I'm surprised that they are £13m in debt considering the price they charge for retails! And due to the fact they single handedly managed to force all local video shops that were better than them to close down I cannot say I feel sorry for them either.

Maybe this will mean we shall get better priced, more local rentals back soon.

Who is foolish enough to think that the sunny Easter period set the future of that business ? Seriously.
I will greatly miss the time where my rental/retail store was the best place to get the new releases.
And I certainly don't feel sorry for the directors, my thoughts go to the 1,800 people who will lose their job probably a lot sooner than they all expected. Talk about choices...

Typical of people who in the last 25 years or so have only managed to hang onto 1 store that they are gleefully watching the downfall of a business created from scratch.
No one is foolish to think that easter trading caused their downfall, Em you Idiot, Warm weather has always dented the rental; and retail markets. Warm weather affecting Easter trade was always a feature of Choices annual reports, even when they were on the up.

Choices were the victims, perhaps of overextending themselves in a market where costs and profit have become very volitile, being squeezed out by larger, dedicated online reatillers, piracy, and cut throat prices on the highstreet.
All we will see are more empty units on our streets that isnt cause for celebration at all.

Have worked in store for Choices for 3 years and enjoyed every minute - and yes - administration is a shock. Based on recent reports the less profitable stores were to be closed - ours is the 3rd profitable in the company and the only one of its kind in the town & surrounding area.
Anyhow, being a mere Supervisor, mother of 4, carer to hubby, mortgage payer etc, nothing I can say will stop the wheels of power from turning and putting me out of work. All I can say is a big THANK YOU & best wishes to the other 9 members of staff (good mates too!) and everybody else I have had the pleasure of working with - past & present. Good luck Dx

i work in blockbusters n the pressure to sell is huge if people actually realised the tiny % we make from dvd rental it would shock them !! I do feel very sad that this has happened choices were a good stores who gave us a run for the fat cats money !!

Choices are the victims of very poor management. They floated to allow their founders to cash in and were then under pressure from the Stock Market to increase profits. So what did they do? Spent £10 million on a television station (run by the chairman's son) which had the sales of a decent car boot sale and another £5 million on improvining their internet presence - which was not better than before. If ever there was an argument to put directors in front of the courts for poor management this was it. 1800 people will probably lose their jobs because of it!

As a previous Product Manager at Choices UK's head office and one of the first to be culled off due to the slow decline of the company, I know better than most what goes through the heads of the people at the top of this company.

I feel the deepest regret to those staff in the stores who do a fantastic job in the face of considerable adversity. I really hope they find new posts with companies that will genuinely appreciate their contribution. I very much enjoyed my time with Choices and although I would have loved to have been there longer, I could see the warning signs and the lack of impetus to avoid this outcome. I appreciate that everyone has 20:20 hindsight but driving the business towards Shopping TV, incongruous merchandising/procurement functions and pursuing a convenience based style of retailing but not having the confidence to commit to making radical changes could really only end one way. Pity really because I truly admired the retail director Doug Morton, he was the only one who talked sense.

So many fab people work for the company, but HO is incredible! changes in promotions, POS changes- all so trial and error and just money down the drain.

Its notable that certain members of the retail ops team are "away" until September and unavailable for comment, leaving their parting shot on the intranet "Go crackers with Platinum"!!! Should it not say, "thank you for your continued support"?
Good luck to all of you

If you look back into the history of Choices you'll see that things started to go downhill when there was an influx of people who had all previously worked at another retailer who had gone bust, be warned!

Choices demise was inevitable after they started replacing the top management team that made the business great in the 1990's with textbook managers more interested in their own advancement than building or sustaining the business. They convinced themselves that as long as Hollywood made films the business would be profitable. They also forgot to look at customer trends, spending millions of pounds launching a TV shoping channel without testing it or doing any market research was a terrible 'mistake' but doing that without employing an expert to run it was just plain stupid.
Who spends £2 - £3 million building websites these days? What was the strategy behind sacking the experienced people who built the business over a number of years and replacing them with a group that failed so miserably at Virgin.
The business failed because there was not one person left on the board who had the vision, drive or commitment to run a public company

A note from the front lines....I'm still an employee here and the atmosphere is terrible...I only hope things work out for this company...

I used to work for Choices at their Head Office in Peterborough up until a few months ago (I have since left and am working for a proper company!). No one was encouraged to bring ideas in to improve the business, in fact it was more-or-less stated that 'it was part of your job' to make and implement suggestions for no reward, something which I did on several occasions. When I joined, several years ago, the business was buoyant and things looked good. The decision to start up a TV channel was really the killing blow. Who shops through their TV anymore? It was a blatant ego-trip for the Chairman and his producer son and as for all the money they spent on their website, well...for what? No-one knows it's there because it's never advertised. Everyones heard of play dot com, purely because it's in the press and on TV - simple really. I'm glad I got out when I did, but I really feel for all the friends I left behind and hope they find something else soon, because I cannot see a way back for the company now, they're in too deep!

Oh dear......a very sad time for all of us who still shop the old fashioned way. Anyone who values the option of shopping around and renting rather than buying will see this as desperately sad news.
The staff in the stores I have come across have worked there years and love their Company. If they can just raise a final push I'm sure there will be a happy outcome. Be positive! Don't let a fab set of stores yield once again to the internet giants.
BTW its not just their stores that'll go. Ever bought a CD or DVD from your local corner shop or motorway services? Well its these guys that put them there! Come on Choices YOU CAN SURVIVE!!!

