Blockbuster UK: Don't forget to turn the lights out
- 16 January 2013 17:04210359Blockbuster UK have called in the administrators.
Sky News reports:
"If buyers cannot be found for HMV and Blockbuster, they will join the likes of Jessops, JJB Sports, Clintons Cards and Comet, which have all been forced to call in administrators."
The lights in UK plc are going out one by one. People haven't got the money anymore.
Dover High Street is closing down.
Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
Rule Britannia!
Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ - Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
16 January 2013 17:06210361Doesn't look good
but we must look at the positives?ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - 16 January 2013 17:14210369If you are dependant upon one product and that product gets overtaken by technology then this is what happens. For Blockbuster, HMV and others, they had their day and we all move on.
Back 100 years ago - of the 100 largest companies on the US stock exchange, only about 30 are still trading now. Time and progress moves on.
This is actually a good thing. New companies arise and other fall by the wayside. It is sad when a company goes under and on an individual level can be tragic but it is overall a good thing and actually a sign of a healthy economy. Problems arise from a company becoming too big and important to fail....... - 16 January 2013 17:20210372Barry, Dover's shops are going down like nine-pins. One can't keep up with the count.
Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
Rule Britannia!
Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ - 16 January 2013 17:33210378not an issue about businesses keeping up with changing tastes, both dvd's and cd's are still in demand. overheads for businesses using high street premises are the real killers.
- 16 January 2013 17:37210381Spot on, Howard. Rent is still calculated according to pre-2008 standards.Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
Rule Britannia!
Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ - 16 January 2013 17:43210388alex
post 4 is incorrect, filled units in the town centre are up on most places. - 16 January 2013 17:51210394To me it looks as if many are still empty, Howard.
But my reference is also to potential closures, such as Blockbusters, and to shops closing down before being reopened under a different brand.
Take Jack's for example. They only opened last year.Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
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Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ - 16 January 2013 18:54210407Howard - sorry but the demand for these is dropping, at least from the High Street. Movie downloads are taking a much bigger share of business as are music downloads and the demand for DVDs and CDs that is left is largely being fulfilled by on-line retailers who have a much larger stock at lower prices. When did you last rent a DVD? For me it must have been 5 or 6 years ago. I prefer to buy on-line than rent or buy in a shop and this has been the case for quite a few years, I am not into downloading though (I have over 800 DVDs and Blu-Rays!!!) There are just better and more efficient ways of fulfilling that demand now that saves a trip to Blockbusters.
Blockbuster had a business model that is past its sell by date and did not have the foresight to diversify and compete early into the on-line and download space. They would have had an advantage but because they did not adapt other newer companies got in the act like Love Film and, of course, Amazon.
I am wondering how long booksellers selling dead trees will last in the face of Kindle and their copies..... - 16 January 2013 19:01210408It's a shame to see so many well known brands falling by the wayside, but as BarryW rightly says in this instance they've had their day and times have changed.
Internet shopping has moved on so much that the consumer has changed the way that we now buy day to day consumables, especially specialist products.
It is now very easy to source products from around the world, just take a look at the countries that BarryW himself buys his kits from, NZ amongst others with post & packing included in the price
. At one time you would have to order from a specialist model supplier who in turn would put on a hefty mark up on the price to make a healthy profit margin, the wonders of the internet super highway benefit the customer but affect the trader in the High Street in the long run 
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
16 January 2013 19:02210409i still buy cd's and dvd's barry.downloading is to much hassle. - 16 January 2013 19:31210416I predict a big up serge in £ shops
- 16 January 2013 19:35210417From 2008...
"High Street rents 'to fall 20pc' over three years"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/2791629/High-Street-rents-to-fall-20pc-over-three-years.html
From...
http://www.bis.gov.uk/ assets/ biscore/ business-sectors/ docs/ u/ 11-1402-understanding-high-street-performance.pdf
"Fig. 10 shows the performance of average town centre prime rents in England (based on
370 locations) from 2000 to 2011 in nominal and real terms (discounting for RPI).
Nominal prime rents grew steadily through to 2008 (up 26%), but then fell back
significantly in 2009 (down 12%) due to the impact of the economic recession before
declining further in 2010 and 2011, but at a much slower rate. The average prime rent for
England at mid 2011 was virtually the same as in 2003."
[Page 45]
One person's perception of economic performance generally, and on the high street, may differ from another's, and be different now from that perceived at the time of the above projection, but it is striking that the rent reductions have not been as 'drastic' as foretold.
Another aspect is this...(from the same document as the last)
"Investor perspectives
Over the past 30 years there has been a 'homogenisation' of the high street. With high
street units owned by a myriad of landlords, there has been little or no control over the
tenant mix in town centres, apart from some restrictions placed within the 'user' clauses
of leases.
In order to obtain the best possible return on their investment, landlords let their units to
tenants with the strongest covenant, as a result this led to more and more national chains
taking prime high street locations (and indeed in purpose-built shopping centres), which in
turn led to a 'sameness' about many high streets throughout the UK.
