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Fopp (retailer)
Encyclopedia
Fopp is a chain of retail
stores selling music, film, books and other entertainment products in the United Kingdom.
, Scotland, in 1981, it expanded to a chain of over 100 branches throughout the country in 2007. With the demise of Music Zone
, Fopp became the third largest specialist music retailer in the UK in terms of store numbers (after HMV
and Virgin Megastores). Shortly after the takeover of rival chain Music Zone
, Fopp went into administration in June 2007, resulting in the closure of many of its stores. Eight stores survived and are operating under the Fopp brand as an independent part of the HMV Group
.
The name "Fopp" comes from the title of a song by the Ohio Players
on their 1975 album Honey
.
A new branch opened in mid 2009 on Exeter High Street. In August 2010, a Fopp branch opened up in London Gower Street, inside Waterstone's.
figures. It built a reputation for reasonable prices on new release and excellent prices (often £5) on non-mainstream catalogue CD
s, DVD
s and book
s. The company also had a policy called "suck it and see", whereby any purchase could be returned to the shop within 28 days for a full refund as long as it is as new. The company still has this policy, despite being owned by HMV, though this applies only to CDs and not to DVDs which have been opened. Many other CD/DVD retailers will not accept returned goods if security seals or plastic wrapping have been removed.
s list of the 250 Biggest Scottish Companies of 2005.
following their fall into administration, Fopp found themselves having cash flow problems. The company cancelled book deliveries in June blaming a change in location of warehouse from Bristol to Stockport (the old Music Zone warehouse).
On 21 June 2007 the company began accepting only cash transactions, stating 'card authorisation' problems as the cause. On 22 June 2007 the company closed all branches for 'stock taking' and said it was in talks with its bank. A week later the company announced a temporary closure in all its outlets and its online venture, and staff were informed that they would not be receiving their monthly pay.
On 29 June 2007 they called in receivers after a last-ditch deal that would have allowed Sir Richard Branson a way to devolve himself from the loss making Virgin Megastores without the negative PR of closing down multiple locations, but this deal failed to win support from Virgin's main supplier. The stores were closed, and staff were sent home with their monthly salaries unpaid.
The Fopp online webstore was taken down shortly after and replaced with the following message:
Ernst & Young
were appointed as joint administrators of Fopp and Music Zone and issued a press statement detailing stores closed and the numbers of jobs lost at each location.
would take control of the Fopp brand and its stores in Cambridge
, Edinburgh
Rose Street
(but not Cockburn Street), Glasgow
, London Covent Garden
, Manchester
and Nottingham
. On 12 February 2008, Bristol Evening Post reported that a further store would open in Bristol (in a former HMV-owned Waterstones store), a city in which three Fopp stores had traded prior to summer 2007.
On 24 August 2007, the Glasgow Union Street and Edinburgh stores reopened. The Cambridge store reopened on 25 August 2007, and the Manchester store was relaunched on the 27th. After a statement from HMV stating that they were unable to open the Covent Garden (London) branch, they finally gained the landlord's consent to take over the lease and the store reopened on 5 October 2007. Only around 10% of the original 700 employees kept their jobs.
In 2009 the HMV store in Exeter
, Devon
was rebranded as a new Fopp Store while HMV moved to a new building in the redeveloped Princesshay Shopping Centre. Also in August 2010, HMV opened a new Fopp store on the ground floor of the Waterstone's store (Also part of the HMV Group) in Gower Street, London. On 30 January 2011, HMV closed the Fopp Store in Exeter due to poor sales in the recent re-form of HMV. It is the First Fopp Store to close under the HMV banner.
Nine stores are now trading with the Fopp name under HMV ownership.
store would be reopening as Head, a separate store from Fopp, but retaining Fopp's stock and assets. The HEAD store opened on 1 November 2007 and employed some of its predecessor's former employees. The store intends to host regular performances from local bands, and hopes to allow musicians, artists and authors from Leamington and its surrounding areas to sell their work there. This was initially a single store, but has more recently expanded into a chain of four sites.
On 6 December 2007 the expanding electronics and gaming chain CeX
opened a store at 18 Midland Road, in Bedford, a previous Fopp store. This was also the case of the former Fopp store in the Marlands Shopping Centre in Southampton
. Much of the existing Fopp shop-fitting was kept intact.
, Devon
store displayed a sign advising that it would be closing on Sunday the 30th of that same month, and packing of stock had begun.
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
stores selling music, film, books and other entertainment products in the United Kingdom.
History
From its origins as a one-man stall in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland, in 1981, it expanded to a chain of over 100 branches throughout the country in 2007. With the demise of Music Zone
Music Zone
Music Zone was a music retailer in the United Kingdom, formed in Levenshulme in 1984, as a market stall in Longsight, Manchester.-History:Soon after, Music Zone opened its first permanent shop in Stockport and began to expand in the Manchester region, rebranding itself to Music Zone Trade Direct...
, Fopp became the third largest specialist music retailer in the UK in terms of store numbers (after HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
and Virgin Megastores). Shortly after the takeover of rival chain Music Zone
Music Zone
Music Zone was a music retailer in the United Kingdom, formed in Levenshulme in 1984, as a market stall in Longsight, Manchester.-History:Soon after, Music Zone opened its first permanent shop in Stockport and began to expand in the Manchester region, rebranding itself to Music Zone Trade Direct...
, Fopp went into administration in June 2007, resulting in the closure of many of its stores. Eight stores survived and are operating under the Fopp brand as an independent part of the HMV Group
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
.