I was a member of the head office staff for over 5 years, until out of the blue me and the team I was part of were made redundant as what we were told was part of a streamlining and re-structuring exorcise. This happened midway through a website re-launch, a process that we had painstakingly been working on for over 12 months prior. A process that would have given Choices the online presence and kudos they deserved on par with the likes of Play.com and HMV.

This re-structure turned out to be complete bollox, with the positions filled with members of staff who 1) didn’t have a clue 2) turned out to be “friends” of senior management. From the off this was no way to run a business this coupled with the farcical TV station that money was wasted on ChoicesUK/HEC was a sinking ship a very long time ago.

My fingers are crossed for the friends I still have working within the head offices, the best thing they could do now is get a decent online sale live. :-)

Hi Brendan :O)

must be a reason why they are "ex employees"

Hi Brendan :O)

must be a reason why they are "ex employees"

I still work for the friggin company. From day one my fella suggested that I make a note of everything wrong with the company...like having 4 uniforms in a year...wrong POS made and sent out. Appenix's for sales dished out only to be ammended or completely wrong 3 days later. It would have been fun to read. i feel sad for friends i will miss mmm miss

Blaming the weather is like saying the dog ate your homework! The success of any business is ultimately on the shoulders of senior mgmnt. How they train & support the frontline people. I agree the TV project was poorly executed when the internet was the better investment. Poor POS implementation & promotional appendices getting rewrites a day later. Too much spur-of-the-moment decision making & not enough listening to store managers who knew best. Not price matching to compete with my local supermarket.

i worked for the company (andromeda entertainment) that choices took stock and contracts from just over a year ago we had the same problems too some of our staff were recruited by choices in management and other positions they were offered better positons but obviously now they are in the same boat agian but with nothing to gain

I worked for the company at its Head Office in Peterborough for many years. The staff there were dedicated and hard working, I feel for the many friends I still have working there at this trying time. Some of the comments about the employees is totally unfounded everyone there was working towards the same goal. Sure mistakes were made but it wasn't out of malace, these people are in the same boat as everyone else worrying about mortgages and money. Good luck to all.

People are fast enough to judge, yea ho are stupid and have no business sense but they have tried there hardest to turn this around. Its the mistakes that has actually made this company hit rock bottom. Ive worked for this company for 4 years and its the best job ive had, people i worked with were fantastic. All employees of the shops were always there to help everyone. Its a sad time for all us employees, who actually rely on this job to live day to day. People shouldnt be judging, they should try and make this company get out if this HUGE mess.Show ur support to the workers who will no longer have jobs. Good luck to all the employees that have lost there jobs and to the ones that are still working waiting for the day that they have the same news :(

Heard news today that at least 5 stores are to close their doors tomorrow. Some staff in these stores have become friends. We've had good times and many a laugh - today we had the tears :-( It only took a phone call from the administrators, didn't get call today, but what about tomorrow?? Within 24 hours, your life has changed, such a shame it has had to come to this.
Many staff have been leaving h.o., like rats fleeing a sinking ship, but many shop staff are Captains going down with their ships!! We've been the people keeping customers safisfied, making sales to put money in the till, money that pays everyones wages.
Remember the memories, they are with you forever xx
All the best for the next few days, you are not alone xx

I think that a lot more than 5 stores are closing. Wrexham, Winsford, Hunts Cross, Newcastle, Stone, Shrewsbury are gone on our area that we know of. Im sure that there are plenty more.

I hope that there is at least a decent email from someone at HO. We seem to have been kept in the dark for so long and to approach this with a "business as usual" attitude, in spite of all the uncertainty we all feel. I do think that its only a matter of time for many of the other stores. We were certain that shops like Winsford and Stone would be safe but have been part of the cull.

I accept that there may be many genuine people at HO, but that doesnt change the fact that those in charge treat the store staff as nothing better than monkeys. They have done little to motivate teams and for the last few months there has been definite apathy. Communiation from Ho has been very poor other than to crack the whip. Stupid ideas such as new releases for 1 night for £3.95 made customers vote with their feet and go elsewhere. This followed by further price changes due to the whole "trial & error" style of doing things have made it look a real mickey mouse style operation.

Staff have tried their best to defend the decisions and maintain business in the face of real adversity and this is the repayment. I am still waiting for an email that conveys some gratitude and sympathy for the 3 years that I have worked and the final weeks of uncertainty.

My sympathies to all of you, all the best for the future

Mr Bean, Well said!!!! Hi from the US everyone

Mr. Bean, the product and marketing teams were always to blame, so why would things change now!

We done to Mr Bean - could not agree more.

People need to realise that the 'ground staff' at Head Office were often as kept in the dark as the stores.

They did their utmost to support stores but Management ultimately had the final say. Store managers be honest you know that some of the staff at head office went above and beyond the call of duty for you. Offers changing, wrong POS was not the fault of the 'ground staff' at Head Office but the Managment who would bring in changes without proper consideration for what it would mean for all. POS was often designed in a matter of minutes and with very little imput from above apart from to say 'we don't like it'

Everyone has worked hard over many years and not one of the Choices UK staff deserves this.

Keep your chin up - there is life outside Choices and I am sure that you will all go on to better things.

Mr Beans Friend, you are right there is life outside of Choices Im living proof. I am sure that you will all go onto bigger and better things.

