Whats the score with MVC?

[Robot Chicken]

MVC is one of the few places that allows you to listen before you buy. You can't do that in many places

 

[Richard Whiteley]

I'll get onto that tomorrow morning!

Seriously. I find it really sad.

Obviously the use of the internet illegal downloads and play.com/amazon etc have had an impact on shop sales, then places like iTunes/Napster, then of course Tesco/Asda selling really cheap takes the chunk of people who still buy in stores.

We've lost Unwins recently, now MVC. Soon we'll just have one big-jumbo store for everything and no individual shops left.

MVC and individual shop? what ARE you on about?

 

[Les Biehn]

Fopp!

Woo Woo

 

[Jello]

MVC is one of the few places that allows you to listen before you buy. You can't do that in many places

You could also buy a CD take it home accidently copy it and they'd let you swap it for another claiming you didn't like it

 

[Starry]

MVC and individual shop? what ARE you on about?

Individual (not independant) shops. You know like MVC that just sold music/games/DVD's, like Unwins that just sold alcohol, like Boots that just sells toileteries/cosmetics, like Ottakers that just sells books, like ELC that just sells kids toys etc. The way things are going they will all be wiped out and we'll have a Jumbo Store that sells everything, like was said above we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.


Gwylan - I didn't realise there had been such surveys. I know that I have d/l albums from iTunes for like £7.99 which is cheaper than in a shop and if I didn't have iTunes I would have spent more and bought the actual CD in a shop. I just assumed that was the same all over.

I try not to buy everything in one supermarket. I buy all my meat from a butchers, our fruit and veg comes from an independant green grocers. I just go to Sainsburys for the rest. It's sad that by the time my kids grow up there'll probably be a Jumbo Sainsburys or Asda or Tesco with everything and you'll have no choice but to go there.

 

[southstandandy]

I'm not surprised - you had to spend £100 to get the equivalent of £2.50 off a future purchase, when if you bought 1 DVD on-line from somewhere like Play.com or CD-Wow you'd save at least that instantly. It's sad to see shops go under, but it's hard not to buy on-line when you can save £3-£5 on every DVD and a similar amount on most CD's.

 

[brighton rock]

I'm not surprised - you had to spend £100 to get the equivalent of £2.50 off a future purchase, when if you bought 1 DVD on-line from somewhere like Play.com or CD-Wow you'd save at least that instantly. It's sad to see shops go under, but it's hard not to buy on-line when you can save £3-£5 on every DVD and a similar amount on most CD's.

spot on

 

[Bluejuice]

What's really worrying is the lack of competition we have left on the high streets. It is only a matter of time before Virgin buys HMV or vice versa, or one simply goes bust, because there isn't room for the both of them anymore.

Likewise with the Unwins situation. Unwins was the only high street offy left that wasn't part of the Thresher group. Now they're gone you have no choice but to buy your booze from Thresher/First Quench if you're not buying from the supermarket.

This is a monopoly and it's all too common on Britain's high streets today

 

[Mr Burns]

I'll get onto that tomorrow morning!

Seriously. I find it really sad.

Obviously the use of the internet illegal downloads and play.com/amazon etc have had an impact on shop sales, then places like iTunes/Napster, then of course Tesco/Asda selling really cheap takes the chunk of people who still buy in stores.

We've lost Unwins recently, now MVC. Soon we'll just have one big-jumbo store for everything and no individual shops left.

But I think you'll find in MVC's case it was total and utter mis-management that f***ed them in the end.

 

[Collar Feeler]

Deffo go for the take a CD and hand over the £10 voucher then walk out.

Can't be classed as theft as you have made payment in good faith using a valid voucher and have no intention to steal the item. If they are still trading an selling then they cant possibly question it. If they choose to contest the validity of the payment then it would be a civil matter for them to pursue through the courts. If they were stupid enough to call the police then I suggest you wait for the police to attend and then hand over your name and address to the store and tell them to pursue it as a civil matter. Chances of them doing so are nought to zero.

Trust me I'm a copper! I would tell them to poke it and treat as a civil dispute if i was called to attend the job.

 

[Jello]

Deffo go for the take a CD and hand over the £10 voucher then walk out.

Can't be classed as theft as you have made payment in good faith using a valid voucher and have no intention to steal the item. If they are still trading an selling then they cant possibly question it. If they choose to contest the validity of the payment then it would be a civil matter for them to pursue through the courts. If they were stupid enough to call the police then I suggest you wait for the police to attend and then hand over your name and address to the store and tell them to pursue it as a civil matter. Chances of them doing so are nought to zero.

Trust me I'm a copper! I would tell them to poke it and treat as a civil dispute if i was called to attend the job.

Sounds like a load of hassle for the sake of a tenner. I'm sure when Unwins went bust the other day they closed the shops that day.

 

[Robot Chicken]

Sounds like a load of hassle for the sake of a tenner.

