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Rank: Horsham Forum Kingpin
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| Another CD DVD chain has gone under. It is sad to see Fopp close, a great sales force, always helpful. Unfortunately I think it proves that Horsham has too many stores of this nature BBC New Story
www.hiddenhorsham.co.uk 
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This is very sad news. Like you say the staff were a dedicated bunch and always friendly and helpful. Fopp was one of my favorite stores and I will be very sad to see it go. I disagree that there are too many stores of this nature in Horsham. Fopp, like MVC, Silverscreen and Music Zone before all closed due to national problems and not due to market forces in Horsham. The Horsham Silverscreen store was one of the best performing branches in the country which implies that there is still a strong market for DVD sales in Horsham. Following the closure of Music Zone we were basically left with Fopp and HMV. These stores operate in different markets. HMV carries mostly chart material and also stocks other goods like computer games etc. Fopp specialised in back catalogue material at incredibly low prices. I believe there was, and still would be, room for both these stores in Horsham. Unfortunately Fopp's downfall began when it took over Music Zone. Like so many other businesses it over stretched itself. I am speculating but I would imagine that taking over these stores en masse has resulted in them inheriting a few stores in areas where they could not compete. Had they continued to grow slowly, picking up new stores in areas where they stood a chance of competing then they would have still been thriving. Music downloads and chart sales by supermarkets has definitely dented the traditional music store market but I still think there was a market for Fopp's 'back catalogue' approach. Many people still like to own traditional CD's and with so many 'old' bands making comebacks nowadays there is still strong demand for their material. So good luck to all at Fopp. Thanks for helping to bolster my music and film collection over the last few years. I hope everybody finds suitable employment elsewhere. Regards
--------------------www.visithorsham.co.uk | www.virtualhorsham.co.uk
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I don't know the Fopp store at all but I agree that supermarkets and music downloads make it very tough for high street stores. I guess I am contributing in part to the closure of high street stores because I tend to buy my CDs online these days. It's difficult to argue with chart CDs for £6.97 or 'back catalogue' CDs for less than a tenner.
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Many of the back catalogue CD's on sale in Fopp were actually cheaper than they were available online, especially if you take delivery charges into consideration. Fopp stocked many different artists' back catalogues for around £5 for a single album. The stores were also well laid out which meant you often found yourself spending a lot of time 'browsing' and making unexpected 'impulse' purchases. I honestly think they could have survived the competition from online retailers had they not over stretched themselves by taking over Music Zone.
--------------------www.visithorsham.co.uk | www.virtualhorsham.co.uk
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| Given a choise I would go for Fopp over HMV because of the budget prices on back catalogue items. Replaced quite a bit of vinyl over the recent months Lets hope HMV can survive!
www.hiddenhorsham.co.uk
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| On Saturday 14th July this tribute was outside the shop: 
The text reads 'in loving memory Fopp (RIP)'
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| It is a real shame but it hardly came as a surprise when told of Fopps demise given that I'm an ex-employee of Silverscreen, BBC Shop, MVC & Our Price. It is interesting to think that Horshams best entertainment retailer is now Dave & his market stall, you can find him down by the fountain.
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Hi qusjux thank you for registering and welcome to the forums. That's a bit of an unlucky run you had there! I hope you are in more stable employment now. I have made purchases in all of the shops you mentioned at some time and was sorry to see them all go. I am still shocked and disappointed to see Fopp collapse. I still maintain if they had stuck to their original formula their would have been a success. I know people of all ages that regularly shopped there and their customers were quite loyal as the rather bizarre 'tribute' illustrates. Unfortunately it seems that corporate greed played a part in there downfall. Buying Music Zone was a BIG mistake.
--------------------www.visithorsham.co.uk | www.virtualhorsham.co.uk
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