Its unfair to say that stores are not sticking together- those that have been closed still turned up today to meet the recievers and worked until close last night. Nobody is blaming the whole of Head Office, but nor is it the fault of store staff- nor does it mean that their suggestions were poor. Its rude to suggest otherwise- also rude to berrate ex staff so publicly AND to name them (but yes, the Belgian chocolates were shocking!!!) but so were the thousands of Band Aid singles that were ordered and never sold. Ok everyone makes mistakes, but its unfair to have a go at store managers, who like everyone else have had to work in adverse conditions. (incidentally, Im not a store manager)

Alex Brough- I never met you, but spoke to you a few times and always found you to be sound.
Well done for apologising for your mistakes

I just wish i colud say I was an ex employee! I now have twice as much work to do running my store and closing down others (at minutes notice yet again, just like everything with this company) If I could find other work I would tell them to stick their store closures up their.......

whilst trying to run my store best i can in these sad and uncertain times. i have just found out today that i have to hire a van and pick up stock from one store and transport it about 440miles up the road to another store. i bet you that the store that has this stock will close within the next week... so why can it stay where it is and just sell it off there... oh i forgot, choices just love to waste money..il have to make sure my van doors are locked, i wouldnt want any thing to fall out now!!

It is very unfair of Mr Bean to publicly say that, although anonymity is such a comforting blanket. (I did not feel I needed its protection, “Mr Bean”). I think useless is a bit strong though; there were no end of obstacles and difficulties in getting anything done, and although mistakes were made, it is unprofessional and needlessly childish to say I was useless.

I have always stated I enjoyed the role but in retrospect I am very much better off now. At least I don't have to compete in the soon to be very competitive employment market, full to busting with Mr Bean and his loyal yet misinformed friends.

As a member of the public who has used Choices for DVD rental for 7 years, I think it is a great shame that it has lost the battle with Blockbuster, online rental etc. I do feel for the people who will lose their jobs and I hope they find work soon.

However, I do find it quite poor that people on here just pass the buck from one person to the next, having a go at anyone. Most people have bee really kind to each other as employees/ex-employees, however Mr Bean was quite rude in his comments about AJB, and I'm pleased someone defended him. Mr Bean stated he did not want to stoop to other people's levels: well having a go at people like that is just as bad. The respect I had for his initial comments was lost when he then bad mouthed AJB and the poor Welsh lady. I think this forum is becoming a playground. I also think those people who have praised him for his comments should be ashamed of themselves.

It is very unfair of Mr Bean to publicly say that, although anonymity is such a comforting blanket. (I did not feel I needed its protection, “Mr Bean”). I think useless is a bit strong though; there were no end of obstacles and difficulties in getting anything done, and although mistakes were made, it is unprofessional and needlessly childish to say I was useless.

I have always stated I enjoyed the role but in retrospect I am very much better off now. At least I don't have to compete in the soon to be very competitive employment market, full to busting with Mr Bean and his loyal yet misinformed friends.

Did Anyone was able to post there statements, we could not, But At Last The E-Tops are working, must of pay a bill

I can understand why people want to slag other people off as they are angry, passionate about what they do and who they are, but this doesn’t help anyone or anything.

My thoughts go out to all the people that are still working in this poor enviornment and for those who have lost there jobs.

There are many factors why things are not working now and all of them have contributed to this end result so blaming is not going to help.

I will sorly miss the people that I have met and worked with.

People should be thinking of each other, wether they are still employed or not.

I hope those who have survived will end up in a better position and those who have not find something better.

My thoughts go to a man who came out of the Warehouse with his redundancy letter and said to me “What am I going to do at my age to find a job as good as this one, on top of that I have my wifes letter in my hand to take to her”

I am sure there are many more stories like this and everyone should think about each other and try to support each other.

All the best to everyone.

I was determined to try and act professional since the Administration was announced by keeping my opinions to myself. I acted with discretion whenever customers asked about the state of the business although my response to queries normally ended with "We are hoping for the best".

However, having been made redundant yesterday, I feel no guilt in saying the following: There were 29 store closures yesterday with a further 10 rumoured by the end of the week. My store was told via a phone call at about 4pm on Tuesday that we did not need to open the following day.

Now then, I can accept the fact that action had to be taken and as our store was not very profitable (although by no means the worst in the region), I was mentally prepared for that phone call. What I wasn’t prepared for was the way in which the company went about it. (By 'company' I am referring to ChoicesUK and PwC as a whole). We were told not to open the following day but all staff needed to arrive for a meeting at 9:30am to discuss the closure with a member of staff from HO who would be able to answer any questions we would have.

Not only was this meeting re-arranged at the last minute (i.e. 9pm the day before) to 11am, the person did not show up until 3pm and when they did, the information they gave us consisted of a scrap of paper with a help line number written on it. The member of staff that came for the meeting was from PwC and not head office and did not seem to be able to give us a straight answer to any of our questions. The best advice they seemed to be able to give was to go to the 'dole' office to claim any benefit we were entitled to. Also, they couldn't even tell us if we would get paid for the previous 5 days we had all worked - including the bank holiday.

Now then, I don't want to blame the person who came to our store (don't shoot the messenger) and I know there are those at head office who are certainly not to blame. However, the problem I have is I really don't know who is to blame as, to me, head office is a faceless building. Having worked for the company for 14 months, there have been 3 area managers - none of which ever visited our store - and I have never seen anyone from head office. Because of this, the only name I know to point the finger at is Graham Jackson. Although I have never met the man (and he lives very close to my store) it is from him we get all the emails talking about the weather and it is from him that we get the emails saying that all of the POS needs to be changed in the store. When rental trade was suffering, it was him that told us to get rid of the new release chart (a stupid idea in my eyes). OK that's one example but there are many more before that!

Although I'm sure it's not the case, I can't help but feel that anyone at head office has a clue what is going on at store level. Maybe it is a lack of communication but whose fault is that?

