Zhivago... finito?

sgthighway

They are open in the Galway Shopping Centre right now????

barryd09

Theres a documentary called 'Walmart - The high cost of the low price'

Well worth a watch.

biko

Rumour closed.

PM a mod with a linkable source to open

biko

Ok, we have confirmation so thread reopened.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/17078-zhivago-music-shops-go-voluntary-liquidation

The company, which owns Zhivago music stores in Galway, has gone into voluntary liquidation with the loss of a dozen jobs.

Sound City Galway Limited operated the main Zhivago outlet at Shop Street in the city and the Zhivago outlet at Galway Shopping Centre.

The Shop Street outlet shut its doors a number of days ago, while the outlet at the Galway Shopping Centre will trade under a new name.

Wompa1

A victim of the torrent sites I'd imagine. The revamp was so strange too, I could see why they'd do it but it always felt weird being in there with teddy bears around the place and the ticketmaster just there.

Actually good question now, what happens to ticketmaster!?

Lockstep

Crying shame it's gone, they were great for more obscure bands.

JohnCleary

So sorry to hear this. Not that I ever shopped in there, but just that it was such a Galway shop. I used to buy the odd poster in there as a kid, and bought my first ever tape (Now! something other when I was about 10) in there

SinewaveSurfer

can't say I'll be crying myself to sleep over this.

wet-paint

Same, it was a bigger loss to lose Redlight.

And I doubt Galway is such a hotbed of illegal downloads that enough purchasing power moved online, and closed down Zhivagos.
That's the way all music distribution is moving, legal or not, and those firms that don't change with the times get left behind.
It's **** though that they couldn't adapt to it, it's a big store on Shop st, and it'll be hard to fill I'd say.

snubbleste

wet-paint wrote: »

It's **** though that they couldn't adapt to it, it's a big store on Shop st, and it'll be hard to fill I'd say.

Euro2 shop or for some budding entrepreneur a Euro1.98 shop

Malice

kickoutthejams wrote: »

Crying shame it's gone, they were great for more obscure bands.

I think I must have a very different definition to obscure than you. Even ten years ago it was impossible to find any less well-known bands on their shelves. I am referring specifically to the Rock + Metal end of things mind you, maybe it was different for other genres.
Having said that I can't remember the last time I bought anything in there. The ease of Internet shopping means all my CD/DVD/Blu-Ray purchasing is done online.

dmcg90

As gaming has become so profitable, I find it surprising they stopped selling games in there years ago.

Robbo

Hey kid, I'm a computer. Stop all the downloading.

Shryke

It really did go downhill years ago. The only thing I'd be in there for is Ticketmaster. As someone already said, I wonder what will happen there.
I hope HMV stay open. They're expensive but they have a good selection.

Aiel

Their cd's and dvd's were nearly always a few euros more expensive then other shops(HMV,Tower Records in Dublin,even Redlight Records).They had the monopoly in Galway for years and took advantage of it by ripping people off.I remember seeing Moby signing albums in there in the mid 90's "back in the day":).

SinewaveSurfer

Aiel wrote: »

Their cd's and dvd's were nearly always a few euros more expensive then other shops(HMV,Tower Records in Dublin,even Redlight Records).They had the monopoly in Galway for years and took advantage of it by ripping people off.

+1

qwytre

Sad to see any business go under.

The prices they used to charge were shocking. I remember cds being priced at £19.99 back in 1996.

Bummer1234

Sad to see it go

Does this mean there not one Ticketmaster seller in The city centre now?

dmcg90

The Galway Shopping Centre one is still open (as of about 10 minutes ago when I was in). Doesn't look to be big discounts on anything, 10-15% off electricals but thats pretty much it. They're probably saving most of their new stock for the new store going there.

LadyMayBelle

Can't say I am particularly sad to see it go. Okay, yes I am sad in the respect it was a Galway family run business, but for the past five years at least it has been selling tack, with garish shop signs obscuring the nice building on shop street. Things have always been over priced, and there are only so many rubbish boxsets you can try and flog.
I think the problem with Zhivago is that it begain selling everything from gifts, to Irish merchandise, to novelty gifts etc instead of reducing in size and selling quality stuff and not pound shop tack.. My opinion anyways.

wet-paint

Same. While you can't blame them at all for selling whatever they can to try and stay afloat, from a consumer's pov, it's not nice to see cheap tat adorning the shop windows. No problem with two euro shops, but when you're seeing a once prestigious store going downhill like that, you can't help but feel dismayed, seeing it in its death throes.

soundbyte

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Sad to see it go

Does this mean there not one Ticketmaster seller in The city centre now?

I mentioned this in the Recession thread:

Ticketmaster will continue from Lynch's café overhead.

And I think Fancy Fare in Salthill is an outlet too (it certainly used to be).