Sod the fact it's only a tenner, you're standing up for EVERYONE who has a voucher, surely? You're not doing anything wrong...in fact, if you are prevented from using the voucher then THEY have stolen money from you. That voucher DID cost £10 after all so they have the money for it.

Go for it, let them call the police. Trust XooX, he's a copper!

 

[Gwylan]

Gwylan - I didn't realise there had been such surveys. I know that I have d/l albums from iTunes for like £7.99 which is cheaper than in a shop and if I didn't have iTunes I would have spent more and bought the actual CD in a shop. I just assumed that was the same all over.

I try not to buy everything in one supermarket. I buy all my meat from a butchers, our fruit and veg comes from an independant green grocers. I just go to Sainsburys for the rest. It's sad that by the time my kids grow up there'll probably be a Jumbo Sainsburys or Asda or Tesco with everything and you'll have no choice but to go there.

What the surveys found is that people who used to download for free would often go on to buy a CD if they liked the track.

What they also found is that people had a set amount to spend on music and would spend that - the downloads would be on top of what they spent, not replacing it. These days, that money is being spent on a mixture of online and CDs - which is why Apple has just posted record figures for iTunes.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1db3e1ee-7706-11da-a7d1-0000779e2340.htm

I find this equally worrying though. The iTunes store is pretty limited in what it offers - great for chart stuff, not much good for anything else. What worries me is that with the decline of the independent music store and with iTunes and Asda/Tesco selling the same stuff, there will be an even greater dominance of pap in the future.

 

[dougdeep]

I buy most of my CD's from charity shops at £1 a go. The rest are usually presents at Christmas or birthday. As you get older you don't need to keep up with the latest albums, and I would rather buy CD's that I know I will like.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Bit in today's Argus saying MVC will now honour the vouchers - here's the edited important bits:

"Fury as music store refuses own vouchers
by Karen Hoy

SHOPPERS were left furious when their Christmas gift vouchers were refused in music and video shop MVC which has gone into administration.

The national chain called in administrator Kroll in the middle of one of the toughest festive trading seasons on record.

Kroll said MVC, which has branches in Brighton, Hove, Eastbourne, Hastings, Worthing, Horsham and Chichester, had suffered from "changing market dynamics".

It said shoppers were using more competitive outlets such as the internet and supermarkets to buy DVDs and CDs.

MVC staff were told not to accept gift vouchers and customers trying to return gifts also had problems.

[customer] contacted the administrators to complain.

A Kroll spokeswoman said gift vouchers were now being accepted by MVC after the policy was "revised".

She said: "Before Christmas they were not being accepted but that has now been changed and they should be taken.

"Any store that is still not doing that has got it wrong."

 

[Simster]

What's really worrying is the lack of competition we have left on the high streets. It is only a matter of time before Virgin buys HMV or vice versa, or one simply goes bust, because there isn't room for the both of them anymore.

Likewise with the Unwins situation. Unwins was the only high street offy left that wasn't part of the Thresher group. Now they're gone you have no choice but to buy your booze from Thresher/First Quench if you're not buying from the supermarket.

This is a monopoly and it's all too common on Britain's high streets today

Unwins are going because they've been bought by some asset stripping shysters, who are more interested in making money out of the profitable bits of the organisation than they are about turnig round the loss making parts of the group like Unwins.

 

[Kenhead]

Bloody hell i'm well shocked by this news, i haven't been up to mvc in ages but normally pop in to have a look when i'm around the seagull shop area. I use to like it in there and i managed to get about £5 on my more card to redeem! I managed to get some dvds in there once for £2 and £3 stuff like some thing about mary which is worth getting for £2.99! I will sorley miss that shop as its not as normally as paked as hmv and virgin, but i suppose thats the reason they went bust not enough people in there!

 

[Storer68]

MVC in administration

23/Dec/2005



Entertainment specialist MVC has gone into administration just days after Music Zone acquired 40 of its stores, blaming increased competitions from online operations and supermarkets.



The troubled retailer has filed for bankruptcy and called in administrator Kroll, as yet no job losses have been reported among the retailer’s 700 permanent staff and MVC will continue to trade over the Christmas period.

The news comes just four months after Woolworths sold MVC’s full 73-store portfolio to the Argyll Partners investment consortium for £5.5 million.

Music Zone was the subject of an mbo back in April when managing director
Steve Oliver took control of the business from founder Russ Grainger

 

[Safeway]

Nothing out of the ordinary as a music store, but their staff are/were always very knowledgeable.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

What the surveys found is that people who used to download for free would often go on to buy a CD if they liked the track.

Where I used to work, there were a number of us who would share new music around. Although what we were doing would be 'wrong' it actually meant that I got exposed to more music and actually bought more CD's than I would have done ordinarily as it takes away some of the risk of buying CD's by little known/heard artists.