Anyway, I could write an essay on the subject but the truth is, having loved my job for the last 14 months, I feel betrayed and that Choices simply doesn't deserve any more of my time.

My heart goes out to all those who have already lost their jobs and to those who are probably about to! I also wish all the best to those hard workers in the choices stores during this uncertain time. Good luck!

To Say that the Product Managers are piss poor is totaly unfair, everyone tried their best to make sure that all stores had what they needed. Unfortunatly many stores that "didnt have enough stock" had incorrect inventories on their systems resulting in lower orders. Remember that everyone has a budget and you cannot just order stock on a whim and tie up capital in un-needed inventory. I feel bad for everyone store staff through to Head Office, now is the time to pull together and not tear each other apart. I have many friends that are Buyers and PM's at Choices and they ALL went way above and beyond what was within their job description at their desks at 7.30 AM and still there at 6.30 in the evening.

Much of the decline is not the fault of the Management but due to the decline in the industry, look at Apollo, MVC. Check out Blockbusters results both there and in the USA they are in trouble big time. Hollywood Video in the US is on the brink and close to administration. Yes its sad and hard for everyone. If you have to blame anyone, blame the guy down in your local pub or car boot sale selling New movies for 5 pounds a go, and the large supermarket chains of the world that have devalued Sell-thru videos to a point where they are a commodity and mean that rental is less attractive. Look at the RRP of the product and what they are actually sold for in many cases below cost.

To all of you I say there is life after Choices, hang in there.

To those who jump to graham jackson's rescue. think about this, if you were even partly responsible for the loss of 1800 other people's jobs. and of those 1800, many were your freinds would you take two weeks to laze around a Tenerife pool? or would you try to cancel and do your best. Graham jackson said he spoke to managers last week in his vague email, but did any of you speak to him? please reply, your all reading and so is the pol pot wannabee! My freinds at a nabouring store was closed down yesterday and he (and the area manager) couldnt be bothered to speak to them! Sorry all area managers are on 3weeks hols(coincidence?) make that a permanant holiday!!!

yep, last week Charley Jones was in the retail ops dept- handling all the crap on her own.
We have had no contact from Mr Jackson for some time now, nor from our area manager. Its pretty poor show really. Plus the stores that stay open have got crap loads of stock from other stores now.
Lets not forget that before Graham, Dave Leverton and AMs went away, Victoria Smith & Charley Jones both went off for a fortnight- seems weird, esp as its the begining of the holiday year.

Has it occured to anyone that the reason no one can get hold of Graham is that he was one of the first to go, he is probably on garden leave pending the inevitable and looking for a way to pay his mortgage just like anyone else.

why is graham jackson getting all the blame for choices demise? im sure the blame lies with many others at head office. i am working in one of the branches and i love it, we are a great team who works well together. i have made some really good friends since starting with choices a couple of years ago. it will be really sad if the worst happens, we just keep hoping some one will step in and buy the company. whatever happens i will leave with good memories.

I agree with 'Ex Choices PM' that it is wrong to lay all the blame on Graham Jackson or on any individual for that matter, the point I am making is that he seems to be the first name that comes to my mind as we recieve very little communication from anyone else at HO nor from our area manager. About the stock budgeting, it's a breakdown of organisation and communication between the stores and HO so I once again ask - whose fault is that?!

I am only speaking for myself but I know other employees that feel the same way.

The store staff aren't the only people who don't get much in the way of communication - no-one at head office gets told anything either - it's always been a major failing of management, keeping people informed.

As a current employee of Choices, I have to say this slanging match between H.O, Store staff and Ex employees is really starting to wind me up.

We should all be sticking together at these hard times. As for our current Senior Management I only hope you save the day in time for the remaining staff. I have enjoyed every minute of my time at Choices and really hope I can continue working with such great friends and colleagues.

I would also like to say that people naming and shaming certain members of staff are childish, rude and cruel. Please Stop this as it it not helping anybody!!!!

To those of you that have already unfortunatley gone from the business, I hope you all find jobs soon, good luck and take care.

best of luck to all choices staff in finding a new job.. ive still got mine.!

best wishes and kind regards

graham jackson

hey every one, blockbusters have some job vacancies going.

Just to clarify:

"Congratulations on being a complete moron."

was aimed at the impersonator, not you 'k' :)

Blockbuster would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, read their 2nd qtr report on the NYSE they ain't doing to well either. If you can, find a different industry or at least go work for Tesco they are part of the cause so you will be safe there for a while.

http://www.choicesukplc.com/careerdetailsst.asp

Check out the above link, for total incompetence, they are making people redundant yet on their web page advertising for managers. Complete B***S***t Directors in this business should be prossecuted and NEVER allowed to manage a business again.

I found out today that my local rental store in Oswestry (Shropshire) looks like it might be closing it's doors.I always thought Choices was HUGE and never thought they would go under.Me and the Wife have been members for a least 5 or 6 years now and always enjoyed our visit there.We have great banter with MAD Will as we call him (i hope he is not reading this lol) and the rest of the staff.Best of luck to all of you at Choices Video.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Troubled-film-retailer-begins-shedding.3160220.jp

doesn't look good guys...

Good god morale is low at the moment!!! Don't half feel like a sitting duck. Waiting for the downfall of a company whilst being told...'business as usual'! H.O. should be made aware that this is far from helpful. If ever words of encouragement, thanks, praise were needed, then it's now. However, this has always been asking for too much. A simple, you've all tried brilliantly...would be just whats needed right now.

