Companies going bankrupt/into administration

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 07 Nov 2012, 11:52

The locally owned bakery in Newcastle Emlyn closed recently, and a new one opened in the same shop within a few weeks. They sell bread!

A friend who has run a fair trade shop for a couple of years, recently started shop sharing with a complimentary business, so they both save costs, and share the staffing.

So far, nothing is happening on the two supermarket sites with planning permission. I hope it stays that way, as the local shops are struggling.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 07 Nov 2012, 16:44

JohnB wrote:The locally owned bakery in Newcastle Emlyn closed recently, and a new one opened in the same shop within a few weeks. They sell bread!

Exactly the same thing just happened in Cardigan. The bakery shut and a For Sale sign went up for a few weeks, then it opened up again under the same name with the same people.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 09 Nov 2012, 20:37

emordnilap wrote:
JavaScriptDonkey wrote:So what items have you recently researched and bought ethically rather than visit a big box store?
Quite a lot! In the last few months:

I buy Miele as well for very similar reasons although I couldn't care if they also make bullets. It's also very well made and quiet.

I've never seen a scythe, organic cotton or second hand books for sale in a big box store (*) though so maybe those decisions weren't so much motivated by ethics as necessity.

Does Oxfam count as a big box store for second hand books

(*not that I've looked for them)

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 11 Nov 2012, 14:52

JavaScriptDonkey wrote:I've never seen a scythe, organic cotton or second hand books for sale in a big box store (*) though so maybe those decisions weren't so much motivated by ethics as necessity.

Not really. Those are the sorts of things we want, out of ethical choice as much as other reasons: powered strimmers (giving repeat money to bullet-makers or whatever) or enjoying a constructive bit of exercise; handing money to, I dunno, whoever jumps on the organic cotton bandwagon for entirely the wrong reasons and undercuts the nice guys or getting to know the nice guys.

As for second-hand books, not sure about necessity, simply hang on a short while and you'll get your latest blockbuster from biblio.co.uk or newsfromnowhere.org, more nice guys.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 Jan 2013, 18:35

Jessops seems to be the latest victim:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20992125

High Street camera retailer Jessops is to shut all of its stores, resulting in the loss of about 1,370 jobs.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), appointed this week, said all 187 stores in the UK would shut at the end of trading on Friday

Totally_Baffled · Post by **Totally_Baffled** » 11 Jan 2013, 19:02

HMV will be next.....SP of 1.3p (was over 3 quid in 2005)

Of course some of these firms are victims of online trading rather than the economy.

extractorfan · Post by **extractorfan** » 11 Jan 2013, 21:11

Totally_Baffled wrote:HMV will be next.....SP of 1.3p (was over 3 quid in 2005)

Of course some of these firms are victims of online trading rather than the economy.

Imagine doing a [believe its called] put option on that.

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 11 Jan 2013, 21:28

HMV is worth a look these days. Stocked up on Rolling Stones, Wishbone Ash, Rush, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top CDs, all between £3 and £5. Thats more or less giving them away. Might take another look around before it closes.

Is it that my rock music, or the CD itself is unfashionable these days?

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 11 Jan 2013, 21:58

biffvernon wrote:Jessops seems to be the latest victim:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20992125

High Street camera retailer Jessops is to shut all of its stores, resulting in the loss of about 1,370 jobs.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), appointed this week, said all 187 stores in the UK would shut at the end of trading on Friday

They've been struggling for a long time. They didn't have much of a following in the pro or amateur photographer community, and relied on your average Joe who just wanted to take holiday snaps. Of course, camera-phones killed that market stone-dead.

The camera manufacturers don't help high street retailers either. As an aside, I had a depressing experience this morning. I have a small Canon compact camera as an alternative to my SLR, which I always keep with me. It's three years old and stopped working a couple of months ago. I took it into my local (independent) retailer this morning to see if they could fix it or send it away for repairs. Verdict; "It's goosed. You'll need a new camera." I questioned this, and the guy was adamant that a repair would be more than a new one, especially if it needed a major assembly.

