Clinton Cards; They deserve to, £3 for a poxy card you can get from the market for 60p.
Waterstones could be a good bet as The Works discount stores sell most of the same books for much less. They’re selling 2013 road atlases half price already.
WH Smith are doing really well now apparently, some hot shot bird at the helm sorted them out a few years back.
Muckaway:
Clinton Cards; They deserve to, £3 for a poxy card you can get from the market for 60p.
Waterstones could be a good bet as The Works discount stores sell most of the same books for much less. They’re selling 2013 road atlases half price already.
Moonpig has hit them hard cards are quite reasonable price and you can do custom ones.
Derf:
r slicker:
Harry Monk:
ironstipper:
Mothercare is my next favourite to go popMe too, also W.H. Smith, Staples, Thomas Cook but a little birdie tells me that F C U K (French Connection) will be next to go
Ok septic Harry i will raise you Waterstones
I match your Waterstones with Robert Dyas
No chance
It seems strange that these monolithic music stores seem to think theres a continual mass of product always to be packaged ond sold ad infinitum.The creative burst of musical energy that produced top draw stuff like the beatles,the who,stones,doors,zeppelin etc could never be sustained with the peurile drivel that we have these days,The halcyon days have long gone and it’s modern incarnations are like a decaying,festering corpse in comparison.It’s the same with films,when was the last great film from the UK that can match Withnail&I for instance.? I bet there are only 50 great films that are worthy of having in a collection,what we have today is a sterile cultural desert sadly trying to emulate the golden era of the 60’s and 70’s and HMV is but a jaded reminder of a golden age when music had the all important power of originality.
Who needs Blockbuster anyway when the local library has a good selection of stuff?
Foyles bookshops.
I can’t see how books have much of a high-priced future when things like Kindle will rip the guts out of £20+ for a hardback…
No reason why they won’t go the same way as HMV I can see…
A strong balance sheet doesn’t help if the money is pouring away slowly, even if it were the most efficient of businesses. 
manalishi:
It seems strange that these monolithic music stores seem to think theres a continual mass of product always to be packaged ond sold ad infinitum.The creative burst of musical energy that produced top draw stuff like the beatles,the who,stones,doors,zeppelin etc could never be sustained with the peurile drivel that we have these days,The halcyon days have long gone and it’s modern incarnations are like a decaying,festering corpse in comparison.It’s the same with films,when was the last great film from the UK that can match Withnail&I for instance.? I bet there are only 50 great films that are worthy of having in a collection,what we have today is a sterile cultural desert sadly trying to emulate the golden era of the 60’s and 70’s and HMV is but a jaded reminder of a golden age when music had the all important power of originality.Who needs Blockbuster anyway when the local library has a good selection of stuff?
I’d respectfully suggest either you are looking in the wrong places for new music or not looking at all and living in the past. The new music scene at the moment is very very exciting with loads of amazing bands. If you’re saying new music is puerile drivel I suggest you look further than One Direction, Gaga and Bieber, and in fact beyond the top 10 to a world of brilliant stuff.
No need to insult me man.One direction indeed.I speak as a guitar player and card carrying muso with a deep love of the golden age,including stuff from Bach,Vivaldi and Vaughn Williams into the bargain.I have tried to get into 6 music but theres an preponderence of arch ‘o aint we the chosen few’ vibe that I find offputting amongst the presenters especially that streak off ■■■■ Jarvis Cocker,a nerdy re-tread from the fake cool britannia era,and purveyor of ‘edgy’ aural excreta.
Stuart Maconies my man and anything he’s involved with floats my frigate.I don’t see anything particularly inspiring anymore wherever I look,The cultural imperatives that spawned the golden age of Floyd,Roxy,Specials,Stranglers,Jethro tull etc can’t just be re-engineered ,it stands alone as a high watermark of human progression and if you can put me onto anything today that remotely hints of that creative renaissance I would be deeply grateful Switch old bean.
Two retail outlets doing really well:
Halfords and John Lewis.
Halfords have found a winner with their ‘click and collect’ 80% of what they sell on the net is collected from the customer’s chosen store, so they still go there and there’s another opportunity to sell them more stuff when they do.
I don’t know what the JL secret is. They are not as expensive as their reputation, and the staff are clearly better motivated than those employed elsewhere, and they’ve combined a decent web offering with top location walk-in department stores, so it might just be attention to detail over a very wide area.
manalishi:
can put me onto anything today that remotely hints of that creative renaissance I would be deeply grateful Switch old bean.
I could put you onto loads of stuff that I think it’s like that but I’ve a feeling you’d disagree with everything I say so shall leave it at that. Enjoy the past
Not really surprised to see Blockbusters go down the tubes, it’s never been the same since Bob Holness passed away.
