His Masters Voice
HMV is set to go into administration after 92 years and bang goes another big name store that holds memories from my youth. As a young metalhead I used to hang around outside the Swansea HMV in the quadrant with all the other headbangers, clutching our newly bought heavy metal vinyl/cassettes and discussing our 'scene'. Truly great times when it was a joy to go to Swansea.
But times they insist on change, demand it with a stubborn fist like a barfly ordering another scotch. Like the water in our oceans, nothing stays still not even steel and concrete. Our town and city centers are vastly different to how they were in the 1980s and its not just fashion that is making the difference. I fear that all that is going to be left open are pound shops and mobile phone 'bars', which is a reflection of how cheap and lazywe have become as a collective society. (And if there is a kind way of being cheap and lazy, then this is the way I mean it. Im not condemning anyone for online shopping.) The 'hivemind' is targeted toward bargains, good things for less (largely due to the internet) and bricks and mortar shops suffer as a result.
There is nothing wrong with bargain hunting of course, as long as we remember that other things (shop wise) will get hit by it. We bemoan the fact that big stores are disappearing yet all we do is shrug our shoulders, pick up the mouse and surf on over to Amazon, Zavvi, Netflix, etc to merrily contribute to the death rattles of the high street. It seems we will miss them once they vanish for good but not that much.
Mr Jakes is no less guilty, afterall the convenience of Tesco online is difficult to ignore and its so simple these days. (Not to mention warmer/safer in the midst of the snow and ice we are currently experience in Britain.) But I admit I buy from the internet with a heavy heart (and lighter wallet,) my mind racing back to the times spent outside Swansea's HMV in the Quadrant with every virtual basket I fill. Oh so bittersweet.
