Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[jfollows]

It was only a few years ago that HMV reacquired their flagship store on Oxford Street, after selling it off around the start of the Pandemic. It's not quite the same experience as in the past, but I much prefer it being back as an HMV in some form over the 'souvenir shop' that was in the premises in the intervening years.

HMV is closing the Oxford Street store, complaining about high cost of renting it plus the cost of ”renovations” if it stays.
Closing next March, after reopening in November 2023.

 

[styles]

HMV is closing the Oxford Street store, complaining about high cost of renting it plus the cost of ”renovations” if it stays.
Closing next March, after reopening in November 2023.

Seemed a bit of a bold move when they reopened I thought. I do think music stores could work if they focussed on the experience, but I went into an HMV not that long ago and it was a bit meh. Decorated mainly with some amateur-looking spray paint, mainly selling merch I can probably find online for much cheaper.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

HMV is closing the Oxford Street store, complaining about high cost of renting it plus the cost of ”renovations” if it stays.
Closing next March, after reopening in November 2023.

Are commercial property landlords likely to "shoot themselves in the foot" if they continue to overly increase store rents?

 

[jfollows]

Seemed a bit of a bold move when they reopened I thought. I do think music stores could work if they focussed on the experience, but I went into an HMV not that long ago and it was a bit meh. Decorated mainly with some amateur-looking spray paint, mainly selling merch I can probably find online for much cheaper.

Yes, long ago the HMV Oxford Street store was the only reason I ventured into the retail hell that Oxford Street was and presumably still is, especially because I wanted to go downstairs and there was a convenient side entrance avoiding the main store. But I guess I’m as responsible as anyone else nowadays by buying all my music online, perhaps in response to an interesting review in Gramophone, rather than having to wait until I could visit HMV in person.

 

[styles]

Yes, long ago the HMV Oxford Street store was the only reason I ventured into the retail hell that Oxford Street was and presumably still is

To answer just this bit - yes, it's still horrendous. It used to be on my cycling commute, and sometimes I'd intentionally make my commute longer by doglegging onto parallel roads. Cycling it was bad enough with people wandering into the road with their eyes glued to their phones, let alone trying to walk the length of it with people randomly stopping in front of you or exiting shops without looking where they're going.

It may improve with the pedestrianisation which has a phased implementation starting in about a fortnight's time. That may also in turn make it a more or less attractive retail proposition, I guess we'll have to wait and see. If it could be anything other than American candy stores and tat/luggage shops, that would be grand. There's some decent shops on there still, but it feels very hodge podge these days.

 

[jfollows]

It was ever thus, indeed. 1983-84 was when I cycled around London, primarily to Imperial College from Earlsfield, but I certainly remember avoiding Oxford Street if I went anywhere else, eg to Euston.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The Weston Family also own Associated British Foods who own Primark and they previosuly owned Selfridges, I think they are an OK owner, its not a pump and dump private equity firm.

I think it’s the other side of the Weston family who own Primark.

As much to the point, since Boots was bought out by Stefano Pessina, it has had a reputation for suffering from under-investment from the owners. The basic operation is strong, and with the demise of Lloyds Chemists, it has limited competition on the high street for at least the pharmacy side of the business.

The community pharmacy side of the business doesn’t generate huge revenues, hence why the local community shops have been left to get increasingly dated. The big city centre shops have had some investment in recent years and they are where the revenue is.

I would expect Boots to be ok as the higher-margin items they sell on the high street (perfumes and cosmetics) aren’t so easily bought online.

 

[Andyh82]

I think it’s the other side of the Weston family who own Primark.


The community pharmacy side of the business doesn’t generate huge revenues, hence why the local community shops have been left to get increasingly dated. The big city centre shops have had some investment in recent years and they are where the revenue is.

I would expect Boots to be ok as the higher-margin items they sell on the high street (perfumes and cosmetics) aren’t so easily bought online.

Since Debenhams closed down, the high end perfume counters are probably quite a money spinner now. Obviously I can’t imagine people here frequent that part of the store.

