Many many businesses DEAD (4 Viewers)

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My parents (mid to late 60s) still buy physical CDs and never buy online, but with my mum, it's usually up to me to find it for her online instead. When it comes to her door through the post within a few days she brags to her friends about how clever I am :manson:
 
Vinyl fetishism can only go so far tho' - I'm sat listening to a box set I bought last year by Richard Kirk. 8 CDs, some of them pretty much full. On vinyl, it would be - at an estimate - 12 LPs. The cost of that would be huge. The set as is was £30 including postage and signed by Mr Kirk. And yet, lots of griping about the lack of vinyl. CDs are ace for certain things, compendiums and box sets being the main one.
 
The prices of some vinyl box sets are hilarious. Take for example this £350 George Harrison box or this $475 USD Weird Al Yankovic box that comes in an accordion (I can't even afford the CD version of that one)

If I wanted either of those, each would cost me over $600 with shipping. There must be people out there buying, though - middle aged men with seemingly infinite money and a vinyl fetish might just be keeping the industry alive
 
Hold on, there's a Weird Al boxset!?

*sells kidney*
 
Thankfully NOT!

(I have no idea). It seems weird that the demise of Habitat has ended up in a discussion about Weird Al.
 
I almost tagged Ellie when I saw Weird Al- I knew she'd be the only one who cared :D
 
Tetris-Rock said:
They had a copy of SPICE on vinyl in Urban Outfitters recently. I don't even have a record player but I ALMOST indulged.
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Oh it's way more expensive in urban outfitters than it was in HMV when I bought it or Amazon

lolly said:
For people who are buying vinyl, are you buying new releases? For some reason I always compare it to when people first got CD players, and a lot of money was spent with 'upgrading' albums people already had. I know new releases are being released on the format though, so obviously some people are. It's not just vinyl anniversary releases or releases of albums not previously released on the format.
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I buy both but new releases aren't always stocked in places like HMV. Certainly not the type of music I'd buy anyway.

I agree though that there is a disconnect between what's being listened to on Spotify and what's selling on vinyl. Looking at the vinyl best selers last year struck me that there wasn't really a whole lot of music in there that I'd necessarily associate with 2016. You could probably say the same about the album chart in general though.
 
The flagship Oxford St branch is to CLOSE.

O/T I'm glad that Habitat still exists cos I got a stunz pair of bedside lamps from them.
 
Do Habitat only exist online now, or do they have any stores left?

The lovely old shop here has now been commandeered by the University Of Bristol as reading rooms or something :evil:
 
lolly said:
Do Habitat only exist online now, or do they have any stores left?

The lovely old shop here has now been commandeered by the University Of Bristol as reading rooms or something :evil:
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There's a few London stores and I think a few mini concessions were in Homebase (the glamour!) but yes, mainly online.
 
I went to the flagship Tottenham Court Road branch a few weeks ago as I was sofa shopping for my mum's new flat and needed something compact. We ended up walking out right away because the ones we'd seen online were ugly and uncomfortable compared to the photos. Made.com was another option but the staff were unhelpful and rude, and what they had on display wasn't quite as expected.

Heals was the absolute worst of the lot. Overpriced and almost exclusively styled for some 80s city bachelor pad.

Ended up in DFS of all places and found the perfect one for her. I never would have thought to go there just because they're so ubiquitous on TV and those adverts show the same ugly sofas years after year, but they actually have a much broader selection.
 
I noticed a week or two ago that our branch of French Connection (or Trench Infection as we used to 'hilariously' refer to it) has closed. I think they still have a concession in House of Fraser, though.

Today I've read Sports Direct have bought a large share in the company.
 
Mary Portas and entourage have just left Heals/Habitat on TCR.

Maybe she's planning to return Habitat to its rightful place in every city.
 
There a shop called Habitat which used to be nationwide but now has a store on Tottenham Court Road in London, England. It is next to another famous shop called Heals.

Mary Portas is a celesbian who specialises in turning around failing retail businesses.
 
I used to work in the Heal's Manchester store when I first moved to Manchester.

The management team there were so unbelievably above their station, truly believing they'd MADE IT because they were working in an upmarket designer shop.

When a woman from Head Office came and held a meeting to inform us the store would be closing because 'there is NO money in Manchester, it's all women in tracksuits pushing prams around the Trafford Centre' (her genuine words) the management team jumped ship to Habitat thinking they'd saved themselves form unemployment.