This is a total bad situation but theres nothin much we can all do. Except for either hope the company gets saved or we find new jobs. And as for the welsh shops, they r the best :) My shop got closed down on tuesday,i only worked with the company for a month or so. i will miss all the staff in Cardiff 3 , Merthyr And Cardigan. They helped us out so much. Im sure everyone agrees. Im hopin u all get treated better and get on with ur lives. Take care all u guys

Choices USA is that you Big Al

ok, some comments have been written with emotion and could be construed as being emotional rather than factual. So heres what i have to say -
In any organization those in h.o are ultimately responsible for the welfare of all staff and the overall welfare of the company.
A retail operations manager is in charge of all retail operations.
In any other walk of life the retail operations manager would have been sacked for incompetence/poor performance long before the company went into administration.

Those are the facts of business.
So to all those defending h.o personnel and g.j in particular, well just take a look at our situation and have a rethink. Because regardless of how nice or how hardworking any of these people have been the cold hard fact of the matter is that they have been responsible for a company going bankrupt and the loss of 1800 jobs. Harsh, possibly, true, definitely.

An ex choices employee is on Big Brothers Big Mouth tonight- Paul Ross from the (s)hit tv channel "Choices tv"!

I just read the news story from the link above- its really sad.

I have LOVED working for Choices mainly due to the people & im sad to leave in such a way.

Its a shame that many of my colleagues ordered new uniforms- some of them ordered 4 or 5 tops at £4 each for nothing now. Im glad that I chose not to bother.

All the best to everyone, whether head office, managers, warehouse workers or store staff- we all had to work in a very uncertain environment over the last few months, good luck to all xxx

I do think that the front page of the intranet should say something about "thank you for turning up today during these uncertain times- your hard work & dedication is appreciated" rather than "Go crackers for platinum"

Good point about the shirts... what a waste of time & resources. Kinda sums the whole thing up for me

according to the times ian musprat said 70 shops are closing, 29 have gone when will we know who the other 41 are every time the phhone rings i feel nervous, just waiting for that call now.

bah humbug!

I was a H.O employee for seven years and my colleague and I was made redundant on Wednesday leaving behind very upset colleagues. I have met some great people at Choices H.O and I will miss them dearly, they were my little family of colleagues who have put up with my shit days and my bounce around smiley good days. Keep positive guys, we can't predict the future but as they all say things happen for a reason.
Rest In Poo - Choices - Simply ......... (let you lot decide on that one!) XXXX

Mr. Beans Friend, Yep its me

I escaped HEC (Home Entertainment Corporation) just over a year ago and I am glad I did. I left many good friends there at HO and I wish them all well. They wasted millions on the ChoicesTV Shopping Channel and blew the budget on the new web site so I understand.
It's such a shame that so much talent is wasted and ignored.
Good luck to all at Choices / HEC

spoken like a true h.o dimwit. Granted the market is in dire straits however the running of this particular company is/was nothing short of a joke. Lets be fair here, h.o are to blame for the company going into administration due to some serious errors, the market only hastened the fall from grace.
Stupidity and incompetence is not a valid excuse.

spoken like a true h.o dimwit. Granted the market is in dire straits however the running of this particular company is/was nothing short of a joke. Lets be fair here, h.o are to blame for the company going into administration due to some serious errors, the market only hastened the fall from grace.
Stupidity and incompetence is not a valid excuse.

RE: Comment 94 & 97. Did you read my comment, ChoicesUK is not the first and wont be the last, HO cannot be held responsible for market conditions. As for the HO Dimwit comment, Have you ever met the HO team and seen the pressure they work under? If you are so perfect then you will have no problem finding work in a HO position, then maybe you will finally understand.

Gotajob, I am not saying that I do not feel for everyone that is caught up in this mess from the PT employee through to Director. What I am saying is that everyone is in the same situation, and many posts on this site have been aimed at the HO team. I am not saying that they are perfect but then hey lets be honest some stores weren't either, with incorrect inventories, missing stock etc. As far as your career path goes thats entirely your choice good luck with it. My post is not to bash or not feel empathy for the stores because I do, it was to answer some of the posts where HO staff are being potrayed as public enemy #1.

Good luck to all

please please give us some info.
we can all blame bad weather, a crap easter but when it comes down to it the only real problem in my store is the lack of stock (or the same old crap as usual) keith sharpe leaving killed off the games dep.

Thanks Matt! Although I never met you, I've worked in your store a few times. By the way, Olly wont be happy you spelt his name like that ;-)

As for the previous argument, I'm interested to know why there is such contempt for HO amongst store staff? I have my opinions (and have already expressed some of them) but morale is particularly low at the moment and for HO to be getting all this blame, they must have done something wrong!

Please note that I'm posing a question - I'm not attacking anyone at HO here.

"Much of the decline is not the fault of the Management but due to the decline in the industry, look at Apollo, MVC. Check out Blockbusters results both there and in the USA they are in trouble big time. Hollywood Video in the US is on the brink and close to administration. Yes its sad and hard for everyone. If you have to blame anyone, blame the guy down in your local pub or car boot sale selling New movies for 5 pounds a go, and the large supermarket chains of the world that have devalued Sell-thru videos to a point where they are a commodity and mean that rental is less attractive. Look at the RRP of the product and what they are actually sold for in many cases below cost."

Your comment is completely correct.
Please read this comment and think about it carefully!

Hey there Choics USA great to hear from you if not under the best circumstances. Your comments are just so TRUE!!

Do people not releaise that our current Management inherited a number of problems not even 1 year ago and have beeen doing their best to put the company back on track, under difficut circumances.

It can not be easy trying to secure funding for the company when you see the likes of Global, Fopp, Silverscreen etc.. dissapearing and Blockbusters, HMV and Virgin all struggling.

