recall him playing anything. he had fair hair. could that be him?

he worked upstairs when they had the big shop. probably moved to fopp when they moved to the smaller original shop (before they moved again and again)

nah, not the guy i'm thinking of then.

what does the guy youre thinking of look like?

dark hair pointy nose and wee/stocky.

i'll have a look next time im in borders. wee/stocky could mean its the same guy. Quite a lot of missing folk went to fopp, doubt any of them are left.

Simon from V-Twin/Lucky Luke/ex of Missing in Glasgow is one of the nicest people in the world. I have never seen him not smiling. Mind you, I haven't seen him for years, he might be a miserable old bastard now.

I have decided that rather than not understanding logic, Marcello must be greatly schooled in philosophy, as he is the most proficient straw man creator I've experienced for a long time.

I have met Simon through Trembling Bells, and yes, he seems really uber-lovely.

i don't know Simon V-Twin but he def seemed a nice/shy type.

acht quite often these seemingly "unfriendly" types are actually just shy music geeks (although not always).

I worked in a shop for years and I think the rudeness/aloof thing is a myth. There are so many misanthropic music fans who project their own snobbery or rudeness onto any and every store they go into, or are so guarded/defensive in a social setting that they have to tell themselves it's someone else being rude.

In any case customers being annoying or prompting rudeness was v rare for me, and if this did happen, it was seldom if ever due to their music taste, except perhaps tangentially. EG people who would listen to tons of stuff on a weekly basis but never buy anything deserved to be treated with disdain.

People who had no real idea of their own taste but also an attitude could be really annoying too, eg someone who asks for help/recommendations looking for something that they're possibly in the wrong store for anyway and then acts bemused/outraged that you can't help them further, as if as a record store you should have a copy of all 254 albums ever made.

i served at the counter at a music shop for maybe two shifts and I laughed at a kid buying an Enter Shikari album and let someone else serve him. I am king douche.

then you were sacked?

I don't really see any convincing evidence here for counter staff not to be replaced by self-checkouts.

hang on, there's only been 254 albums made?

and they're all by Daniel O'Donnell.

by all means, let's cut down the number of possible human interactions we have to make each day, it'll make everything so much easier.

That sounds quite good.

If they did do that, who would you argue with then?

Well, Amazon etc. have no attitude problems, pay immediate attention to me when I want to buy something, accept cheques and send me stuff on time. It's kind of a no-brainer.

If they did do that, who would you argue with then?
THE COIN ITSELF

if the machine makes a mistake would you argue with it?

No, it just wouldn't get any more of my money.

I can attest that rudeness is definitely not the sole preserve of the counter staff in record shops. We get plenty of rude customers of varying degrees. The sheer lack of manners in terms of even saying anything when buying a CD etc, let alone a please or a thank you, is at times astounding. Just because it's my job to serve someone and I'm being paid to do it, doesn't mean I deserve to be treated like crap.

I do admit that sometimes, selling seemingly endless copies of albums that you think are unremmiting shite can grind you down and I'm sure I've been guilty of perceived rudeness at the end of a hard day when it comes to selling my 30th copy of the Glasvegas or U2 album.

I wonder if Enter Shikari is fair game though, jim.

P.S. if Simon sees this he'll probably be mightily embarrased and weirded out. My apologies.

Just because it's my job to serve someone and I'm being paid to do it, doesn't mean I deserve to be treated like crap.

Sorry but you're not being paid to have the hem of your garment kissed. You don't like it - save up some money and open your own record shop, then you can run the place as you see fit. But don't be surprised if you have to close it two months later because customers aren't crawling in to kneel at your font.

Reminds me, in Fopp on Saturday, while I was fiddling about trying to get my money out my pocket the guy serving me said, "Do you want a bag with that?"... then 1 second later, "Yes? No?" Now that is a cunt for you right there.

True, the Gordon Ramsay customer service approach isn't recommended either.

Having the hem of my exclusive Maps or Bees promotional T-shirt kissed would be even worse than rudeness!

I never mentioned wanting to be worshiped, just that folks show some basic manners, which should apply everywhere. Sorry you got so het up so quickly Marcello.

I recommend a return to suits and ties, as in the old days of Record Booths when Customers came in to give the new Tremeloes waxing an Earful.

Record shops would do well to follow the example set by more recognised establishments, for instance Jeeves of Belgravia.