There has also been a sense of 'brand grabbing' where institutional landlord/developers
of high street shopping centres wanted the kudos of having fashionable brands, which
might not necessarily fit the local demographic but improved the marketability of the
scheme. This also created little differentiation from other high street shopping venues
within geographical regions.
Historically, developers of retail schemes have offered anchor tenants space at a
peppercorn rent in order to use the anchor's brand to attract additional tenants. This has
created a situation where smaller retailers, who are already having their margins
squeezed, can see their occupancy costs reach as much as 25% of turnover, whilst the
department store is only paying service charges and business rates."Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
16 January 2013 20:46210426i predict a riot. - 16 January 2013 22:04210445Tottaly agree with you Barry. These shops have not and cannot keep up with technology. Take the worker and overheads out and get cheaper products online.
I foresee a future of no CDs and DVDs. It will all be downloads. I've already started.Keeps politics to myself - 17 January 2013 00:14210450Well next we might be ordering on-line meals, causing all restaurants and bars to close down.
The virtual dinner cooked not in the oven, not with micro-waves, but with MICRO-CHIPS
yum yum
Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
Rule Britannia!
Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ - 17 January 2013 05:39210455I think there'll always be a decent number of people who want to "own" a piece of music - like a record or CD, as well as films as per DVDs.
There will always be people who can't down-load music or films for a variety of reasons and these should be catered for as they will always be a good source of revenue.
There are now music machines that play 78s, LPs, 45s, CDs and you can play and/or record your old music on to CDs or the hard-drive and copy them to your mobile phone if you wish to.
Roger - 17 January 2013 07:51210456I do prefer DVDs and Blu-ray as like you said Roger I like to 'own' a film - downloads cannot re-produce the picture and sound quality of a blu-ray and, unless you copy them onto a DVD or back them up somehow, then the hard drive will one day fail and you lose it!. Given the popularity of pirate DVDs there are plenty of people who do not care about picture and sound quality....
The problem, again as I said, is that the combination of on-line and downloads means there is no future for large specialist High Street sellers and renters of CDs and DVDs.
Someone mentioned my 'kit' buying. I often think that I should be using our local model shop but the choice is simply not there and it would be uneconomic for them to stock the wide selection of 32 scale aircraft that I need. Many large model shop chains like Modelzone up at Bluewater don't do so, let alone our local one. They can only survive by stocking the more popular scales with just a very limited selection of what I do. Likewise with the materials I use, I cannot expect them to stock the Vallejo, Gunze and other more 'exotic' brands alongside the more usual Humbrol. I just hope that there are enough youngsters and others buying what they stock for them to carry on. Right now I am awaiting for the delivery of two on-line orders of a kit and a range of build materials and supplies worth well over £125. When I looked in the LMS none of the brands and materials on order are stocked. It is very difficult on the High Street. - 17 January 2013 19:12210567I regret the demise of the High Street - at least that is as we have known it. Online selling from warehouse style operations has out manoeuvred the retailer in a cataclysmic scale and we only have ourselves to blame!
How often have you gone shopping for an item, only then to go home and look it up on the Internet and buy it cheaper? On the other hand how many of us have found what we want on the Internet, but are not quite sure without seeing it for real so go to a shop. Once satisfied that it is what you want, then go home and order it on line?
I expect to a greater or lesser extent we have all done that. We cannot therefore expect retailers to provide a show room free of charge to the customer but at great expense to them, for the benefit of the online industry.
Rent and rates, the ability to browse comes at a price and it does appear that for the most part we prefer to click a purchase from our sofas and have it delivered, than go to a shop.
Rents are falling, rates stay the same and continue to strangle investment in the High Streets ( actually they are strangling investment in anything that attracts business rates). So what to do?
The Portas project identified that traditional retailing is finished. Specialist shops and artisans aside, it is finished. Community and leisure uses is where the future lies, but there has to be a revolution in the rating requirements to make this happen, which means that we have to get rid of central costs and bureaucratic waste. Of course that is not nearly enough we have to change this lazy "have it all, want it now" society. Can make people realise that life may well be a precious gift, but survival is not a right?
We allow the biggest businesses to dictate what we eat, what it costs to keep warm we even allow them to negotiate how much tax they pay, we contribute fortunes to a dead Europe and overseas aid when we can't even teach our children or sort out our sick.
We are broken, yet it is too painful to admit. How about we admit it and do something about it instead of whining in to our beer! - Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,897
17 January 2013 19:39210578I recently needed a new letter box, the outside flap broke on the old one. Tried to find the size, quality and colour by searching locally via the internet but ended up getting one via an Ebay shop, the nearest to what I wanted was B&Q but no where near the quality and what they offered was a lot more expensive
For too long the larger stores and multiples have relied on their name and not how people tend to shop, be it everyday shopping or what could be termed non essentials like DVDs or books.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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