He told me that the manufacturers bring out a new model and then do one (and only one) production run. That's it. Then they bring out an upgrade and do one run for that, etc. If you need a spare for an "obsolete" model (read; more than a year old), and they've run out of stock, forget it! "Wonderful use of resources", I thought.

Fortunately the dealer had a second-hand identical model in stock, at less than half price, so I bought it and will keep the old one for spares if the new one breaks down, and try to fix it myself.

It's all about competing for fast turnover and high volume at tight margins. This is the perfect hunting ground for low-overhead internet retailers. It's not surprising Jessops went. In fact I think they'd find it harder to survive than an Independent. At least the Independent doesn't have large head-office overheads, and can afford to be in a cheaper off-high street location, as his customers will seek him out.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 11 Jan 2013, 22:21

Mean Mr Mustard wrote: Is it that my rock music, or the CD itself is unfashionable these days?

The CD.

the_lyniezian · Post by **the_lyniezian** » 11 Jan 2013, 23:29

Tarrel wrote: It's all about competing for fast turnover and high volume at tight margins. This is the perfect hunting ground for low-overhead internet retailers. It's not surprising Jessops went. In fact I think they'd find it harder to survive than an Independent. At least the Independent doesn't have large head-office overheads, and can afford to be in a cheaper off-high street location, as his customers will seek him out.

In the very local sense of my own home town I think this will be true of my local record shop (http://www.sounditoutrecords.co.uk/) than HMV.

Of course they do cater to a different clientele, do retail online (yes I know, so does HMV but...) and had a film made about them. It helps.

(EDIT: and no, I haven't suddenly found a job at said record shop.)

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 12 Jan 2013, 10:24

JavaScriptDonkey wrote:
Mean Mr Mustard wrote: Is it that my rock music, or the CD itself is unfashionable these days?
The CD.

I'm glad about that then, cos Rock n Roll Ain't Never Gonna Die...

CDs seem far more resilient than all this digital malarkey goings on, and I like the tangible quality too. Been thinking now's the ideal time to fill a few gaps of my favourite bands. I also get them from Secondspin.com, and was musing that people were copying their CDs onto iPods then dumping them. Cheaper CDs for me...

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 12 Jan 2013, 11:28

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:
JavaScriptDonkey wrote:
Mean Mr Mustard wrote: Is it that my rock music, or the CD itself is unfashionable these days?
The CD.
I'm glad about that then, cos Rock n Roll Ain't Never Gonna Die...

CDs seem far more resilient than all this digital malarkey goings on, and I like the tangible quality too. Been thinking now's the ideal time to fill a few gaps of my favourite bands. I also get them from Secondspin.com, and was musing that people were copying their CDs onto iPods then dumping them. Cheaper CDs for me...

LPs were even better.

For all of you young'ns out there who don't have much experience of actual real stuff in the real world, think of an LP as a kind of very large, flat, MP3 player that didn't have many songs on it and was better than your life....

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 12 Jan 2013, 13:34

Cheerful Sting said:

I see you sent my letters back
And my LP records
And they're all scratched

I can't see the point in another day
When nobody listens to a word I say

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 12 Jan 2013, 16:40

I think one of the sad things about downloads is that people tend to buy individual tracks, rather than a whole album. I have many albums with tracks that, on first listen, didn't particularly appeal, but they have grown on me over time. An album allows you to experience a wider range of an artist's music, beyond what happens to be popular right now.

I've heard there is a bit of a backlash going on over this, with people getting together, typically on Sunday afternoons, in rooms over pubs to listen to concept albums together. I believe thetrend started in Northern England. The rule is no talking, and everyone listens to the album from beginning to end. A bit like going to a symphony concert I suppose. Sounds like the way we whiled away many a happy evening at Uni.