They have been working tirelessly over the last few months to secure funding,so we would would not have to enter administration, but with the market conditions as they are this is not an easy time for any retailer/rentalers. As a previous comment said their shares are pretty much worthless do really think that have not tried to prevent this happening. We should really be more supportive to them, rather than being disloyal when they are trying to save the rest of the company and our jobs

There are alot of contributing factors as to we are in this postion like Supermarkets selling at ridiculously low prices, Online pressence and lets not forget Piracy and a declining market . We have to compete for every pound of diposable income which is also at an all time low, with constant interest rate increases etc.. I could go on and on.

Yes it's devastating that people have lost jobs, I myself have lost dear friends that I loved working with, it's a really sad time, so should'nt we use this time more contructively by pulling together and doing everything we can to save the company rather than blaming people that are not at fault.

I understand people blaming everyone else at HO for losing their jobs but at the end of the day, we're not stupid, we're hard workers and will get other jobs. My store closed Tuesday too. Shit happens I guess. Just want to say see-ya to those I will miss...Dave, Colin, Ray,Jim, Steve, Lewis, Ian to name a few. MMM....doomed xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi There, Not sure who you are but its good to talk to old friends. If you want to contact me Martin, John and Gary have my email. drop me a line.

I have worked for the company for 3 years now and we were one of the last new stores to be opened, i was assistant manager up until the beginning of this year when i decided to pursue a different career but remained part time at choices as i enjoy working there. We have yet to hear from the administrators but are just waiting for an e-mail or phone call, hoping that it doesn't happen when i'm in on my own monday morning.
As much as there have been some really bad decisions up in head office such as POS constantly being changed and prices going up and down so frequently...probably spent the £13m just on stickers, choices was not a bad company to work for and i have enjoyed every minute of it...but that is helped by having a fantastic manager and a good team of staff members!
I just wished they'd listened to the opinions of staff and managers a bit more rather than rubishing someone for having an opinion.

As an employee of Choices for over four years I'm really not surprised at being made redudant. I know everyone's trying to throw blame around and I can't make a lot of comments about Head Office or Graham Jackson but just the area managers I met. Of course Nick Lowe was the top dog and everyone knew it while Victoria Smith was not a people person and should've had a desk job instead of being appointed head of personel what a joke.

As someone mentioned earlier that store managers take all the flack, me myself having only worked as a sales assitant think that's mainly because you get paid more than we do although we have to do most of the donkey work, I've worked under five managers, and the two I've had in the last two years have been bone idle leaving me to change promotions, clean the store and generally organise rentals every week.

As for the reason the shops closed down, again I can only comment on what I saw and I think the TV station was a big mistake and only through reading this am aware that the boss's son was a producer for the whole thing. Also when I started the image of the store was simple - DVD and games rental and retail but over the past 18 months we seemed to have been flooded with CDs, magazines, badges, calendars, posters and more. And the diminishing rental aspect of the company that was surely our selling point of the company in the first place has dipped mainly because of the constant change in marketing - £3.95 for 1 night made a lot of customers leave the store and the rest were beffudled when 3 for 2 for 3 nights came in and then 3 for 9. I don't know whose ideas these were but as I say, it was a lot simpler and business was a lot better in 2003-2004 and I don't think we would've been shutting if someone hadn't made these mistakes.
You can blame piracy, play.com and lovefilm all you want but at the end of the day you have to look at some of these crazy decisions and wonder if these hadn't have been made would we all still have our jobs.

as a current Manager at Choices and have been for 10 years, lets put a stop to this bickering, lets all put the energy in criticising, into how we can get out of this mess, Graham Jackson has worked hard for this Company, I have not always been one of his biggest fans, but least he has a passion for this company and has come up with many new ideas, some have been succesful some not so, but how many ideas have other staff come up with? As for information comig out of Head Offie,all emails have to go through the Admnistrators nd it is them who should be blamed not GJ, as for holidays, with people at HO, these are booked in advance and have to be planned, maybe people at HO saw an oppurtuity to breakbad news then, maybe not, but who cares, its done, but come on ex employees, current Staff and customers, lets pull together, if you have a problem with staff at HO, phone them and talk to them, they have a job to do, just he same as you and me, rumour is Weds, should know whats going on, until we know lets just get on with our work, with a smile on our face and hope in our heart.

"Rumour is Weds, should know whats going on, until we know lets just get on with our work, with a smile on our face and hope in our heart"

Rumour was it was last Friday, then this Monday - noone knows what's going on - PwC are the ones running the company and they're not telling anyone anything.

If you've got any sense at all, you'll be looking for another job right now, because smiling and wishing for hope isn't going to save your position.

ok,ill make it simple.
Graham = Director of retail operations

Retail operations - BOOM....bye bye.

mmmmm, what does that mean? Im pretty sure he would have taken the praise and bonuses when the good times rolled, now its bad times he must take the flak.
Simplified, yes, true.....oh yeah.

In the words of the great Jim Carrey....."SEXY" ;-D

I have worked for Choices for 4 and a half years and enjoyed almost every minute of it. As with all companies and business', they all have there ups and their downs.

Yes people must take the blame, but Graham Jackson is not the only one at Head Office. At the end of the day, most of the responsibility has to lie with the main board of directors (of which Graham is not a member.) Like the rest of us, he has to answer to his boss.

The product teams have been doing all they can with limited funding and resources and I personally think they have been doing an outstanding job under the immense pressure of recent times! (All but the head of games I might add!)

