Companies going bankrupt/into administration

Keela · Post by **Keela** » 30 Dec 2011, 17:00

I think Hawkins Bazaar used to be just mail order. I'll admit I used to order some stuff from them for stocking fillers each Christmas. Whoopie cushions, wooden yo-yos, playing cards and various novelties of old fashioned humour....

They opened up in Belfast recently, and so this year I went up thinking to get a few novelties again. I was very disappointed with the shop..... much more expensive and not quite what I remembered from the catalogue.

Perhaps they tried to go too mainstream too quickly and lost something on the way?

mobbsey · Post by **mobbsey** » 31 Dec 2011, 22:38

According to this article HMV is in the frame too -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011 ... nza-closes

madibe · Post by **madibe** » 01 Jan 2012, 01:51

Happy nude year.

HMV - hardly news unless you have been cast away for a few months

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 01 Jan 2012, 20:32

Well, I didn't know (helps self to another coconut and wonders if that's a ship on the horizon...).

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 01 Jan 2012, 20:37

Anather one bites the dust!

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 01 Jan 2012, 20:56

Eh?

And in other news, here's yet another good reason why you should compost!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 01 Jan 2012, 22:34

or should grow carrots.

mobbsey · Post by **mobbsey** » 02 Jan 2012, 00:39

Presumably the ring is now worth more as it weights 1 carrot extra?

the_lyniezian · Post by **the_lyniezian** » 02 Jan 2012, 01:32

mobbsey wrote:According to this article HMV is in the frame too -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011 ... nza-closes

Quite frankly, good riddance. It's getting hard to find any decent music in our local store, for one thing, and ironically the last independent record store on Teesside at the other end of the town centre will probably outlast it.

(That is probably telling as to how I waste my money, mind... I'd do better spending it on carrot seeds, eh wot?)

SleeperService · Post by **SleeperService** » 02 Jan 2012, 13:29

mobbsey wrote:Presumably the ring is now worth more as it weights 1 carrot extra?

That has made my day. Thanks for the laugh.

I really believe that the first quarter of the year will see quite a lot of retail businesses folding. Once the Social Security bill starts rising then it'll get interesting really quickly

madibe · Post by **madibe** » 02 Jan 2012, 14:36

As an aside to HMV... the whole music business is screwed and this sort of puts another nail in the coffin. Just heard on radio 4 that despite an increase in digital downloads and a renewed interest in vinyl, sales are bottoming out.

To some this may be some sort of nirvana (no pun intended) - but the collapse means that no money is there for the artform and quality slides off the edge. What you end up with is more '4 to the floor' repetative loop tracks made by talentless people in their bedrooms.

Without quality producers, engineers and musicians who are given room to experiment we will never hear the likes. ... there's some brilliant talent out there now... it is a shame that all we will get are the 'commercial' formulated tidbits rather than the depth that is only possible with a large budget and no pressure to 'produce'.

All you older gits like me will know what I'm on about.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 02 Jan 2012, 18:05

erm Tattercoats' band?
Blackbeard's Tea Party?
Sieze(sp?) the Day?
Fox North Coalition?

A very silly song by someone I've never heard of?

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 02 Jan 2012, 20:57

maudibe wrote: All you older gits like me will know what I'm on about.

On the other hand I'd argue that the music industry was little more than a distribution network for the product of the musician's talent. Weren't producers and engineers usually paid by the bands who also paid for all the studio time? The record companies took a large cut off the top leaving little for the talent.

But that was when they controlled the physical production and distribution of the disks. Now that bands themselves can control that who actually needs record companies?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 02 Jan 2012, 21:29

Hypothesis: more people are playing more music in Britain than ever before.

(And I mean playing a real instrument, not the gramophone etc..)

Post by **clv101** » 02 Jan 2012, 21:36

JavaScriptDonkey wrote:
maudibe wrote: All you older gits like me will know what I'm on about.
On the other hand I'd argue that the music industry was little more than a distribution network for the product of the musician's talent. Weren't producers and engineers usually paid by the bands who also paid for all the studio time? The record companies took a large cut off the top leaving little for the talent.

But that was when they controlled the physical production and distribution of the disks. Now that bands themselves can control that who actually needs record companies?

Indeed. Good bands can still make good money by playing live gigs - certainly enough money to hire all the producers and engineers they need and for money not to limit the artistic content. Now that the distribution channel is basically free, what are record companies for?