Many many businesses DEAD

  • Thread starter Thread starter AGinAg (37)
  • Start date Start date
Donna Winter said:
If I were a BUSINESS I would so cynically FLEECE the MIDDLE CLASSES

*launches GOJI BERRY ORGANIC HANDMADE PERUVIAN TOSTILLIADA (i.e. a Warburton's potato cake with a bit of RED STUFF on)*
Click to expand...

Careful, you'll awaken Gwyneth Paltrow.
 
Phones 4U (almost) DEAD.

Phones 4u says it has been forced into administration after the network operator EE decided not renew its current contract.

The retailer, which employs 5,596 people, says its 550 standalone stores will be closed until the administrators decide on whether the business can reopen for trading.

David Kassler, chief executive of Phones 4u, said: “Today is a very sad day for our customers and our staff.

"If the mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business.

"A good company making profits of over £100m, employing thousands of decent people has been forced into administration."
Click to expand...
 
Just to say that EE was their only remaining provider with Vodafone and O2 pulling out earlier this year.

Still a bit surprising though considering they were making good profits.
 
Concentrate on their individual stores is the main one.

I'd also say Carphone have been cutting a few of their own deals with the big operators but the competition commission would probably have something to say about that..

I've always found Carphone and Phones4U a bit pointless myself though. Going direct has always been cheaper for me.
 
Last edited:
GOOD! I fucking hate Phones4U. The place is always populated by CUNTS!
 
I got my last handset at Phones4U after Carphone Warehouse first lied to me about having the set in stock and then proceeded to ignore me. Phones4U were very nice.
 
I was deeply offended when I found out the MEN Arena was renamed the Phones4U Arena. That was poor even by Manchester's low standards.

I hate to think what the new name will be.
 
Last edited:
It always looked like the Mister Byrite of phone shops.

As for Carphone Warehouse. CHANGE THE FUCKING NAME! AWFUL!
 
This is what's on the Phones 4U website now:

Dear Customer,
Following the unexpected decision of EE and Vodafone to withdraw supply from Phones4U , we regret that we are offline. Please accept our apologies and we will update you as soon as possible
Our customer service lines are:

• Phones 4u Customer Service 0844 8712253

• Technical Support 0844 8712233

• Handset Repairs 0844 8712269

• Phones 4u Care (Insurance) 0844 8710535

• LIFE Mobile Customer Service 0844 3221133

Thank you for your custom

The heartbroken Phones4u Team
:(
Click to expand...
 
Agnetha said:
It always looked like the Mister Byrite of phone shops.

As for Carphone Warehouse. CHANGE THE FUCKING NAME! AWFUL!
Click to expand...
It's branded Phone House outside the UK - which is still bad, but not quite as bad as Carphone (how 80s) and Warehouse (could you get any less aspirational?).
 
Bank Fashion (almost) DEAD.

The high street clothing retailer Bank Fashion has become the high street's first big post-Christmas casualty with around 1,500 jobs at risk after it crashed into administration.

Confirming a report by Sky News, Deloitte, the accountancy firm, said it had been lined up as administrator to Bank Fashion just six weeks after the chain was sold to a subsidiary of Hilco, the specialist retail investor.

The move puts at risk more than 1,500 jobs, although a number of parties have already approached Bank Fashion about a takeover which could yet salvage some of those positions.

The Hilco subsidiary is understood to have paid JD Sports Fashion just £1 to take control of Bank Fashion in late November.
Click to expand...

Can't say i'm surprised really, the stores are like ghost towns whenever I walk past.
 
Last edited:
I believe it's the UK branch of KindaCool's LOW END FASHION CHAIN.
 
Apparently my nearest branches are Grays, Romford and Purfleet. Says it all.
 
I've been in Bank a couple of times, I bought a pair of KSwiss trainers from there a few months ago for £25. They also sometimes have good offers on Calvins. On the whole though, it is pretty chavvy.
 
Bank is overpriced teenage branded tat. I know this because I had to go in there for a specific t-shirt for spawn and every member of staff had metal hanging out of their faces and glared at me as I browsed the rails.
 
Celine the Angry Caterpillar said:
Apparently my nearest branches are Grays, Romford and Purfleet. Says it all.
Click to expand...

Oh GOD :D How disappointing that they didn't expand out to South Ockendon or Aveley, where they could have made a killing off all them foreigners and blacks what have flooded in OH THE HORROR. Lock the grandchildren up Mary Maud

In other upsetting retail news, it appears that the last remaining Athena in Exeter closed down about a year ago and is now a Greggs or some such

:( if YUM
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I see American Apparel (UK, at least) quietly died recently.

Mind you, it was awful.
 
It had it's moment in the sun about 10 years ago when if you were a certain type of gay* you wouldn't be seen dead without one of their purple hoodies.

