High Street Giant Crumbles

I'm sure you are all aware of the collapse of the UK high street store Woolworths. This means the loss of jobs for many people in the retail and logistic sectors, and really couldn't have come at a worse time for employees.

"Woolies" main core business over the last few years is CD and DVD sales, they now find that they just can't compete with online retailers and music download websites.

While I feel sympathy for the employees I have absolutely no sympathy for the store. Woolworths only went after the sale of populous chart music, compilations, and blockbuster movies and DVDs. They had such huge buying power that they were able to sell these at a vastly reduced price. This systematically put high street small independent record stores out of business.

The small stores that carried a large range of back catalogue material, had knowledgeable, intelligent staff who had a real interest in music and could order material they didn't stock have now vanished.

Woolworths changed the retail experience of music buyers forever, no longer are teenagers able to do what I did when I "were" a lad, stand in a tiny shop for hours on end trawling through weird and exciting records.

I'll not be sheding a tear over the loss of the big W.