GasGas:
Two retail outlets doing really well:Halfords and John Lewis.
Halfords have found a winner with their ‘click and collect’ 80% of what they sell on the net is collected from the customer’s chosen store, so they still go there and there’s another opportunity to sell them more stuff when they do.
I don’t know what the JL secret is. They are not as expensive as their reputation, and the staff are clearly better motivated than those employed elsewhere, and they’ve combined a decent web offering with top location walk-in department stores, so it might just be attention to detail over a very wide area.
Around here, they neither take on any drivers or pay particularly well. A year ago, I think they were still recruiting full timers, and those that work there talk of it being a pretty fair game.
It’s that old “A pocket full of gold is great- providing it’s YOUR pocket it’s in.”
Right now, doors are firmly bolted, and anyone outside remains in the cold.
Winseer:
GasGas:
Two retail outlets doing really well:Halfords and John Lewis.
Halfords have found a winner with their ‘click and collect’ 80% of what they sell on the net is collected from the customer’s chosen store, so they still go there and there’s another opportunity to sell them more stuff when they do.
I don’t know what the JL secret is. They are not as expensive as their reputation, and the staff are clearly better motivated than those employed elsewhere, and they’ve combined a decent web offering with top location walk-in department stores, so it might just be attention to detail over a very wide area.
Around here, they neither take on any drivers or pay particularly well. A year ago, I think they were still recruiting full timers, and those that work there talk of it being a pretty fair game.
It’s that old “A pocket full of gold is great- providing it’s YOUR pocket it’s in.”Right now, doors are firmly bolted, and anyone outside remains in the cold.
I am with that. John Lewis have some great deals. I have just priced an all singing TV up and it is £150 cheaper than the high street electrical stores. I cant afford to use Waitrose though unless it is for a very special occasion.
Halfords are great at the moment, one of the best deals they have is free fitting, so if you buy a radio or a set of bulbs / lamps they will fit them for free or a low set price. Some modern vehicles are main dealer jobbies for headlamps, those where you have to remove wheels and bumpers etc
Waitrose is really, really cheap if you go there in the late afternoon with an open mind.
How about a bag of 10 little oranges for 11p: that’s for the whole bag.
And tonight my wife came back with a deal that was any 2 bags of veg (choose carrots, spuds, or broccoli) and a whole chicken (British Farm Assured) for £5. There’s a roast dinner for 4 people in that plus some cold chicken for sandwiches, and it’s all top quality stuff.
dew:
There’s talk that the record industry might come together to keep HMV going, as without them the big players in music are basically amazon and iTunes, and the industry don’t want it to go to them.
The music industry needs an outlet to sell albums.
I’ve a Kindle Fire and I load it up with the tracks off albums I want not the whole album.
Depending on who the artist is it can be pennies.
Rather than get into town pay the parking go to HMV and pay £11.99 for an album I can get the three tracks I want off it at Amazon for 80p a go.
I can down load them onto an MP3 player etc if I want but by leaving them on the Kindle I have music, books, games and films / tv all on one machine.
Same with the cinema it cost a fortune to go you can normally get a hooky cd within about a week of it coming out.
Sadly for the people in HMV & Blockbuster it’s progress.
Just the same as forklift trucks dispenced with 4 man gangs to lift stuff onto trucks and boats at the docks,
I expect in the near future that the film industry will develop a system where you can download a new film at home instead of going to the pictures.
New TV’s and sound systems are just as good now as going to the cinema.
Has anyone thought to blame Thatcher yet?
Soldier z:
Has anyone thought to blame Thatcher yet?
I won’t hear a bad word about her, there was a time when eastern Europeans weren’t allowed to travel to the West but Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan liberated them from that lack of freedom. 
GasGas:
Waitrose is really, really cheap if you go there in the late afternoon with an open mind.How about a bag of 10 little oranges for 11p: that’s for the whole bag.
And tonight my wife came back with a deal that was any 2 bags of veg (choose carrots, spuds, or broccoli) and a whole chicken (British Farm Assured) for £5. There’s a roast dinner for 4 people in that plus some cold chicken for sandwiches, and it’s all top quality stuff.
thats interesting but my nearest store is in Nottingham so we can only really do online shopping where the deals are not so great
Muckaway mentioned Homebase. Last time I went in there it was full of rugs, cushions, lamp shades etc. They seem to have moved away from the serious DIY’er or tradesman with B&Q far far better in my opinion.
ironstipper:
Mothercare is my next favourite to go pop
Looking like a good call out there.
Was going to ask you for saturdays lottery numbers, but not sure if I want to wait six years for them to come up!
cant understand why the govt wont let empty shops and big stores get converted into housing, surely the way forward