* ie gays I don't sleep with
 
I LOVED AA purples hoodies back in the day :D

But yes, by the end they were only good for socks. Their pants were such bad quality that I longed for the unethical days of Bangladeshi sweatshops.
 
HMV is closing all 102 of its stores in Canada too. I always wonder how much longer they have in them here.
 
The Canadian branches were still owned by the UK parent company as well, weren't they? I know they weren't in some territories.

I can't work out what is going on with their central branch here. When they were really struggling years ago their store here got very down at heel, but then they seemed to have a bit of a renaissance and moved to a larger store across the road. Now last year they have given up about a quarter of their floor space and it all feels slightly desperate and lacking direction in terms of knowing what sort of shop it is trying to be.
 
lolly said:
The Canadian branches were still owned by the UK parent company as well, weren't they? I know they weren't in some territories.
Click to expand...

Actually I'm just reading an article which states that HMV Canada separated from the UK parent company in 2011.
 
Well that's good news that it's not directly linked any more, but I am amazed they're still going. Even I barely buy CDs any more.

(I realise that's a bit book of stats but Y'KNOW)
 
HMV is closing down here. It's quite a big store but it's in a prime location and it's always quite busy (albeit with people browsing, which doesn't always equate to ££ in the till).

Still I agree, after a bit of a renaissance, it still seems to lack direction. And there was a point where it's prices became quite competitive but they seem to have floated upwards again.
 
I was going to say I couldn't even remember the last time I PLAYED a CD, but then I remember we did at Christmas. But before then, I don't know. It may have even been the Christmas before.
 
I miss Australian HMV :( It was great for browsing rare imports that I would later buy online for much cheaper
 
I do feel for HMV because realistically they're trying to make a physical business out of mediums that barely exist in the physical sense now.

The rapid growth of Netflix must have been such a downer for them because DVDs were the obvious way to go when CDs largely became obsolete. Now even that's a shrinking market for them.
 
HMV still has the same fucking stupid problems it had all those years ago. For example:

1. CDs are relegated mostly to the lower sales floor, DVDs occupying the space- perhaps fine for now but DVDs are going to die out and unlike music, there is no reason for them, which leads me to:
2. Hardly any vinyl- they've been so slow to embrace this when they should have been leading
3. Still stupid amounts of floor space dedicated to headphones and the suchlike when you can get WAY cheaper online with next day delivery
4. Their sales- generally fucking shite now when they used to be an event but made worse by a complete misunderstanding of social media- so the Boxing Day Sale had lots of HMV's advertising recent chart CDs for £2.99, so I bothered to trek to Southampton (my nearest "proper" HMV- we have a mini one locally but sells fuck all) and literally they had about 20 CDs on sale, mostly Greatest Hits of old artists, mostly about £7, not a single proper bargain, and I went and looked at a couple of the ones I remembered being in the sale (one oddly being Melanie C's last album- I wasn't ever going to buy it, I WASN'T!) and they were well over £10. Just pissed me off entirely I'd wasted the trip and made me give up even looking at the racks for anything.
5. The staff- they remain brain dead, moronic early 20-ers, mostly without a clue about the music they are selling. Hire people with fucking passion. They must be out there- I've ALWAYS wanted to work in a record shop. I can't be the only one!
6. Abandonment of some pretty good ideas- so the record companies were all for helping HMV as they wanted to keep an outlet on the high street. Hence the introduction of the "Target Exclusive" style deals they had with albums with extra tracks on them (for example- Janet Jackson's last album). Has this suddenly stopped? I certainly haven't noticed any since that initial flurry and surely the record companies would be happy to subsidise this in favour of advertising/ window space/ prominent display etc?

When they were took over, there were talks of really making the place great again and re-establishing it as a proper centre of music. Given that there are quite a few independent stores cropping up and doing very nicely locally, there HAS to be the market there. It pains me that I've really tried shopping in HMV in an attempt to help it on its way but in a world where Amazon deliver to me the next day and faced with the shit above, I just can't be fucked anymore...
 
The vinyl selection is awful. They should be focusing on that right now, not relegating the heteronormative selection to the back of the store. Vinyl is something I am actively seeking and HMV is not somewhere I seek it.

And yes too many DVDs. Not so long ago I had a chat with one of their staff. Didn't know what Spotify was.
 
I must walk past HMV at least 5 times a week. I go in less than once a month. In years gone by, I wouldn't have been able to resist it. I don't even use it to browse and buy elsewhere any more. I think my spotify subscription was the game changer there.
 
I still love browsing vinyl. Stumbling over Ride on Time yesterday was a sheer joy. I cannot be the only one. If I want a new one I'll probably order online as HMV are so expensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom