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RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

JJB Sports is next on the chopping board
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19697949

Awful shops - rival Sports Direct's are no better.

I notice that a previous casualty, Past Times, has been reborn as an online retailer, peddling its stuff around Facebook.
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Ron

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Ian Robinson · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:57 pm Post subject:

ColinB · Guest

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

JJB Sports rival Sports Direct have agreed to buy 20 stores, but there will be a loss of 2,000 jobs.

ColinB · Guest

Yes Mark, it said so on the radio this morning.

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Manganese Bronze who makes Black Cabs have gone into administration. They only sold 1000 cabs last year and some models had to be returned for recall. 15 Year old age limit restriction on black cabs was given to Taxi firms by the Mayor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/22/london-black-cab-manganese-bronze-administration

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Comet one of the largest electrical retailer is on the edge of Administration. The retailer has more than 6,000 workers and over 200 hundred shops.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/nov/01/comet-electrical-goods-jobs-risk

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Not good news for all those employees, but hardly surprising.
Comet has struggled for years - it has always run a distant second to Currys/Dixons/PC World competing for the same market.

Dreams the bed retailer is also on the endangered list, in talks with RBS about refinancing £32m of debt. Its CE has just stepped down - he's the chap who was CE of Woolies and before that Focus DIY. Shop workers everywhere biting their nails to see where he goes next - there's a vacancy at WH Smith Laughing

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Ron

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

It's these big Supermarkets and Amazon etc which are killing off electrical retailers. You can't continue when your struggling with debts paying staff, over heads and trying to flog the stock off the shelves when the suppliers want their money.

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19291 Location: Cheshire

The recession as well Mark, you don't replace things as often as you used to.

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Even the recession hit coach companies. Bowen Travel Group went bust last week. They had to lay off nearly 400 staff. The group is made up of Bowen Travel Limited, LF Bowen Limited - trading under Bowens, Applebys, and Yorks & Jeffs Coaches Limited, York (Bros) Northampton Limited, Bowen Travel Transport Limited and Woottens Luxury Travel Limited.

So it just doesn't hit the retailers.

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

The problem with most of the big chainstores is they cannot even compete with their own websites on price or delivery, let alone other retailers. There needs to be a good reason to go into a shop: service, advice, after-sales service etc but in Comet, like Currys and other big chains, when you ask a question about a product- what does this do? A Saturday worker with no experience or knowledge of the product just reads out the bullet-points on the box...... Doh! I can read, I want to know what it all means! On the interweb you can find out most things and read reviews before making a choice.

Bathstore is a good example.... We needed three complete bathroom suites and two shower enclosures, taps, wastes and valves etc, ( about £8,000 worth of stuff in the Bath Sore Catalogue) I popped into our local store to discuss a discount for buying such a large amount from them.... the best they could do was to match their website price but I would have to pay for delivery which is £35 in store but free on the web. I said to the chap, how is charging £35 for delivery matching your free delivery website price and why would I pay for delivery here when I can go home and order this stuff and get free delivery? He said.. ah yes but we'll arrange it all for you free. No it will cost me £35, I said, and anyway, I have a list- how hard can it be, and will it be the same delivery people? Yes it will be the same people. And so I ordered it on the interweb - found an on-line only 25% off voucher from one of those voucher code websites and bingo, got the whole lot for £6000 with free delivery. The same stuff from the same company, delivered by the same people and saved £2035 because of the internet. That is why big stores are failing.

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Of course the expansion of internet shopping is not necessarily bad for all traditional businesses

I gather that most of the major courier companies simply can't recruit enough staff to deal with the vastly increased volumes of business created by internet shopping Smile

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Are you ready for a Ruddles?

SantaFefan · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:41 pm Post subject:

Well I hate the whole thing.. and I'm soooo glad I experienced the age of buying things from shops - big or small.
When I want something, I want to see it, pick it up, shake it or plug it in before I buy it.
I find it so depressing to squint at a tiny picture of a product on line or trying to read the micro print in an Argos catalogue... it's rubbish.
Of course sometimes, the sad and unfair thing about online shopping is that people can call in to the brightly lit stores to browse, touch and compare the items then nip home and order the thing online from some faceless warehouse! that's really fair on the store isn't it?
We deserve all we get sometimes.. and this will mean there'll be hardly any stores left soon, just empty retail units.. heck we're two thirds the way there now!
Light fittings are always a sore point for me.. once we had three good lighting shops on our high street selling a heck of an array of fittings. There all gone, thanks to B&Q, Homebase etc... initially carrying a reasonable stock but now? utter garbage items and maybe one or two of the same in stock - if you're lucky. Now, we've even lost our Homebase, so our wonderful "choice" is from B&Q!
But the thought of buying light fittings online from a tiny picture?? no thanks!
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Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio! Very Happy

13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be.

Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

SantaFefan · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:18 pm Post subject:

I think I heard Comet was founded in the 1930s as an electrical item supplier, which surprised me! But I'm sure I remember our first Comet high street "shop" opened in our town in the 70s.. I don't recall a warehouse with a hatch, but maybe it was different area to area.

I suppose it's a case of, are people prepared to pay a little ( hopefully ) more to purchase the item from a store in their town for convenience and of course, supporting their local economy. I would be happy to do so and, being in business myself, I fully appreciate that rents, staff and services don't come cheap.
Our town centre is a sad old sight now and the thought of deserted retail parks depresses me no end.. and of course it has a knock on effect on everything else.

I liked the days when cameras came from photographic shops and records came from music shops etc.. and usually they specialised in what they sold and knew all the answers.. ( all obvious ramblings really but you know what I'm saying ) The choice wasn't so great but did it, or does it really matter? I'm just glad I can remember those days.

As I mentioned before, I hate the idea of buying a radio for example, over the net without seeing it for real, turning the switches etc.. Plus of course the hassle of sending it back if not "delighted" Laughing

Mrs SFF does this all the time, buys shoes and stuff over the net only to send it back again because it doesn't fit.. Rolling Eyes

I'm not a family man but I'd have thought a shopping trip with the kids was nice too?
When I think, my old mum "wouldn't go up the town" unless she was wearing her long white gloves.. Laughing

will we be getting dressed up to "point and click" in the future? Wink

Tesco and Asda have a lot to answer for...
_________________
Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio! Very Happy

13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be.

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Comet website is still down at present as Deloitte bought them into administration a week early. They have there work cut out again. Maplin or Dixons could be interested it'll still mean shops and staff will go. If it does go then it will be a big high profile loss since since Woolworths.

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

It's interesting what you say Santa and fundamentally I agree

I was quite convinced that Comet began around 1965 because I remember my uncle buying a portable radio from their premises in St Helens which were as you say very basic and although I was only ten at the time I distinctly got the impression that it was a brand new concept

I assume he must have been saying that it was new to the area but to me it seemed like a whole new world of cheap electrical items had opened up

It's sad to see Comet in its current sorry state - but not really surprising Sad

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Are you ready for a Ruddles?

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19291 Location: Cheshire

I can't recall them as a warehouse either. They mustn't have been in the North East.

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

Angela W · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 7180 Location: North Yorkshire

Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

The website for Comet has gone live again with a legal notice. No sale as yet. The firesale was little misleading I think. My local comet store hasn't got one yet and still selling at normal prices. The shops were full, but people only going along for the bargain which isn't happening yet. I saw the staff taking the Vacuums off the shelves to the back store room and some empty shelves too. I hearing people are getting upset as they can't use Vouchers. I don't blame them as it's legal tender.

PC World and Currys merged recently, but I can't see Comet lasting..

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19291 Location: Cheshire

PC World (Dixon's) and Currys have been one for yonks Mark.

