Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

 
 
Monday, 6th October 2008 Change Date

Free Keith Jack CD to claim with your Evening News

Premium Article !

Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button.

Options

Premium Article !

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the Edinburgh Evening News site.

Subscribe

Registered Article !

To read this article in full you must be registered with the site.

Sign In
Register

Music goes quiet as Fopp calls in E&Y



Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date: 29 June 2007
SCOTTISH music store chain Fopp was today on the verge of administration, just days after it closed its doors for an extraordinary stock take.
The firm has called in Ernst & Young (E&Y) to look at its options, which include administration, while some staff claim they have been told they will not receive their wages.

Fopp, which started as a stall in an arcade in Glasgow in 1981 by Gordo
n Montgomery and has since built up a network of around 50 stores nationwide, has been in talks with its bankers and E&Y administrator Colin Dempster after it stopped online sales and credit card transactions in its stores.

A spokeswoman for E&Y said: "We have been brought in to discuss the options with the management."

But she insisted Mr Dempster had not yet been appointed by the court as an official administrator.

Some staff claimed they had been told they would not receive their pay packets today and intimated that they would be "protesting in the strongest terms at their extremely bad treatment by this company".

Fopp opened its latest store in Cumbernauld just three weeks ago, but last week closed all of its shops, claiming it was undergoing a massive "stock taking" exercise. On its website, the retailer says it can no longer take online sales due to "circumstances beyond our control".



The full article contains 233 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 29 June 2007 8:33 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Liz,

29/06/2007 12:33:36

This is really sad news, Fopp was a great wee shop.

2

Big Lad,

Carlisle 29/06/2007 13:35:03

I want and need my pay, this is disgusting.

Who will feed my kids and pay my bills.

I hate this company.

3

Alexander Harvey,

The Sensational 29/06/2007 14:30:32

1. A wee shop that tried to be big. It always happens...

4

Pat M Adog,

London 29/06/2007 14:57:24

I wonder if the board of buffoons who got the company into this mess got paid this month? I fancy they did.

That the staff have been treated this way should come as no surprise and is only another example of the shabby business ethics of the board of directors who have succeeded in bringing this great chain of shops to its knees two years.

5

ciaranj,

London 29/06/2007 16:18:36

I used to work for Fopp in the Midlands many years ago, and vaguely knew the owner. This is sad, but seems to be a classic case of over-stretch - I hope that they find a away out of it.

6

Aloysius Munn,

Edinburgh 29/06/2007 16:54:09

Yeh, it was good while it lasted, but latterly Fopp had too little to differentiate them from the competition.

Maybe the main two mistakes they made were importing senior management from HMV, and - more importantly - losing the services of Stan Cullimore lookalike Peter Ellen, who was surely the retail genius that surely gave Fopp much of its impetus back in the Renfield Street/ South pavement of Cockburn Street days, and forged the way for the success that followed.

Fopp should have had a better website too. Their online music/dvd shopping 'experience' was, frankly, a load of Barry White.

Fopp - you will be missed. Where am I going to get my cheapo reissue of Abraxas tomorrow now?

Laters, and sorry it didn't work out.

7

Aloysius Munn,

Edinburgh 29/06/2007 16:58:16

commenter#4

if it's true the staff didn't get paid, then El Gordo Montgomery should stump up out of his pension fund, it's the fair thing to do.

If not - nae sympathy Gordo.

8

,

29/06/2007 19:55:22
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason: Scotsman Import, Original comment id: 748943, Article id was mapped to record!
9

bigladatthebackpost,

29/06/2007 20:52:21

It all went tits up when they started phasing out vinyl. This was one of the things that kept them ahead of Virgin/HMV etc as Fopp's staff knew their stuff and cared about the product. At least Avalanche hasn't tried to take on the big boys at their own game, if we lost them I'd be heartbroken. As it is I'm pretty upset about poor old Fopp.

And I used to quite fancy the Canadian girl that worked in Cockburn St....

10

slackdad,

Manchester 30/06/2007 11:28:55

Real shame, but how many times do you see a company think it's bigger than it's boots. What were they thinking taking over Music Zone? Prior to that they'd grown fairly organically with a shop launch or two per year. Agree with the comments about the website as well. Really sorry for the staff affected by this.

How many years has the CD got left now?


 

Comment on this Story

 

In order to post comments you must Register or Sign In

 
 
RSS Feed of this article's comments
Delivery formats: RSS, Atom, Javascript & Email
 
  

 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.