I wouldn’t say all Boots stores are scruffy, people do tend to make assumptions. For example the one in Leeds has just had a full refit. Also of note, in Huddersfield the dated shopping arcade has been emptied for demolition. WHSmith decided to close and not bother relocating so they left the town, whereas Boots moved into the main modern shopping centre with a brand new store. That’s a key difference.

 

[jfollows]

I hate Boots because I can never find anything I want in their stores. I can only presume my categorisation of “stuff” they sell does not map onto their in-store signage. When I feel I have to, I end up walking up and down just about every aisle.
I once went for work to their Notingham HQ. I ended up writing them a formal letter explaining why their 3746-900 was working correctly and was designed to run at near 100% CPU/utilisation. An interesting company and place at the time.

 

[jon81uk]

I think it’s the other side of the Weston family who own Primark.

According to Wikipedia, Wittington Investments owns 54% of Associated British Foods (who own Primark), the rest is publicly traded and Wittington also bought Boots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittington_Investments

I wouldn’t say all Boots stores are scruffy, people do tend to make assumptions. For example the one in Leeds has just had a full refit.

I think this is related to the below, many provincial stores do look a bit scruffy and most people only go there for the pharmacy, whereas the big city centre stores where they can make money on costmetics, perfume and high-end beauty have all had refits like you said Leeds has. There is certainly a difference between my local store and most of the central London stores, although the Holborn/Kingsway store is rundown compared to most others.

The community pharmacy side of the business doesn’t generate huge revenues, hence why the local community shops have been left to get increasingly dated. The big city centre shops have had some investment in recent years and they are where the revenue is.

 

[35B]

I think this is related to the below, many provincial stores do look a bit scruffy and most people only go there for the pharmacy, whereas the big city centre stores where they can make money on costmetics, perfume and high-end beauty have all had refits like you said Leeds has. There is certainly a difference between my local store and most of the central London stores, although the Holborn/Kingsway store is rundown compared to most others.

Try the small one on Farringdon Road...

 

[dgl]

There's even now a Boots dedicated to beauty stuff at Cabot Circus in Bristol, makeup and related stuff is bigger business than ever.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Beacon. Now the company selling their 15 x class 18s seems to have given up trying to sell them (Romic ?).

 

[Broucek]

Seemed a bit of a bold move when they reopened I thought. I do think music stores could work if they focussed on the experience, but I went into an HMV not that long ago and it was a bit meh. Decorated mainly with some amateur-looking spray paint, mainly selling merch I can probably find online for much cheaper.

I went into FNAC in Lisbon at the weekend. Excellent shop in many ways but the prices.... EUR21 for a single CD! I don't mind paying a little over the odds for a proper store but despite good stock, I only spent EUR6

 

[Sonic1234]

As for the price of meal deals, I regard a Boots meal deal as a cheap lunch compared to the same size meal at the branch of Pret nearest my office

Pret have launched a meal deal, obviously much more expensive that the supermarket offerings. But for years they were opposed to the concept. Could it be tougher times for Pret?

 

[Harpo]

HMV is closing the Oxford Street store, complaining about high cost of renting it plus the cost of ”renovations” if it stays.
Closing next March, after reopening in November 2023.

The 2023 Oxford Street HMV store is tiny and was a huge disappointment, having a smaller rock and pop music section than most city stores. It’s classic music section was laughable, consisting of a couple of rows of generic compilation tat, not even remotely comparable with the half a floor of the original ‘flagship’.

 

[35B]

The 2023 Oxford Street HMV store is tiny and was a huge disappointment, having a smaller rock and pop music section than most city stores. It’s classic music section was laughable, consisting of a couple of rows of generic compilation tat, not even remotely comparable with the half a floor of the original ‘flagship’.

I spent three months working in the classical department of that flagship after university. God knows how it made any money, because the stock was huge, it needed a chunky staff to run, and even then (late 90s) competition was fierce.