HMV from a movie perspective

Last week we heard that HMV would be closing sixty stores this year, landing another blow to shopping since the recession, firstWoolworths, then Zavvi, leaving HMV as the last stand. But is it a bad thing or does it change anything?

Mark and Liam have both chronicled its effect on music. Personally I do not think that if HMV were to cease to be, it would make much difference to music. I blame the decline of CDs on iTunes, Amazon’s digital music platform and illegal music downloads. I don’t know about you but I cannot remember the last time I went out and bought a record. The only thing related to music that I buy from HMV are iTunes vouchers or perhaps albums in the sales. With iTunes being so accessible and with the invention of smart phones allowing a consumer to check the prices of music within a second, it does not surprise me that people are not buying the physical copies of records as much as hey used to and if they are, they are buying it from Amazon.

Yet I do see the loss of HMV as great in terms of movies. As already stated, HMV has suffered since Amazon started. Here’s my typical visit to HMV: find what I want, get my iPhone out, check the price of it on Amazon. If it was cheaper on Amazon, buy it from there. Buy an iTunes voucher and walk out.

But Amazon does not always have everything. For example, How I Met Your Mother Season 5 comes to mind. I wanted this. I searched for it on Amazon and it was no where to be found. Amazon, for no reason whatsoever, just did not have it in their database for a good month or two. Whereas my local HMV had it on the day of it’s release. So instead of waiting I bought it from HMV. This is what HMV gave us: instant buying. Since the recession, I like many others, I am sure, have been trying to find the best bargain and therefore have been buying from Amazon. But sometimes I don’t want to wait 5 days. Yes, I get the shipping for free but I want it then and there. If HMV dies, this will cease to be. If i used Amazon, I’d still have to wait at least a day and then I wouldn’t get it delivered for free. Once you take this route, there isn’t much difference in price between Amazon and HMV.

Also, another strange anomaly is that HMV are interlinked with Waterstones and I fear a domino effect could happen. If HMV dies, there is no alternative. I know Liam mentioned independent music shops but I fear they would be affected as well, as competition is needed for shops to thrive. Also ,I fear the casual music and movie fan will no longer have somewhere to shop physically. On the book side, Waterstones are not in the best of ways either. They have recently brought DVDs into their stores to bring up sales and again like HMV they are closing shops. Again, I think that Apple and Amazon are to blame with the iPad and kindle. I know that I, for one, have embraced the digital revolution and now download everything to my iPad unless I can’t get it digitally. But I do believe its a shame.

There will be a huge gap for places to buy movies if HMV dies. Think about it. How many films have you bought off iTunes or a similar provider? I rarely do. Also, there is something beautiful about snuggling up with a loved one and watching a programme on your television. If you buy all your films digitally, you no longer can do this. You would have to buy more products, such as a way to hook your laptop up to a TV or to an apple TV. I may be one of the few, but I do not think you get the same kind of experience by watching it off a laptop. It is fine for one maybe two people, but for a whole group it is just plain awkward. You have to get the screen just right and you are usually the only unlucky bugger who can’t see it. So you sit there watching it in these strange colours, giving you a headache. Sorry, I don’t like watching films that way.

I don’t know about you but if HMV does die, I will miss it. Maybe I am a traditionalist, but I like walking around a shop, I like holding the blu ray in my hand, reading the blurb etc I liked finding the unbelievable bargains and buying a DVD of a film I had never heard of to find out it was amazing. I like browsing. I like going into a shop like HMV or Waterstones not knowing what I want but finding something great. I don’t think you can do the same with amazon, iTunes or anywhere on the internet, really. I think it is a shame that such a shop is on it’s death bed and I hope this does not bring an end to physical shopping, nor to more shops having the same problem. Let’s hope if HMV dies it is the final domino to topple. However, I think the key thing to remember is that HMV is not dead yet. Although they are closing sixty stores, there are so many more of them still alive and well. This could simply mean that we as consumers will have to embrace a new type of HMV. It may be less music orientated, less film orientated, the physical format may die but it might simply become another part of the digital revolution. Look at Woolworths for example.