Lockstep

Malice_ wrote: »

I think I must have a very different definition to obscure than you. Even ten years ago it was impossible to find any less well-known bands on their shelves. I am referring specifically to the Rock + Metal end of things mind you, maybe it was different for other genres.
Having said that I can't remember the last time I bought anything in there. The ease of Internet shopping means all my CD/DVD/Blu-Ray purchasing is done online.

I'm mainly into the punk side of things and found them a much better bet than HMV for lesser known bands.

smackbunnybaby

Sad news, spent a lot of time in there and the staff in the Shop Street branch had good taste in music themselves so the metal section was always a good browse.
Local Demos even popped up there from time to time.
Regardless of how bad people felt it went it's another hammer blow for Galway.

smackbunnybaby

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I'm mainly into the punk side of things and found them a much better bet than HMV for lesser known bands.

a bunch of punks ran the place :-)

grumpytrousers

kippy wrote: »

With some luck a new business will take its place. A business that will be able to take advantage of cheaper rents, cheaper wages and opportunities to negotiate cheaper prices with suppliers.
It is sadly a sign of the times we live in.

HOW?

Are you talking about a replacement record shop? In the context of the post to which you replied, as in Tesco etc can bulk buy, just what class of 'new business' do you think would have the clout to approach, say, Universal Music and say 'Tell you what, sell me those CDs at the same rate you sell them to Tesco?'.

The point is that as long as price *solely* is king, no new business can compete when 'small' bricks and mortar shops are pitted against either Monster Multiple Supermarkets or online retailers. I like browsing in shops. I'm one of the suckers who'll buy from record shops, but I'm in a minority. I don't think I'd have to chuck a stone particularly far to hit somebody who took the (understandable) view that 'why should I pay €15 in a shop for something, when I can get it from Cdwow for a €12?'. Actually, it's the further view, often espoused, that 'shops' are 'rip-off merchants' that really get on me tits, but that's another story. Costs are higher, economies of scale don't exist, they're not ripping you off generally.

Utopia Parkway

qwytre wrote: »

Sad to see any business go under.

The prices they used to charge were shocking. I remember cds being priced at £19.99 back in 1996.

They were expensive alright even pre-Celtic Tiger. Guess they knew they had a monopoly in town back then.

dantbyhid

Lost my job this morning after working there for almost 14 years (mainly on a part time basis). Sad day and very worrying as myself and some others do have mortgages and kids.

Anyone who reckons Zhivago were over priced over the last couple of years needs to seriously do their maths. Just because you see a boxset priced at €39.99 in Zhivago and it's €29.99 in HMV and €24.99 online means nothing. Chances are that Zhivago had another similar boxset for €29.99 and HMV had it at €39.99. Shops can't compete with online shops and Tesco so point even discussing it. A local family owned business also won't get the huge discounts that some other multinational companies may get from distributors.
Country, metal/punk and Irish music especially was always very reasonably priced in my opinion. Most of the back catalog was fairly priced as well I think. We always tried to order in items for customers if they so wished and had access to a lot of quiet obscure stuff which was great for actual music fans. We accepted all local/independent releases on a sale or return basis and took a very small token cut from this to cover admin/pricing etc. We took in home recorded self released stuff from local bands that just wanted to get their music out there.

As for the shop stocking non music stuff... it was either that or let even more people go. I had no problem "stuffing the odd teddy bear" to get by every week thank you very much. Plenty of other music shops sell condoms and cans of coke etc so whatever.

That's all only my personal opinion btw. I made a serious amount of friends through work and credit the place as a great meeting place for like minded people and the place to go to when you wanted to know what was going on about town music wise.

soundbyte

grumpytrousers wrote: »

HOW?

Are you talking about a replacement record shop? In the context of the post to which you replied, as in Tesco etc can bulk buy, just what class of 'new business' do you think would have the clout to approach, say, Universal Music and say 'Tell you what, sell me those CDs at the same rate you sell them to Tesco?'.

The point is that as long as price *solely* is king, no new business can compete when 'small' bricks and mortar shops are pitted against either Monster Multiple Supermarkets or online retailers. I like browsing in shops. I'm one of the suckers who'll buy from record shops, but I'm in a minority. I don't think I'd have to chuck a stone particularly far to hit somebody who took the (understandable) view that 'why should I pay €15 in a shop for something, when I can get it from Cdwow for a €12?'. Actually, it's the further view, often espoused, that 'shops' are 'rip-off merchants' that really get on me tits, but that's another story. Costs are higher, economies of scale don't exist, they're not ripping you off generally.

The Zhivago shop in the Galway Shopping Centre will be re-opening under a new name.

LadyMayBelle

Sorry to hear that dantbyhid. Tough day losing your job, all respect due.