As an ex manager of fopp ,I have to question the amount of emotion being displayed about its closure(I feel for the staff of course-I myself have been there) but are we really talking about the fopp that exists (or doesn't as the case may be) or the one that existed 10 years ago.To be honest the strategy they adopted for their world domination was always on a shaky peg.For example the last time i visited the store in was dominated by DVDs all of which were not at all competitive in the slightest ,still they were racked out in bulk like they were £5 cd's-the chain rose to the the giddy heights by the parallel import system ,buying bulk orders from France etc where the trade price was cheaper via such companies as fatcat,silversounds etc.Now stop a moment and ask the question how many dvd players do you have in your house...........?.are any of them Multi region( even if they are not would you buy one if fopp had adopted the same strategy it had with cds to dvds in this case region 1 dvds most of my dvd purchases are region 1 from the states and very much cheaper.
I mourn the demise of independents but to be honest that happened a long time ago, to pretend that Fopp was different from Virgin is ridiculous ,anyone who's old enough will tell you how exciting it was as a youngster going up to the singles floor(where the staff could smoke whilst they served) and going through boxes of records like an explorer,all those strange Japanese Jam singles .Virgin back then resembled a record Fair not a shop.Then one day the computers took over,all the shops were refitted and the place became soulless.When virgin became the dull hotel lobby of musics death(and this happened long before Internet downloading) it allowed a gap ,a gap fopp and others exploited but you really can only get so big before the same fate happens to you.I remember the look on Gordon Montgomery's face when Tower Records went down,sheer joy.Well the gap is back,evolution will happen ,bands don't really need record companies.In the words of Orange Juice it is a case of RIP iT Up AND START Again.Small exciting bands .Independent meaning Independent.PUNK ROCK
Having spent a delightful evening in the company of Gordon and his pathetic sons in a Dundee Hotel the post by an ex employee saying that he couldn't care less about the money owed to him the sight of Gordon's son crying when the inevitable happened was pay enough made me laugh.
Well the idea he brought his sons into the business and gave them positions of authority is in itself ridiculous................There were many hapless people in positions of power in fopp over the years but that takes the biscuit ,more arrogant spoilt little shits i have never in my life met.
Tower had more spirit and character than Fopp ever had if you have to mourn anything mourn Tower it gave you choice.
Want Independent -shop at Monorail and try buying something that isn't in the top 100 it wont be £10 but it could stay with you the rest of your life.
