Hmv

skywalker

Morph the Cat wrote: »

Hi all - I see HMV UK have started taking vouchers again. I'm going to London tomorrow & I have a €65 ROI voucher. What do you reckon?

I reckon theres plenty here would love to know how you get on, your probably going to be one of the first people to try, but if it works there will be plenty will take a drive up north this weekend.

power101

They are two separate companies. On top of that there is the difference in currencies. They will not take your voucher.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21141209

Restructuring specialist Hilco has taken effective control of music and DVD retailer HMV.

Hilco, which already owns HMV Canada, has bought the debt of HMV from the group's lenders, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The debt deal gives Hilco effective control of HMV

It remains to be seen what this means for Ireland.

For the UK it seems it will be business as usual - Hilco will make their own decisions about what stores to keep in their own time.

SubBusted

Big deal! Anyone who buys good music in a shop would use Tower Records not HMV.

Corkfeen

SubBusted wrote: »

Big deal! Anyone who buys good music in a shop would use Tower Records not HMV.

Not everyone in Ireland lives in Dublin..... So yes it is a big deal, Cork's only particularly good dvd, bluray, music and game store is gone. I'm assuming that there's plenty of other places that were hit to an even greater degree than us.

jack presley

SubBusted wrote: »

Big deal! Anyone who buys good music in a shop would use Tower Records not HMV.

Tower, in my experience were usually a couple of euro dearer than HMV

RobbingBandit

jack presley wrote: »

Tower, in my experience were usually a couple of euro dearer than HMV

€5 dearer for WWE DVDs on a whole, Tower were/are always good for niche CDs and DVDs.

blingrhino

Most stores are too big ( sq ft) for other retailers in the business to take over, for example scotch hall in drogheda is 5900 sq ft plus a store of 1800 sq ft .
This is far too big for a regional town and probably the same kinda size throught out the country .
The golden discs one in swords is just over 1000 sq ft for example .

Occono

Limerick had two HMVs now closed, no Tower or Golden Records here I'm guessing, like GAME, Hilco won't buy the Irish stores.

I hate GameStop, but I may have to occasionally shop there in the future. And I miss niche DVDs. And I liked HMV's Books.

A Dub in Glasgo

There is nothing that was in HMV that you cannot find on the internet

Dilbert75

Apart from the enjoyment of looking through actual cd's and looking at the covers for real, rather than just looking at pictures on the internet.

kevin2me

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

There is nothing that was in HMV that you cannot find on the internet

Online isnt the same, going in and browsing the deals is half the fun,
I equally used Play\Amazon and HMV,
but I hope HMV ireland can get back up and running..

With large Shops, hopefully some deal can be struck with new Owners,
And hopefully irish landlords wont be greedy, its not like many other chains to come in and take over shops of HMV Size especially in likes cork\Limerick.

HMV were one of the best resellers for limited edition DVD\BR sets.
HMV Steelbooks and such. And Staff were great in there.
Plus they only one in ireland competing with gameStop.

drumslate

I used my vouchers the other plainly just to get rid of them! They are well and truly frigged!

Procrastastudy

I give GameStop five years, Play.com seven. Physical media is dying - once the retailers are gone there will be no reason for on-line - it will all come direct from the publisher.

A Dub in Glasgo

Play.com have already decided to throw in the towel from March

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/play-com-stops-selling-direct-will-be-a-marketplace-only-50010123/

Nody

Procrastastudy wrote: »

I give GameStop five years, Play.com seven. Physical media is dying - once the retailers are gone there will be no reason for on-line - it will all come direct from the publisher.

Doubt it; look at Steam which I'd argue is one of the most (current) successfull PC platforms for online selling of games. They are regularly beaten by Amazon or Greenman on prices as well. The simple fact excluding a certain set of major publishers (i.e. Blizzard/Activision, EA etc.) most will go through a middle man to get it out there. Even the big once will want to sell it through other portals as well if possible for no other reason the to get more exposure out for their new games.

Procrastastudy

Nody wrote: »

Doubt it; look at Steam which I'd argue is one of the most (current) successfull PC platforms for online selling of games. They are regularly beaten by Amazon or Greenman on prices as well. The simple fact excluding a certain set of major publishers (i.e. Blizzard/Activision, EA etc.) most will go through a middle man to get it out there. Even the big once will want to sell it through other portals as well if possible for no other reason the to get more exposure out for their new games.

Why does Steam exist though? They are an alternative to physical distribution. When physical distribution stops they won't be the alternative any more. Steam will still be about, but they will take on a persona much more like a publisher themselves; indie games and green light etc. The big boys like EA will set up their own direct distribution vis Origin and BF3 and sell direct.

Chris_5339762

Steam is one of the most useful things ever in PC gaming. To not have to wait a week for a game to arrive, just download and play.

Procrastastudy

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Steam is one of the most useful things ever in PC gaming. To not have to wait a week for a game to arrive, just download and play.

Agreed its amazing, so is Spotify, Itunes and Netflix. None of the good news for the high street.