Only for the Habitat store to be closed down six months later.
 
VoR said:
Toys 'R' Us files for bankruptcy.

Poor Geoffrey :(
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Overjoyed at this news. Hated them since they sacked a friend of mine who was a Manager there many years ago for stealing after he'd rewarded his staff who had worked LITERALLY AN 18 HOUR SUNDAY at Christmas to make sure the shelves were stocked in the right way after giving them 24 hours notice they had to do so with a fucking MARS BAR which he then even TOLD the company he'd done.

FUCK GEOFFREY, you rancid old CUNT.
 
I've never even seen a Toys R Us anywhere. We have a Smyths toy store which is amazing, but Toys R Us was always like a fictional place I saw on TV.
 
Sheena said:
Overjoyed at this news. Hated them since they sacked a friend of mine who was a Manager there many years ago for stealing after he'd rewarded his staff who had worked LITERALLY AN 18 HOUR SUNDAY at Christmas to make sure the shelves were stocked in the right way after giving them 24 hours notice they had to do so with a fucking MARS BAR which he then even TOLD the company he'd done.

FUCK GEOFFREY, you rancid old CUNT.
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Your friend was sacked for 'stealing' Mars Bars from Toys R Us? How does that even work?
 
VoR said:
Your friend was sacked for 'stealing' Mars Bars from Toys R Us? How does that even work?
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Because he didn't pay for them off the shelf. 8 years of working there for not much reward and he decides to take a box of Mars Bars off the shelf and give one to each staff member in thanks after a bloody hard day. They even made him pay them back for them otherwise they threatened prosecution- as if losing his job wasn't enough.

Thing is, the guy is absolutely the most honest person you will ever meet in your life. He was devastated. Nearly 20 years on and it still gets to him :D
 
Ellie said:
I've never even seen a Toys R Us anywhere. We have a Smyths toy store which is amazing, but Toys R Us was always like a fictional place I saw on TV.
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I know of two here. Both in out of town retail parks.

I've been in them a few times over the years, but they always seemed overpriced whenever I was looking for anything, usually Lego. Everything always seemed to be cheaper in The Entertainer, Argos or on amazon.
 
I only ever go if I take my godchildren out, inevitably letting them go in to pick one thing, getting carried away and then getting glares from their Mother when I walk in and they have £200 of shite in their arms. I always try to make the presents as messy and ridiculous as possible, NATURALLY :disco:
 
This is all very well but there'll be no immediate impact on UK stores. Let's BURN THEM DOWN*

*Although not before we've stolen the Beanie Babies :disco:
 
Apparently they've 'RECENTLY' launched a web store. What dumb fuck was running the business to not think that was a good idea TEN years ago. I admit as a child a lunch at pizza hut followed by a trip to Toys R Us was always a treat, but that was in the halycon days on the 90s in suburban Yorkshire, I'm sure if I was a child nowadays I'd be much more enthralled by online pornography and legal highs.
 
Why close a Toys R us down?? I mean I get that kids nowadays all they want is either an Ipad or an iPhone but where else will you find a GREAT variety of bicycles, dolls and sporty toys like baseball bats or basketball hoops? :(
 
I went into Smyths the other week and I thought it was REALLY nice - literally packed floor to ceiling, like something out of Toy Story. It looked to me like I would expect a proper toy superstore to look like - and I thought the prices were quite reasonable.

Toys R Us is too much bikes and pushchairs these days. Well, that and the fact that it's staffed by people that are completely DISINTERESTED and it generally feels like a place that hasn't had much INPUT over the last decade.

That said, it's a step above The Entertainer, which seems to specialise in stocking all the crappy toys that no-one wants.
 
Slave said:
I went into Smyths the other week and I thought it was REALLY nice - literally packed floor to ceiling, like something out of Toy Story. It looked to me like I would expect a proper toy superstore to look like - and I thought the prices were quite reasonable.
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Smyths is great, like a dreamland. I had to go in to pick up the classic Pop Up Pirate for someone as it was cheaper there than anywhere else online. I spent an extra 20 mins just walking around, especially at the aisle of board games.
 
I've no idea where our nearest Smyths is. But I like their catalogue.
 
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