I've occasionally wondered about wearing a full suit to work - it would make a shocking change from the regular pilfered band t-shirts, saggy multi-layered jumpers and lumberjack shirts and jeans with holes at the knee the size of my whole lower leg, both for myself and the punters.

Last time I went to HMV and bought abt 6 different things I had to beg the cashier for a bag and then I got some grunting which I didn't catch, so I raised an eyebrow and it turned into a lecture about killing the planet complete with incomprehensible slogans in super-flippant tone, but that was annoying mainly because he was right, I suppose.

Never been to Nottingham Selectadisc but I was ;_; when the London one turned into Sister Ray.

Just because it's my job to serve someone and I'm being paid to do it, doesn't mean I deserve to be treated like crap.

Sorry but you're not being paid to have the hem of your garment kissed. You don't like it - save up some money and open your own record shop, then you can run the place as you see fit. But don't be surprised if you have to close it two months later because customers aren't crawling in to kneel at your font.

sorry but deserving to not be treated like crap ≠ wanting to have one's garment hems kissed. surely it's fair for employees to expect customers not to be douchebags just as much as customers expect employees not to be douchebags.

As I say, were counter staff to be replaced by self-checkouts this dilemma would not arise and would furthermore cut costs in terms of overheads, etc.

I further note that such a dilemma rarely if ever occurs in specialist record shops. It's only certain "indie" shops who think they're it.

sorry but deserving to not be treated like crap ≠ wanting to have one's garment hems kissed. surely it's fair for employees to expect customers not to be douchebags just as much as customers expect employees not to be douchebags.

― salsa shark, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 13:53 (8 minutes ago)

Amen. That's what I was hoping/trying to say originally and above.

In my extensive experience I have never witnessed an incidence of a customer being rude or unpleasant. Perhaps I just went to the wrong record shops.

i read about some guy whaling on some employees once, in the late 80s... can't rememebr details.

I saw someone hit a self-service checkout once with their fist.

Swore at it too.

Reminds me, in Fopp on Saturday, while I was fiddling about trying to get my money out my pocket the guy serving me said, "Do you want a bag with that?"... then 1 second later, "Yes? No?" Now that is a cunt for you right there.

― Queueing For Latchstrings (Tom D.), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 13:03 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

True, the Gordon Ramsay customer service approach isn't recommended either.

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 13:12 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"For god's sake man, get a grip! Source Good, Local, Fresh plastic bags, yes?"

I worked in a shop for years and I think the rudeness/aloof thing is a myth. There are so many misanthropic music fans who project their own snobbery or rudeness onto any and every store they go into, or are so guarded/defensive in a social setting that they have to tell themselves it's someone else being rude.

ronan is like insanely otm here

I would be more inclined to think that were he to provide specific examples to back up his argument.

maybe you should read your own posts.

It generally strikes me as symptomatic of the standard British disease of unwillingness to serve others.

would guess that about 80% of the UK's angry customers are pissed off unemployed guys who were fired as a result of Carlin checkout tantrums

i doubt two guys were fired on the basis of one angry customer

Did they assign each other the seperate tasks of mocking Wendy and Lisa respectively?

It generally strikes me as symptomatic of the standard British disease of unwillingness to serve others.

I hear this sweeping generalisation made about Britain quite often, but in my experience customer service in britain is not much worse (or for that matter better) than other countries.

I hear this sweeping generalisation made about Britain quite often,

Anyone's "Sun: 50 Golden Years 8 CD Box set" arrived yet?

No (unless it's waiting for me at home) but HMV sent me a 'how was it for you?' email so I assume they at least intend to deliver the thing as arranged

I have a reasonable expectation: Fopp having it cheap (£15), there must be a lot of unsold stock of this.

The Hut Group seeks agency for brand awareness work
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=64516
Online retailer The Hut Group is to start looking for agencies to work on a brand awareness campaign after buying Zavvi’s brand, rights and 1 million-strong customer database this week.

Hut Group is looking to compete with HMV, Play and Amazon for the “£5-600m” sales displaced by the collapse of Woolworths and the former entertainment retailer Zavvi.

£5 closer to reality methinks.

Moulding admits the Zavvi brand has suffered some “damage” in the last few months

like the administrators refusing stores to accept Zavvi gift vouchers

I didn't realise they were still using the name online so they definitely need to get some of that brand awareness back up and running.

