..... And now Blockbuster have gone to the wall .. That was great in its day but looks like it has fallen victim to the digital age .....
Netflicks, Lovefilm.com, illegal downloads, legal downloads etc. How can you compete against companies such as those?
Havent used Blockbusters for years they simply got too expensive.
Its a sign of the times...either you hop into your car drive to the local Blockbuster/HMV or whatever store or................you park your :asshole: in front of your lappy and download the track/film....no contest really
Sad but true
yeah, to right guys,,,wonder how many paper mills and publishers are going to be next for the chop??? my mrs is giving her kindle a run for the money!!!!!,some of the books are less than a pound!,,how can they possibly compete with that?, a average paper book book is minimun £10,,even the authors got to be feeling the pinch,,as well has the storage units for the books,lorry`s/drivers/ware house staff,,,,,,dont like to be feeling glum guys but think this year is going to be hard for a lot of the bigger companys,let alone the smaller ones :no:
Anyone with any sense could see that things were going to get worse here economically speaking, the government can put any spin they like on "their" figures but the man on the street can see "no light at the end of the tunnel", or "green shoots of recovery" etc... it's a pity as the politicians have lost all sense of reality and it's the ordinary working man who's paying the price.
being a small business owner, enough with the negative, its hard enough at the moment and business that fail because they did not move with the times have no right to be in business the real same is our high streets will have so many boarded up shop fronts :no:
Over here in the States, I use Redbox to rent movies at less than $2 a pop as it's the cheapest alternative. We have Directv but I very rarely rent from them. I also subscribe to Netflix and I'm an Amazon Prime member so we stream a significant amount of material....most of it British TV detective shows such as Inspector Lewis, Poirot, Wallander, and Zen. I'll probably have to buy Inspector Morse, though. Can't seem to get that one at all.
If you don't move with the times then you are roadkill.
That is basic business sense.
All these bankruptcies are going to hurt in other ways too.
Everyone will be buying from Amazon who are paying minimal tax in the UK.
Less tax from companies will mean more tax from you and me.
As for the recession being over,.... it is,....... but some companies have managed to hang on this long before going under.
The recent ones obviously hung on for the Xmas period to try and shift some stock.
There will be a few more over the next few months.
Our high streets do seem to be slowly recovering though.
They are now mostly restaurants and take-aways with a few flower shops and boutiques thrown in.
I think JC Penny, Sears, and Best Buy over here are on borrowed time.. I hate to see Sears go out as I buy tools and appliances from them. JC Penny is being whipped by Kohls. I don't buy anything at Best Buy anymore as it's not the best buy. Most of my 'stuff' comes from Amazon. Virginia is supposed to be collecting taxes on those purchases but it hasn't started yet that I can see. That would be a big boon to the state.
Update: Just found out it will be implemented this coming September...
Quote from: jenros on January 17, 2013, 12:50:58 AM
yeah, to right guys,,,wonder how many paper mills and publishers are going to be next for the chop??? my mrs is giving her kindle a run for the money!!!!!,some of the books are less than a pound!,
In my job I manage council recycling collections and the quantity of waste paper we collect weekly has dropped by 33% over the past 3 years and the price we sell the materials for has dropped, due to lower demand from paper mills by around the same percentage.
patrick,, thought as much,,as far as the recession is over! :no:,,here in south wales i can honestly say "absolutly not over by a long shot"!,im in my 25th year in buisness,a lot of my mates are struggling big time,in work load,,,or should i say i lack of it,,constantly chasing payments from all angles,,i for one have noticed a big difference in the last 12/18 months.
Last summer was my quietiest summer in 25 yrs!,,i had 3 large jobs cancel on me due to the fact that the husband had been told that if things didnt pick up in x amount of time they would be laid off etc,,even had one job cancelled in 48 hrs,which was arranged 2 days earlier,and spent hours pricing up and numerious site visits and prices agreed,,,due to the above reasons,,,,they said "you dont mind do you?",,,,,,,,what could i say?,did i mind ***king right i did!,it was almost 3 weeks work!!,because i was going to start it on a weds,it was impossible to ask my next customer could i start there job 3wks early at short notice!!!!.
I lost 3 days work just on that one!!,,,but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, gained 3 days riding my gtr around the beacons and coastal routes :banana:,,,,so it wasnt THAT bad after all! lol
But seriously thou,,times are tight at present and the best you can do is hang in there,give every job your very best effort,be as efficient as possible and the key thing is "communicate" with your customer and also listen to what they require from you!,,, head down asre up guys and keep on a grinding away! :whistling:
The recession isn't over.......... a quick glance at most high streets in the majority of smaller towns demonstrates exactly what is happening to high street retail trade.
However I do believe that there are signs of improvement on the horizon, but we all have to face the effects of years of extravagant spending, and it will take some time to fully recover from that situation.
A good philosophy to have is to be positive about the outlook and embrace change in the retail environment, I've often said "if times are bad, you can't afford to be miserable"