I can't see the point of gift cards to be honest. I'd rather send a cheque or if seeing the person a card with cash inside.

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Ian Robinson · Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:07 pm Post subject:

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Yes, perhaps those 25 original "warehouses", opened in the late 1960s, of which Jarrow and Stockton would have been nearest to you, were of the office-with-a-hatch type.

Currys has always operated from high street shops - I remember dad buying a Westminster radiogram from them. (For some obscure reason our Philips tape recorder he got from the Singer sewing machine shop)

I imagine the Comet Newspaper price list was similar to the ones used in the early days by places like Maplins and Wickes. They could be coming back into fashion - Wetherspoon's pubs food and cocktails menu is currently an A2 size card in retro black and white print, no photos or pictures.

There are rumblings and suspicions that the investors and "consultants" in the complex chain of companies and funds behind Comet will come out of the failure in profit
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9654595/Investors-behind-Comet-sitting-on-50m-cash-pile.html
although the only winners are usually the accountants.
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Ron

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19291 Location: Cheshire

Killingworth only appeared on the map after 1970 when the got a Woolco, I remember going as there was nothing like it around there. I certainly don't remember a Comet. I very much doubt you would have gone as far as Stocton Rachel from NE Northumberland. I know we wouldn't have gone from Newcastle. Jarrow maybe.

I remember going to and MFI on the outskirts of Sunderland, Pallion, in the late 70s to by a desk for my O/H. That was a weird place!

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Yes I remember the original newspaper style price lists Rach

It was quite a revolutionary thing in those days when flyers were relatively rare and certainly newspapers didn't carry pull out middle advertising sections or assorted junk leaflets which we are used to today

From what I remember of our local depot which I think was in Haydock fairly near to the race course there were a couple of blokes sat behind a small counter and to me as a child it never seemed all that busy there even despite rock bottom prices but there again we're talking about a time when landline phones were by no means universal in every home and less than one in two families had a car - makes me sound positively prehistoric doesn't it - but we're only talking around 1965 Smile

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mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

It looks very bleak for HMV as they say " It's in talks with banks as they will not be able to meet its commitments"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20708295

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Very sad for a company which opened its first shop in London in 1921 with my favourite composer Sir Edward Elgar as guest celebrity - yes apparently they even had them in those days Smile

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R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

HMV always seems to bring out bad news at a bad time of year - just when it should be making the most of selling through the Christmas period.

Apart from the new releases and top forty albums, CDs have been pretty much relegated to the back of the store. The attraction we old codgers had of browsing through stacks of record sleeves and CD boxes is much diminished, and anyone not content to buy their music online is more likely to do it at their local Tesco, where it is cheaper.

Most of the space instore is taken up by DVDs, including Blu Ray, of which you could say similar, of course - my son has stopped buying them and has thrown out (given away to charity shops) a huge boxful, as he can now view films and tv series on his set via the net through things like Netflix and iPlayer at a fraction of the cost of the tangible article.

They do have a brightly lit section devoted to hardware, including the ubiquitous ipods, but there again they have never been able to compete on price.

Going in today, the place was busy enough, but not as much as in previous years (although you could say that about all the city's stores). There is plenty of stock on the shelves and piled up underneath and in corners - the suppliers have demonstrated their continued support of the chain as a sort of "last man standing" for sales of entertainment product on the high street, by putting in £40million worth of stock on a "sale or retun" basis, rather than requiring payment pdq.

The Telegraph comment - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/damianreece/9742107/Why-HMV-is-a-dodo-company.html - probably has it right, and it's hard to imagine that HMV, in its current form, will be around this time next year.
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Ron

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

The Tax payer has to foot the bill for the collapse of Comet. Another retailer gone down the drain as big as Woolworths. That brand just stayed with only online shopping.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20754466

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

Ultimately the taxpayer pays for everything. That's what life is, a series of taxes followed by a lonely death. The stuff we do inbetween is just to take our mind off it. Smile