The downfall of Choices stems back over many months, if not years. Why do you think that Gerad Barclay was fired. Then Mr Muspratt resigned as CEO earlier this year and then was booted off the board as he was holding the turnaround of the company back!

We all need to stick together, we are one team with one goal! What's happened had been predictable but it was all a matter of time.

Going back to the point made by HammersNut. All communication that comes out of H.O must first be approved by one of the administrators. Hence the reason, not a lot of information is coming out.

We should be hearing the outcome of our current situation on Monday or hopefully Tuesday at the latest.

Nothing is certain in business, we could all be made redundant or all carry on as normal. Who knows? What we can be certain of is that if we do survive, there has to be a lot of change!

whos the head of games? since keith left I thought it was dead? anyone meet keith? what a ace bloke.

Well what a surprise! Its was inevitable that Choices UK were going to loose sales, customers, money, and business.
It was always going to happen. I worked there and sales had began to decrease rapidly due to the increase of prices online and major companies like Tesco's.
When my Area Manager came to break the news, I was not shocked or surprised about the outcome of the store. And after a few years when we lost SMEE-thats when staff decided 'well whats the point'. The company take their staff for granted and never cared about how many hours staff were doing, and never took time out to look after the them. They were out to grab every penny and bared no thought about the people who worked all hours that God sends to assist the company.

Martin Baxter

Mooseman, where abouts r u from?

Oh come on you are all been so down, everything will be fine, and soon we will all be dancing around the rose bushes having a laugh with the G-DOG jackson all taking us on holiday to lanzarotte or what ever crappy holiday resort he chooses next time. Choices will return to glory and take over the world, watch out tesco we are coming to getcha!!!

Oh and btw, i am a certified mental patient and all i have said may not be true.

To all of the above who have understood the HO are not all to blame, thank you, its about time someone saw sense on this website instead of placing the blame on certain people.
I have met Graham Jackson and also many people at HO and they are a lovely bunch of people, extremely hard working and extremely good at their jobs.
At present the company is in administrators hands, good luck with everything, fingers crossed!
Also mr Truthteller? Have you actually met Mr Jackson? You can not make an opinion on him. This is a site for giving help and sticking together not making petty judegments.
Please grow up and understand everyone is going through a rough time at the moment and this is not a time to place blame on people whos fault it isnt!

Have I met Mr Jackson? Oh yes indeed. Trust me, I am VERY well placed to make a judgement on him.

WELL DONE TO HO, FOR CHANGING THE FRONT/HOME PAGE OF THE STORES BROWSER.

ITS ABOUT TIME THEY KEPT US ALL INFORMED OF WHATS GOING ON, AND ACKNOWLEGED US FOR ALL OUR EFFORTS.

PLEASE KEEP US UPTO DATE OF ANY MORE NEWS.

THANKS......STORE MANAGER.

Quite sad that as soon as something goes wrong, you all say I told you so. How clever you all are, Choices is a great business with a great history that has succumbed to market conditions, All is not lost, those of you that believe, watch this space, those of you that dont just leave and shut up.

We tried to develop the store business to quickly and are now paying for the consequences. I for one am not dissapointed at the loss of some of our stores as they have cost the business huge amounts of money, is that GJ's fault NO, it is the old Board who made these decisions and have now left the company. In terms of those people who have gone, judging by there comments we are better off without them, as far as the rest of us are conerned, keep positve, if we were going under belive me it would have happened by now

whoever is to blame i think the stores are entitled to daily updates even if it is letting us know if we can order stuff like sweets and drinks we are going to work doing 8 or 12 hour shift with customers asking us questions all the time but not buying anything and no deliveries is this making us money a straight answer would be nice so if any administrators are reading this please let us know as this is very downhearting good or bad news it would be nice to know one way or the other

did someone say that the front page of the intranet is keeping stores up to date? About time! Whats it say- I was made redundant last week so am out of the loop!

We will all find out soon enough. Tomorro or Wednesday id say. So keep your hopes up guys xx

My shop got closed within a matter of a day... I just cant believe they can play with peoples life's like this. Alot of people rely on choices wages even if they are shit!!

I would like to thank my staff for always doing a fantastic job. I hope we stay in contact and that choices dance will always be my fav.. lol ( you know who you are)

For the rest i hope you all find work quickly as i know most of ya need the cash..

take care

Nick Cropper, Colin Haig, Mike Jervis and Stephen Oldfield of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were appointed joint administrators of ChoicesUK plc ('ChoicesUK') on 22nd August 2007.

The joint administrators manage the affairs, business and property of the company as its agent and contract without personal liability. The administrators are authorised to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

The choicesuk group plc website has also been updated and says that.
Keep your heads up, you'll find out all the information you need in the next few days.

"In terms of those people who have gone, judging by there comments we are better off without them, as far as the rest of us are conerned, keep positve, if we were going under belive me it would have happened by now"

The comments we are making stem from anger and disappointment. We are angry that after years of service, very hard work and long hours with frankly little reward, they can shut us down in a day. Yes, the pay was crap but most people who I know do it out of love for the industry, myself included.

I would probably be saying the same thing as you David 2 weeks ago but having seen first hand how they are willing to dump on you like that, I'm afraid it's a case of 'when' and not 'if' the rest of the company goes under.

It's easy to say 'keep positive' when you still have your job! Not to worry, I'm sure the phat cats will get their payout after the rest of the company is disbanded.

