And now Blockbuster « CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

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And now Blockbuster

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Started 12 years ago by chdot
Latest reply from cb

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chdot
Admin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21047652

The 'high street' is certainly changing its size/shape/face.

The Internet/digital is making a big difference. On-line shops are selling things cheaper than 'real' shops. Fewer people have been buying cameras because they have 'good enough' photo taking options on their smartphones.

Seems unlikely that Halfords or Evans will disappear - but nothing can be certain anymore!

Local bike shops will survive on service(s) - fast/competent bike fixing, 'take it home NOW', decent advice etc.

Posted 12 years ago #
crowriver
Member

A bit sad, but not surprising. Personally I've not been into Jessops, HMV or Blockbusters for years: over a decade in the latter case. I was more disappointed when they closed Black's on Elm Row.

Can a bookseller chain be far behind? Borders already gone...

I see Avalanche has decided to stay open for the time being though.

Posted 12 years ago #
cc
Member

I'm still reeling from the loss of James Thin and of Better Books.

These days I buy mostly second hand books, there just aren't any interesting new-book shops to spend time browsing in.

Music too, in the pre-megastore era the city was full of interesting independent record shops. It still seems to have one or two but they mostly died long ago.

Posted 12 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

I find myself struggling to mourn the loss of identikit chain stores which many years ago lost any real reason to ever go into them. Propping up zombie companies like HMV isn't even good for the economy in the medium term. Whatever your views on Avalanche, he clearly outlined the bind that independent record stores were in - trapped between loss-leading supermarkets and Amazon on the one side and HMV on the other being kept (barely) alive by overly favourable terms from suppliers that the independent store could never hope to match. I think HMV's propping-up of Fopp was very bad in the long term for the independent shops as they were able to discount the sort of stock that independents would sell and pile it high, with a brand that people didn't associate too much as one of the big high street names.

Woolies has been mourned because people remember the Woolies of their childhood. The Woolies of the recent past was a rubbish place to go and a great place to avoid, and there's plenty homewares discounters like Poundstretcher and B&M who have filled the gap.

Posted 12 years ago #
cc
Member

Yes. What I was trying to say was I'm still mourning the loss of the independent shops which mostly were killed off by the identikit chain stores which are now dying, a lot of the latter only a decade or two after they first appeared. Looking back on it, it seems incredible now that I once lived in a city where most shops were either independently owned or part of locally based chains which hardly went beyond the city. Yet that was the Edinburgh I moved to in the early 80s. A bit different from today's neoliberal paradise.

Posted 12 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

I roll my eyes when people go on about Glasgow "having better shopping" than Edinburgh. What they actually mean is that Glasgow has all the same stores, but slightly bigger versions into which is crammed more tat.

Posted 12 years ago #
LaidBack
Member

I miss Alphabet Video on Marchmont Rd. The owner was knowledgable and friendly. Prices were good, and he had a range of films from Europe ( Blockbuster was only good for obvious films).
Getting a film was easy too. Just pop on a recliner and drift over the Meadows and back. Faster than downloads at that time and let me pick up groceries and keep fit.
Now it's dull with daughter downloading films and landfill dvds costing silly prices.

Posted 12 years ago #
wee folding bike
Member

I miss Echo records, used to be in Byres Rd, Glasgow. They closed 10 years ago.

Posted 12 years ago #
LaidBack
Member

Yes... Byres Road still has some interesting shops though.
Early record shop in Edinburgh experiences included
Hell
Phoenix
Bruces (of course)
Virgin (Frederick St?)
The Other Record Shop

Posted 12 years ago #
gembo
Member

I would be interested in any data on current Glaswegian shopping habits. Harvey Nicholls built in Edinburgh as felt the weegees would travel to shop. There were more shops as well as bigger shops in Glasgow in the past, most branches also now available in Edinburgh but going to the shops was also a way of life in the west. I wonder if the Internet has impacted on this? Amazon seem to be focussing their activities towards the east of Scotland.

Posted 12 years ago #
AKen
Member

If I remember things correctly*, the indepedent record shops often had a clique of cool kids who would hang around making the place seem unwelcome but not actually spending very much.

*not guaranteed

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

Businesses go bust just as soon as their customers have no further use for them and either stop buying their stuff or shift their purchases elsewhere.