The name "Fopp" comes from the title of a song by the Ohio Players
Ohio Players
The Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their double #1 hit songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster".- Biography :...
on their 1975 album Honey
Honey (Ohio Players album)
-Track listing:#"Honey" - 5:20#"Fopp" - 3:45#"Let's Do It" - 5:15 #"Ain't Givin' up No Ground" - 1:42#"Sweet Sticky Thing" - 6:14#"Love Rollercoaster" - 4:50#"Alone" - 4:37-Personnel:...
.
A new branch opened in mid 2009 on Exeter High Street. In August 2010, a Fopp branch opened up in London Gower Street, inside Waterstone's.
Merchandising
The first Fopp store was a market stall in Decourcey's Arcade near [Byres Road] in Glasgow opened 1981 by Gordon Montgomery. Fopp operates a keep-it-simple approach to the pricing of its merchandise with most prices rounded to whole-poundPound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
figures. It built a reputation for reasonable prices on new release and excellent prices (often £5) on non-mainstream catalogue CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s and book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s. The company also had a policy called "suck it and see", whereby any purchase could be returned to the shop within 28 days for a full refund as long as it is as new. The company still has this policy, despite being owned by HMV, though this applies only to CDs and not to DVDs which have been opened. Many other CD/DVD retailers will not accept returned goods if security seals or plastic wrapping have been removed.
Locations
Until 2007 there were 50 Fopp stores and 37 outlets branded as Music Zone throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Fopp can be found in The ScotsmanThe Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
s list of the 250 Biggest Scottish Companies of 2005.
Closures (2007)
Having taken over rival chain Music ZoneMusic Zone
Music Zone was a music retailer in the United Kingdom, formed in Levenshulme in 1984, as a market stall in Longsight, Manchester.-History:Soon after, Music Zone opened its first permanent shop in Stockport and began to expand in the Manchester region, rebranding itself to Music Zone Trade Direct...
following their fall into administration, Fopp found themselves having cash flow problems. The company cancelled book deliveries in June blaming a change in location of warehouse from Bristol to Stockport (the old Music Zone warehouse).
On 21 June 2007 the company began accepting only cash transactions, stating 'card authorisation' problems as the cause. On 22 June 2007 the company closed all branches for 'stock taking' and said it was in talks with its bank. A week later the company announced a temporary closure in all its outlets and its online venture, and staff were informed that they would not be receiving their monthly pay.
On 29 June 2007 they called in receivers after a last-ditch deal that would have allowed Sir Richard Branson a way to devolve himself from the loss making Virgin Megastores without the negative PR of closing down multiple locations, but this deal failed to win support from Virgin's main supplier. The stores were closed, and staff were sent home with their monthly salaries unpaid.
The Fopp online webstore was taken down shortly after and replaced with the following message:
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
were appointed as joint administrators of Fopp and Music Zone and issued a press statement detailing stores closed and the numbers of jobs lost at each location.
Reopening (2007)
On 31 July 2007, it was announced that HMVHMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
would take control of the Fopp brand and its stores in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
Rose Street
Rose Street
Rose Street is a street in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a narrow street running parallel between Princes Street and George Street, and was formerly used as a service entrance to the houses on those roads as well as local shops and servants quarters. Today, it is principally a...
(but not Cockburn Street), Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, London Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. On 12 February 2008, Bristol Evening Post reported that a further store would open in Bristol (in a former HMV-owned Waterstones store), a city in which three Fopp stores had traded prior to summer 2007.
On 24 August 2007, the Glasgow Union Street and Edinburgh stores reopened. The Cambridge store reopened on 25 August 2007, and the Manchester store was relaunched on the 27th. After a statement from HMV stating that they were unable to open the Covent Garden (London) branch, they finally gained the landlord's consent to take over the lease and the store reopened on 5 October 2007. Only around 10% of the original 700 employees kept their jobs.
In 2009 the HMV store in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
was rebranded as a new Fopp Store while HMV moved to a new building in the redeveloped Princesshay Shopping Centre. Also in August 2010, HMV opened a new Fopp store on the ground floor of the Waterstone's store (Also part of the HMV Group) in Gower Street, London. On 30 January 2011, HMV closed the Fopp Store in Exeter due to poor sales in the recent re-form of HMV. It is the First Fopp Store to close under the HMV banner.
Nine stores are now trading with the Fopp name under HMV ownership.
Rebranding and private purchase
It was also announced that the Leamington SpaLeamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
store would be reopening as Head, a separate store from Fopp, but retaining Fopp's stock and assets. The HEAD store opened on 1 November 2007 and employed some of its predecessor's former employees. The store intends to host regular performances from local bands, and hopes to allow musicians, artists and authors from Leamington and its surrounding areas to sell their work there. This was initially a single store, but has more recently expanded into a chain of four sites.
On 6 December 2007 the expanding electronics and gaming chain CeX
CeX
CeX is a second hand goods chain based in the United Kingdom specialising in technology, computing and video games.-History:...
opened a store at 18 Midland Road, in Bedford, a previous Fopp store. This was also the case of the former Fopp store in the Marlands Shopping Centre in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. Much of the existing Fopp shop-fitting was kept intact.
Closures in 2011
On the 28th of January 2011 the ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
store displayed a sign advising that it would be closing on Sunday the 30th of that same month, and packing of stock had begun.
External links
- Fopp Official Website
- James Dow, Fopp has finger firmly on public's musical pulse (Profile of Gordon Montgomery), Scotsman OnlineThe ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, 9 January 2004, accessed 16 September 2007