Does anyone have any idea why a DVD set marked at £35 in HMV about two weeks ago is now £55 in the same store? RRP is £39.99.

Seeing as I am persona non grata on their Facebook page, I can't ask them.

 

Aren't HMV in a rather difficult financial situation these days?

As far back as i can remember, they padded prices 'Becasue'.

 

I think they are, probably because of those padded prices. I think I saw somewhere that they were trying to sell Waterstone's to dig themselves out of the problem.

'Because' sounds about right.

Oh well, HMV's loss is Amazon's gain. Smallville season 9 is only £17.99 with them, and the set mentioned above - NCIS season 7 - is £23.

 

HMV has always been costly. I certainly never buy any new titles there when I know I can get them just about anywhere else far cheaper. They were only really good for having a wide selection of stuff for a brick and mortar store. I think since Virgin/Zavvi went tits up in the high street they've had no direct competition within town centres so they've felt more confident hiking their prices even more. They also have always had that habit of making certain popular titles more expensive as time went on, thinking they had some extra value in rarity. That's often with their exclusives though.
Online really they should have no excuse.

But as said above, they've not been doing so well lately so that's probably caused them to hike a few prices. Of course all that does is drive more people to shop elsewhere.

 

Well, good luck to them. I only go in nowadays because I go down the escalator in the direction of the Entertainer in Liverpool One. I've decided that I'm going to pre-order Sucker Punch from Amazon, along with Chuck and Big Bang Theory.

 

I can't even remember the last time I bought anything from HMV. But then I'm really tight these days and pick up almost all my DVDs from car boot sales. Sure I have to wait longer before getting them but I pay considerably less, and if you keep an eye out you can get stuff in excellent condititon. I just got a still-sealed copy of Shrek Forever After for £2 at a car boot sale.

These days shops have to compete with the internet. They don't have the luxury of hiking their prices and people just having to put up with it anymore because there are few or no alternatives to shop at. WHSmith was getting as costly as HMV, but without the benefit of having a wide selection of stuff. No surprise WHSmith doesn't do CDs and DVDs anymore with such prices when people can just nip to Tescos or Asda or whatever and find the same things sometimes half the price Smiths had them at.

 

I always found them fairly reasonable by and large, but the UK market may be more competitive than over here. Anyway, you can't compare retail to the internet. Amazon don't have to pay highstreet rents or worry about shoplifting or being held up, and various other business expenses.

As for the pricing thing, that's always been the case. Retailers are free to price as they see fit, and as a customer you decide if the price is right for you to purchase.