Posted 12 years ago #
crowriver
Member

In the case of Blacks/Milletts, it's the wet summers coupled with more competition. There are these new "discount card" cash'n'carry style operations in out of town locations (there's one in Newhaven I think) and then there's online shopping. So folk do window shopping in town, then order online or drive to the discount place to get the goods slightly cheaper...

A shame about Blacks though as their own brand camping and hiking stuff is pretty good. Still a Milletts in city centre I think?

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

Pretty sure the Millets on Frederick Street is gone. But it's a perfect example - where people support shops with their money they'll survive but where they want to save a few quid and have no use for the little shop, whether it sells music, tents or bike parts, the shops will shut.

Posted 12 years ago #
cb
Member

There's something on Fredrick Street, either a Millets or a Blacks. I found them both pretty uninspiring, although Blacks had the edge (by that I mean more inspiring).

There is a now a North Face shop on Fredrick Street.

Posted 12 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

When I was quite heavily into hillwalking I would look at Blacks and then find I could get far better gear in Tiso at a better price. I would look at Millets and think I didn't want to spend my money on gear that didn't look up to the task. I would then find myself back in Tiso.

I think Millets probably found itself killed by the "pound shop" outdoor stores like Mountain Warehouse, and supermarkets offering cheap camping gear for the festival-goer and the likes of TK Maxx discounting on branded outdoor gear.

I'm sure North Face will do fine for themselves as they are a designer brand with significant appeal outwith the hardcore enthusiast.

Posted 12 years ago #
crowriver
Member

There's also Nevisport and Cotswold Outdoor on Rose Street, Trespass too on Frederick Street. The place down in Granton is Go Outdoors. So, I suppose Blacks/Milletts got squeezed, from the higher end 'outdoor lifestyle' shops selling goretex wear at eye watering prices; other shops similar to themselves but more 'fashion conscious'; to the discount sellers in warehouse outlets and online traders flogging all the other stuff more cheaply. Maybe they just had too many shops: I think if Milletts have just one shop in Edinburgh that's probably enough. I hope they still carry the Blacks range...

Posted 12 years ago #
crowriver
Member

@kaputnik, that's a fair analysis.

I think the supernmarkets are a big factor in the demise of all these chains. You can buy so many goods in supermarkets now that you could not even 10 years ago.

Posted 12 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

Tiso have been very adept at identifying their core customers - enthusiasts with an ability or willingness to spend big sums of money on their pastime of choice - and then serving them with the right products and the right level of service. You can prepare yourself for an arctic expedition on Tiso in Rose Street if you so choose, and they will also entice the casual punter with a big wallet who goes in and think that they too need the £350 thermal layer jacket for getting from the Range Rover to the shops. They also carry a lot of lines beyond the goretex bling - a wide range of good wool garments and niche technical clothing lines such as Paramo.

In a way it's no different to how some bike shops have managed to prosper. Tribalism and spending power is equally in evidence in the mountaineering / climbing / Munro bagging world as in the cycling world.

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

I know it's traditional to see supermarkets as the source of all evil and the killers of the little shops that people love so much. The reality is that if people loved the little shops they would simply ignore the one-stop convenience and huge product range. They would put aside their desire to save a pound or two and they would continue shopping in the little shops. The supermarkets would fail and go away. The fact is, customers kill little shops (and often the little shops kill themselves by being rubbish but blame their failure on the big shops).

Posted 12 years ago #
cb
Member

I think it's a bit more complex than that. There does seem to be some kind of love of spending money on 'things' that drives shoppers to some extent.

Witness the new B&M store at Maybury. When it was previously a Comet you'd perhaps see a dozen cars in the carpark, now it is rammed. Are people going there because they have specific things they need, or are they going there because it's a destination; something to do; they might pick up bargain - something they didn't know they need.

I live within very easy walking distance of lots of different shops and services in Morningside and generally find shopping there easier and more pleasurable than heading off to some out of town place (which I generally detest).

I bought a far-too-large tin of wood stain from Home Hardware the other week (there was no choice). But preferable in my mind to 'picking it up in B&Q next time I'm passing'. I probably would have spent half an hour in B&Q trying to decide which brand/type/size to go for.

Posted 12 years ago #

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