On Thursday I went to London with my wife to visit our daughter. During the afternoon they had a social event so we agreed to meet up for dinner and the intention was that I would go to Rough Trade Brick lane. Except that the district line from West Kensington to Aldgate east wasn’t running. I had visited Reckless, Sister ray and Souljazz (Sounds of the Universe) on a recent visit so I opted to go to FOPP which I hadn’t been to for some time.
Frankly I wish I hadn’t bothered. The place was totally uninspiring and not a patch on it’s former self.
The discounted items were far fewer, the book selection lame and a clear shortage of stock.
I asked for the new John Murry album, the new Jackson Browne album and the Electric Muse set and none of them were in stock. I overheard two of the staff talking about a management course where they had been advised they either had to buy cheaper or increase the prices of the items on sale.
I have had many happy visits to FOPP in London, Nottingham, Bristol and Manchester over the years. This isn’t the first time that I felt underwhelmed but it was a more noticeable decline this time. My guess is that HMV are winding the brand down because it is the first time when i would have been better off being in a HMV store where the store is much bigger and bargains can still be had.
Thanks for the memories FOPP.
Has FOPP gone down the nick?
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I visited the Cambridge Circus branch a month ago and had the same experience.
My one visit to London and I didn’t buy anything, none of the 60s Zappa I’d hoped to get was there, so opted instead for Selectadisc (brilliant back catalogue selection) and Reckless (cheap as chips ska/rock ‘n’ roll/surf stuff on good labels).
It’s such a shame to hear these tales – about three years ago I bought a massive chunk of the post-Rykodisc Zappa back-catalogue on CD from Fopp at very competitive prices; about £500 quid’s worth over a period of six months or so.
Going back into the office after lunch with a placcy bag full of a dozen or more Zappa albums at a time, they all thought I was weird. Such uncivilised, strange people I had as team mates.
@Vulpes_Vulpes
Well if you will insist on wearing brown shoes to work each day
@Vulpes-Vulpes
Well if you will insist on wearing brown shoes to work each day
Shoes? Good grief.
I didn’t realise until recently that the Fopp in Oxford had closed down. HMV pulled out of Oxford some time ago, so there is now no major record shop presence in the city. The Gloucester Green Fopp wasn’t the best, but their prices and stock levels were at least reasonable.
That closed down two years ago.
Was it ever that great especially after the rescue? You could always buy old catalogue CDs for a fiver or something but the prices for new stuff on CD and vinyl were/are very high.
Dear, oh dear. I reckon shops have imperial phases, like bands. Fopp was at one point definitive for £50 persons (i.e., us). In a previous era, Virgin had this role. (TBH, I liked Virgin in the very earliest, pre-punk years, with “heads” nodding “nice” as they listened to “Tonto’s Expanding headband” on the “phones”. But the 80s Oxford Street superstore was pretty good. Not that it was LA’s Amoeba Records. ) Borders had it’s moment, as has had Waterstones. These days i buy online or via the chazzers. If you saw my house, you’d refuse to allow me to buy another album, book, or DVD.
Clock Tower Brighton was peak patchouli Virgin. Achingly hip(pie), and terrifying for a short haired schoolboy, however much he craved to be in Quintessence or the Third Ear Band.
Exactly the one I would use, living in Hove! The pong of patchouli, damp denim, roll ups, extract of spliff, and Afghan coats is 1974 Brighton in one huff. I bought my ticket to see Led Zeppelin at Earls Court there, and suffered patronising smirks when I used birthday vouchers to acquire my Supertramp and Pink Floyd records. Might we have known each other back in the day?
Nervous looks across the sales floor as the impressively long haired staff barely deigned to serve civilians, even if they were still children…… No wonder I used to go to the record shop in Churchill Square instead, who wouldn’t smirk as I bought Byrds and Burritos retrospectives….
Cans, my boy, cans.
Some people.
Correct; I’d forgotten.
I went to Fopp on Thursday too, Covent Garden, first trip into London in 2 years. Started in Flashback, near Brick Lane (superb, Iasos double vinyl, ultra chilled, ambient £15) Sister Ray Berwick St, Soho (excellent, picked up the 3 Supergrass cds i dont own, £2 each secondhand,) Reckless (a few more secondhand cds – Lemon Jelly, Van the Man, Jamiroqui,) the over to Fopp. Bugger all, expensive, nowhere near the enjoyment of the past. Only a few jazz cds on the cheap, the fun has gone from Fopp. Used to spend a lot in there. Such a shame.
Glad I walked straight past the Earlham Street Fopp earlier today. The last couple times I did go in I didn’t buy anything.
Fopp doesn’t really exist. I don’t know if, legally speaking, it is a separate entity from HMV but in terms of what is in stock the remaining Fopp stores are just HMV shops with a different logo over the door and maybe a slightly different strategy in terms of what they stock and have on main display. Certainly gone are the days when it was piled high with bargains. The Manchester Fopp still has a huge wall of cheap classic albums on CD so yes you can still get Pet Sounds, Unknown Pleasures, Dare, Nevermind, Definitely Maybe for a fiver but that’s it. To be frank I’m still amazed – and quite delighted that HMV still exists never mind Fopp. My nearest branch Stockport HMV is excellent and very well stocked for a small town branch – I don’t mind buying my more mainstream purchases from them so not a penny goes to pay Amazon to put giant dildos into space.
Actually Amazon has quite agood choice of Dildos !!
Well they’ve got No Angel and that other one…
*puts on reading glasses*
Oh right.
The last few times I have been in Fopp it’s books I’ve bought. They always have a fairly decent selection of music books and classic fiction at decent prices. Blu-rays are pretty good as well.