It’s not often that I mourn the closure of a chain of shops, but the last decent chain of record stores in the UK just went the way of the dodo. http://fopp.co.uk carries this note:
It is with great regret that we announce the closure of Fopp.
Our store chain is profitable, well regarded and loved by our loyal customers and staff. However we have failed to gain the necessary support from major stakeholders, suppliers and their credit insurers to generate sufficient working capital to run our expanding business.
We would like to thank staff and customers for their support over the past 25 years.
Any outstanding website orders have now been cancelled and will not be fulfilled or charged.
Sob… The Fopp stores had a decent amount of CDs covering a variety of styles, wasn’t outrageously overpriced, had friendly and knowledgeable staff and sold good films, books and other media. I was never able to reist going into a branch when I passed by one, and normally left with five or six CDs. I hope someone comes in to fill the void, but given how many ridiculously over-sized, over-priced Virgin Megastores and HMVs that are popping up, I won’t get my hopes up.
Originally from Planet Plone by