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June 29th, 2007

Fopp flops as shops stop

[Please excuse this headline - if you can say it five times in quick succession give yourself one thousand points]

What a shame. I just heard from Neil that the Fopp chain of compact disc shops is closed. Fopp sold lots of compact discs for five pounds or only three pounds, which is quite a good price for internet cartoonists. Internet cartoonists can’t really afford eight pounds or ten pounds or twelve pounds except on special occasions.

My favourite Fopp shops were Reading, Cardiff and Cambridge. Which were yours?

20 Comments »



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20 Responses to “Fopp flops as shops stop”


  1. Carl says:

    I am distraught. Nottingham Fopp was my favourite record store of all, let alone my favourite Fopp…

    First Music Zone, now Fopp…

    June 29th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
  2. Mr. Rhod says:

    no no – the Bristol (Whiteladies Road) one was clearly superior. It did food and everything. AND there was always someone I knew there.

    I’m just confused now…

    June 29th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
  3. ~c. says:

    Cambridge, the only one I’ve been to.

    June 29th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
  4. David Reimer says:

    Oh nooooo!!!

    Cockburn Street, Edinburgh.

    ;(

    June 29th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
  5. John Davies says:

    I will lament the Fopp in studenty Byres Road, Glasgow, where I bought the Dead 60s album and listened to it whilst walking the aptly named Great Western Road… and the Soho one which was always worth dropping into en-route to the more complex pleasures of Routh Trade’s Neals Yard cellar (also due to close once they open their new store on Brick Lane) … we never had one in Liverpool but this morning I was shocked to note the shutters down on Music Zone – which Fopp bought out some time ago. Ah well, you’re best shopping at yer local independent store anyway, like the long-established Liverpool psych-rock haven Probe.

    June 29th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
  6. Neil says:

    Yeah the two Edinburgh stores were brilliant, Everything seems to be going bust these days :(

    (Not that I will exactly miss KwikSave)

    June 29th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
  7. jody says:

    I don’t know what you’re talking about

    June 29th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
  8. Helen says:

    Nooooo! I loved Fopp in Bath and was waiting for them to expand to Dorset!!!

    June 29th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
  9. Mary says:

    Disaster… the Edinburgh Cockburn Street store with its ever friendly staff salvaged many an almost-forgotten birthday.

    June 29th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
  10. moog says:

    Boooooo

    and great books too

    Sheffield was my favourite store

    June 29th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
  11. Dave says:

    Greetings to all the compact disc buying readers who have commented.

    As I was bicycling to Basildon this afternoon I was thinking about what I wrote above. Conclusions:

    1) Businesses like this probably rely on people buying the products with significant profit margins as well as the £5 ones to survive. Therefore, as someone who rarely did buy anything full price from Fopp I am partly to blame. On the other hand I can hardly blame myself for the fact that I like unfashionable (and therefore cheap) music.
    2) As an artist it is probably hypocritical for me to buy only £5 CDs and then grumble (to myself mainly) when people don’t want to pay the going rate for cartoons.

    Sorry everyone.

    June 29th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
  12. John says:

    The Edinburgh ones rocked… affordable rocked!
    Sad news indeed.

    Regards
    John

    June 29th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
  13. Miss Dagurreotype says:

    Your headline sounds like something out of Variety.

    June 29th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
  14. Aaron says:

    Man…Sam the Record Man just closed in Toronto. It must be open season on cool music shops.

    June 29th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
  15. ~c. says:

    Dave…what is the going rate for cartoons?

    June 30th, 2007 at 3:07 am
  16. Jaded for Jesus says:

    Oh, how sad! Yes, Helen, the Bath one in the Corridor was my favourite haunt. And there’s a second, much bigger Fopp in the city too – not that I visited it much. Could that have been part of the problem? – was their Achilles heel the expensive-yet-under-visited second shop in Bath? Or maybe the see-through bags? That did make subtle gift-purchasing for friends and family a bit of a challenge.

    June 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
  17. Helen says:

    The second one in Bath had just about opened when I left. Unfortunately, it was well out of the way of my general meanderings about town so I never went there. I think that may have been a bigger problem though :o (

    June 30th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
  18. Peter says:

    Warwick University had a Fopp shop and many people are despondent.

    July 3rd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
  19. pete townsend says:

    shock, horror, my fav music shop is closed .
    been to leicester Sq, TottenhamCt Rd, westbourne Park, Camden,Southampton,Reading. much better than the hmv/virgins, shame how they treated the staff in the end. tis a sad day.

    July 4th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
  20. fopp-watch says:

    Anyone who is owed money by Fopp – including its former employees and suppliers – should contact the directors:

    Gordon Thomas MONTGOMERY
    Chairman
    51 Waverley Road
    Bristol
    BS6 6ET

    David John PRYDE
    Managing Director
    31 Esmond Road
    Chiswick
    London
    W4 1JG

    Peter Martin HILL
    Finance Director
    15 Parsonage Lane
    Farnham Common
    Berkshire
    SL2 3NZ

    July 8th, 2007 at 1:01 am