Nor did I know that they sell lingerie.

compare and contrast

Zavvi
http://www.zavvi.co.uk/zavvi/home.dept

TheHut.com
http://www.thehut.com/hut/home.dept

Anyone's "Sun: 50 Golden Years 8 CD Box set" arrived yet?

Yes! Mine arrived this morning, haven't had a chance to rip off the cellophane yet but it looks the business.

Jealous as hell, hope it's a rickroll in a box.

One Sun box set in mail, claimed by father as his.

if you want bad customer service, then high street fashion shops are the place to be. I've found the staff at Mango to be particularly sneery. I'm a loser and I've never had record store people be anything less than pleasant. The standard of service is really much higher than any other kind of shop. Not often that Tesco employees big up your bagels and recommend some other bread products.

Dundee Zavvi hasn't noticed that it isn't closing down and still has everything in the big sale, but despite the shop being full all the time the shelves don't seem to be getting emptier.

Zavvi’s and Woolworths’ new owners may struggle to restore brands’ reputations
http://tinyurl.com/c7dqrd

In my extensive experience I have never witnessed an incidence of a customer being rude or unpleasant. Perhaps I just went to the wrong record shops.

I think that might be the case. In a generalist high-street retailer one is far more likely to come across rude/unpleasant/disgruntled customers - I can count quite a few in my time as a ground floor sales assistant with a major music chain. All it takes is one git with a chip on his/her shoulder to ruin your day, no matter how many happy customers cross your path.

My Sun Box arrived also.

Blimey, it's a bit good, innit?

Also mine... talk about your loss leader, it must have cost about the price I paid just to post the thing

Still no further word on mine than:

"Item deleted - we are trying to obtain this item from alternate sources"

Bummer

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=683061

full price

I wonder if someone got sacked for the mistake over the £3.99 box set. I hope not (please put the miles davis box sets up at the same price please)

(prepare to spend an unfun hour retagging any mp3s you make of disk1, the ones in cddb are of a low quality. disks 2-8 are better but he always misses the 'The' off the front of bandnames even when it's Dickey Lee & The Collegiates)

£15 from fopp leicester square yesterday. two on the shelves when i got there, none when i left (someone else had the other one in the 10 minutes i was there). saw 1 behind the counter but maybe they had a pile back there. odd given it's a limited edition of 5000 from 7 years ago.

My dad wants them on his ipod. I can always retag it with this program http://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html I can try it with the database on discogs or amazon if CDDB is wrong. It's a handy lil prog.

desperation kicking in in the last remaining zavvi in bristol.
dig out your soul : £5 with that all important 25% off = a massive £3.74.
mountains of them left over.

Aw, I've been feeling a bit mean about knocking Selectadisc for occasional staff surliness.

So, please take this as my penance!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/13/selectadisc-nottingham-record-shop

Nice one! Way to go.

I didn;t know they did that 'Black Magic' label. Got a few of them, back in the day.

If anyone's miffeed at missing out on that Sun box set....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Various-Artists-Sun-Record-Company-50-Golden-Yea_W0QQitemZ150330916368QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL?hash=item150330916368&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

.. is running very cheaply at the moment...

.. £0.99 + £2 p&P

Dear krakow,

We’re getting in touch to let you know that all or part of your recent order from hmv.com has been cancelled:

Qty Format Artist Title Price
1 CD VA SUN RECORDS: 50 GOLDEN YEARS: £3.99

We have been informed by the suppliers that this item has been discontinued from their catalogue, as the manufacturer is now longer producing the item. It has therefore been cancelled from your order. Please note that you have not been charged for this item.

hmv.com has one of the most complete and up to date databases in the world. However, obtaining confirmation of discontinued titles can take time to be communicated to us from the distributors. We always endeavour to keep our catalogue as up to date as possible, and the product page on the web site is being updated to reflect this deletion.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment that this may have caused.

Regards,

Online Customer Service Team
hmv.com

Sympathies.

(got mine)

my Zavvi has turned into a Head (whatever that is, if it's really anything - same sign font and colours as Zavvi) and they seem to be trying to get quickly shot of everything that they don't think anyone's going to buy. Allegedly from 75p, but I didn't see anything that cheap. But for about £17 I got:

New York Noise Vol. 2
Caetano Veloso - s/t (Tropicalia)
Gilberto Gil - Nightingale
Prince - Purple Rain (that wasn't in the big discount, it was just £4 for no reason)
Ornette Coleman - Ornette on Tenor
Viking Moses - Swollen & Small

plenty more I'd have bought, but I really shouldn't have been spending even this much, no Wolf Eyes dudes and Richard Youngs and so on for me tomorrow ayayay.