Pacing Mule

Procrastastudy wrote: »

I give GameStop five years, Play.com seven. Physical media is dying - once the retailers are gone there will be no reason for on-line - it will all come direct from the publisher.

I think you're being overly pessimistic tbh.

The market is changing yes - digital distribution is growing but there will always be demand for hard copies of games. Even if publishers cut this out as in go digital or nothing there will still be demand for hardware and peripherals not to mention the trade in the back catalogue of current gen titles. PS2 has only really died off in the last year or so. PS3 / Xbox 360 in particular will be around for a lot longer than 5 years (especially if the next gen of consoles blocks pre owned games / goes completely digital etc)

Will there still be demand for 7 smaller Gamestops in one city - maybe not but there will be demand and it's a question of how do they manage the evolving business. It certainly won't collapse within 5 years.

Play.coms direct retail operations have been undone by the change in VAT treatment of the Channel Islands by the UK government. Play was built on beating bricks and mortar by pricing with no VAT. Now that's gone they are pulling out of direct sales and concentrating on the marketplace aspect of the site.

I do agree with you that there will be a tipping point where the big publishers with established brands and franchises will opt for direct digital distribution but it's still a big leap IMO to the concept of digital distibution only.

jamesbondings

I have heard through the grapevine that all the major labels may take hmv over....they stand to lose too much without a music shop on the high street

Procrastastudy

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

I think you're being overly pessimistic tbh.

The market is changing yes - digital distribution is growing but there will always be demand for hard copies of games. Even if publishers cut this out as in go digital or nothing there will still be demand for hardware and peripherals not to mention the trade in the back catalogue of current gen titles. PS2 has only really died off in the last year or so. PS3 / Xbox 360 in particular will be around for a lot longer than 5 years (especially if the next gen of consoles blocks pre owned games / goes completely digital etc)

Oddly trade in is one of the factors driving publishers to DD. They hate the pre-owned market. The Hardware will be for sale in Tesco/Currys. Hopefully I am being pessimistic but only time will tell.

jack presley

Felt the first effect of HMV being closed on Friday as I was looking to buy the new Biffy Clyro album and ended up paying €20 for the double version in Tower. I doubt it would have been €20 in HMV

jamesbondings

anyone know what they plan to do with their excess stock?? the missus would have a field day if it was on sale somewhere

jack presley

jamesbondings wrote: »

anyone know what they plan to do with their excess stock?? the missus would have a field day if it was on sale somewhere

I can only talk about the one on Grafton Street but all the stock is still sitting there on the shelves (well it was on Friday anyway)

Occono

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

There is nothing that was in HMV that you cannot find on the internet

I like impulsively buying things. I like browsing while in town. I like having what I want straight away without waiting for it.

brianregan09

Yeah they should surely try and sell it off (the stock) unless there still trying to negotiate a sale

zewookie

The issue of HMV Ireland's uncertain status is troubling for me on many levels, especially as my housemate worked for the Galway branch. But on a very personal level, while I rarely buy physical CD's anymore, HMV was incredibly useful for picking up tech. If only they had moved toward games and tech sooner, instead of keeping so much of their business concentrated on CD's and DVD's. Anyway!
My issue is this. When purchasing my last set of headphones in March of last year, I bought a 1 year insurance policy from HMV. The usual way of claiming on my broken headphones would be to walk into the shop, which I obviously cannot do anyway. I have attempted to ring the provided DeLoitte helpline number, but it's only a voicemail system, and I've not heard back from them yet despite leaving a few messages over a few days.
I see myself as having a couple of options:

I could attempt to contact Allianz directly and attempt to get them to honour it in the stead of being able to walk into a shop. This begs the question of how would they honour their side of the agreement. Previously, I could just pick another set of headphones off the shelf and pay whatever the difference might happen to be (You were supposed to be able to get the same model again, but this rarely happens, as headphone stock would change frequently). In an ideal world, I just want another pair of headphones, I don't want to be faffing around with cheques or bank deposits

I am travelling to England in 2 weeks. I had the thought that HMV England might honour my insurance, but I'm hoping someone here might be able to clarify that issue for me. If it is possible to have HMV England honour my Irish-bought insurance, I would prefer to do it that way, as I could theoretically just pick up another pair of headphones on the spot.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? If so, it'd be great to get any information that might help me move forward. Being without headphones is no craic.

seamus

The usual procedure is to contact the insurer who are providing the insurance. They would honour the insurance policy by arranging to have a replacement shipped to you, or the equivalent cash payment made to you.

It's unlikely that HMV UK would deal with it as the insurance policy was probably a deal between Allianz IE and HMV IE.

Miaireland

First are the headphones broken?

Your only option is to deal with the Insurance Company (even that will depend on whether the policy is in your name or HMV Ireland ) You have no contract with HMV UK, hence they will not help you.Neither do HMV UK have any contract with the Irish Insurance company so they will not handle your claim on their behalf ie give you a new set of headphones.