I hit up the Head Dundee clearout a couple of times, got a few things probably of no interest to anyone on here, and only 1 that I'd actually been looking for - a Laura Veirs album. That said, the Early Day Miners and British Expiditionary Force albums I got were pleasant surprises, as was finding a Magnolia Electric Co. album. Annie and Erlend Oye DJ Kicks, £3 each.

Almost bought that Viking Moses EP, but decided against it. Glad it went to a good home. Did you see him when I put him on at the Rep a few years back?

I was sad when Virgin, as it was, was moved from the back of the Wellgate to the front, never as much fun working there. Though my Sunday hangovers improved greatly when i wasn't subjected to the heady cocktail of smells from McDonalds next door and the public toilets above the classical section...

Head took over Fopp in Leamington. I thought they were a one shop deal, turns out I was wrong.

bristol is now head.

moutains of random boxes full of clearout stock.
glorious way to kill a lunch hour.
most of the stuff is gubbins, but a dig today got me :

ame - coast 2 coast - £2.25
mlle caro & franck garcia - pain disappears (buzzin' fly artist album) - £3.75 [loving this on first listen]
a mountain of one - collected works (already got it, but decided was good to have spare at this price.. ) - £2.25
freelance hellraiser - waiting for clearance (already got it, but decided was good to have spare at this price.. ) - 74p

Could Selectadisc be returning? Same premises, new management, sounds like they want to retain the old ethos. One has to wish it well.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Selectadisc-set-return/article-945250-detail/article.html

Dundee Head has a couple of boxes of vinyl that appeared recently, mostly 7"s and 12" singles but there were a few LPs, picked up the following for £1 each:

Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse (sealed)
Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward (sealed)
The Presets - Apocalypso
Colder - Heat
Harrisons - No Fighting in the War Room
Shirokuma - Moonlight in the Afternoon (double 10" single)
Wax Stag - Short Road EP (10")

Plus Lindstrom + Prinz Thomas' "Reinterpritations" on CD for £2.99.

Been rinsing the £2.99 CDs in the last week tbh, cheers imploding music retail industry. Got that Lindstrom/Prinz one, Fairport Convention 'What We Did On Our Holidays', Cathedral 'Forest of Equilibrium', Tood Edwards 'New Trend Sounds 2004' and Method Man 'Tical'

I went through all the CDs a couple of times when they were 20% off and bought a fair bit, just don't have the patience to go through them again just in case any new stuff has turned up.

Head in bristol are in meltdown mode.
£1.74 for last Primal Scream, Dido albums and several other recent high profile albums that they clearly cant shift.

today £2.99 got me some 1974 james brown produced golden funk :

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61IQvj7oAmL._SS500_.jpg

Prince Far I 2xCD comp for £2.99 yesterday in Cardiff. That dept has presumably got a closing date as the ppl I know who work in there were chssed off about losing their jobs (in one case that its closure was on Wikipedia (!) before he was told), but still seems to be plodding on

Talking to an ex-colleague in the Dundee one a while back I got the impression they were expecting to be done in a few months, maybe Sept/Oct. Every time i skim the £2.99 stuff I still manage to find something I haven't spotted before, nothing that exciting though.

going going ..

last week Zavvis replacement in bristol, Head, had a 20% reduction on their lucky dip section.

today, everything else is £4.99

i dived in and found the following goodness :

bomb the bass - future chaos (2 cd edition),
hatchback - colours of the sun,
d.lissvik - 7trx + intermission,
tobias thomas - please please please

chuffed.

the Dundee Head is closing down and has enacted comedy discounts - 40% off of stuff that was already only 99p, etc. I got:

Prince - Prince
HEALTH - HEATH//DISCO
Julie Doiron - Woke Myself Up
Simon Joyner - Lost with the Lights On
White Magic - Dat Rosa Mel Apibus
Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm a Witch
Michael Cashmore - The Snow Abides
The Fiery Furnaces - Remember
Studio - Yearbook 2
Herman Dune - Next Year in Zion
Anni Rossi - Afton
James Jackson Toth - Waiting in Vain
Abe Vigoda - Skeleton

for a total of £16. Worth the thigh muscle damage from all the crouching I did. Dunno if I was more surprised to see that they once had (the dividing cards told me) a Simon Wickham-Smith album, or that someone had apparently bought it.