Don't get me wrong, I do wish all the best to the people who still work there, some of which are very close friends of mine, but if I had to give advice, it would be jump before you are pushed!

what was that announcenent all about today that was sent by email? havent we already had that information about from pwc before? i thought it was going to be some important news.

no idea

it was a load of rubbish a simple your closing down or we have found a buyer would be nice

you should find out tomorrow whats going to happen

Iwhat makes u think that they will just keep us in dark as long as posible. Its horrible like waiting to be hung

I was so hapy but scared today when the email was sent but my god i was dissapointed in that...Like uve all said... we all know that. so why coudnt they just tell us straight instead of all this waiting? Its not fair on any of us... Id rather know. Any one know when were going to find out? What do you thinks going to happen?Has someone bought us out or we going to be made redundant?

think logically guys...who COULD buy us out? There is nobody in a position to do that, what is happening right now is that certain stores i.e corby will be cherry picked by other organisations and they may be ok. But even that is not a guarantee. Id guess that company wide a dozen stores will be picked up by other companies and the rest will close. There will certainly not be a buyer for the whole company as it is not good business to do so.

note to self: refreshing the home page on the intranet every half hour on a 12 hour shift is neither healthy nor helpful.
m-u-s-t stop my compulsive behaviour.

we are screwed retail shops have no chance

www dot webbivorydm dot com is the place to go to find out about who's bought local and direct

looks like the local and direct business are sitting pretty with webb ivory. there specialise in direct and mail order business. i bet they are rubbing their hands with glee by getting the choices divistions.

question is are they just going to take over the stock and logistics and make most of the operations side redundent.

i think we should start packing up the shop and go home.

good luck all

ChoicesUK (AKA HEC PLC) 1987 - 2007 RIP

just a thought whats happend to last weeks wage slips,

Hello all,

The main question is, are we, in the Retail sector now doomed to Redundancy? Its so kind of that group to buy the online sector - thus saving all those jobs, but what about us? We're the ones who look likely to lose out. Obviously, this isn't certain yet, but it seems to be the way its going. Please someone, save us!

Chances of the shops being bought as a going concern I'd say were slim - it's no secret that the home entertainment focused retail is a shrinking market, so why would anyone touch them as such?

The Webb group purchasing the direct and local sectors of the business is no guarantee of job security at HO either. No-one has been told that their job is actually safe due to the buyout - if Webb have their own people able to assimilate the business, why would they need more drones?

It's still very uncertain for everyone employed.

I have access to the Choices Intranet from home so I will post any info asap!

Im not sure what ti think anymore, yea half the company has been saved.....were all wondering whats goin to happen to us employed in the shops? Now they have sold the internet site n the local,and closed down the rubbish non profitable shops. they have money, so what have they done? Paid off some of the debt, while the profitable shops are still making them money. SO what will happen? No one knows, hundreds of things we could say but who knows what will happen?

Last weeks pay slips dont bother me, i had my money n im happy!

at present there is about 32 employees of ChoicesUK Retail, working at Head Office, this is in payroll, accounts, personnel etc, so don't think it's been all champagne popping, at head office today, just like the Stores there are people seriously worried about their jobs, so spare some thought for them, yes it does look bleaker, hope was that a Management buy out of the Retail Stores, might have saved our jobs, but it would seem that upper management have secured their own jobs in selling to Webb whatever group, but wouldn't you, leaving GJ to carry the can, I understand that for the next two weeks the Stores will be serviced by Peterborough, so it looks like we have a fortnight to survive! may I also sing the praise of Area Managers who must be in a no win situation, if we reduce the number of stores will they be needed? if we are taken over will they be needed? who knows but mine still has a laugh and a smile and they are true proffesionals I salute them.
Please Head Office be straight this rollercoaster of emotions is something I hate, tell us straight if noone is going to put an offer on the table or it looks doubtful, then warn us, but we have several interested parties is the same as us saying we had a busy da in the stores a lot of people were looking but noone was buying.

morning...

I can see the problem that HO would have telling us all, its hopeless. The moment they break that news, people may start deserting the stores. I'm sure some of you have thought it. I know people who are still considering it. My only advice now is to see it through to the end. Some people have quit before and not even got another job - silly! When made redundant, however rubbish they may be, we do have rights - and I don't mean redundancy pay - to whom, most people won't get. For those with debt and rent to pay, I am sure that the council must be able to do something - afterall, its what our taxes are for. I believe it comes under housing benefits.

So, how will today pan out? probably another long day of email watching. Agony is how I would choose to describe it. Never have I checked the computer so much in one hour.

If its going to happen, it will, I feel the best way is to accept that it most likely will happen. Get stock checks done, and get tidied up. It may save some hassle later on.

The Area Managers have been doing great jobs - I hope that they are recognised for this considering they could also lose their jobs any moment.

HO Staff - I feel for them as well. Others have mananged to secure their jobs by going to the new company - leaving the 32 remaining people. I do agree with a previous comment - considering loss making stores have been closed and have now sold off most of the company - it the money being used for debts or trying to help get the company on its feet again?

Anthony Skitt and other shareholders - why don't you buy us out of administration yourself - it'd be cheaper now!

Hi,
The retail division including the 32 head Office staff are still in the hands of the administrator, any proceeds of the sale of other divisions goes to the administrator as well in order to pay off creditors.
The business has been moving towards becoming awholesaler for the last 18 months and that's why we got Sommerfield and Welcome Break.
There is interest in stores in the same way that there was interest in Local and Direct...but obviously not all stores are profitable and with the track history of Silverscreen,Fopp, Global ,Mvc etc it will be harder to sell stores.
The Senior management will be moving on with the new business...GJ/DL/VS and the Area Teams are still here along with the rest of us...Interstingly whilst GJ etc take the Flak, i'm not sure they ever made any of the decisions , it was their job simply to run the stores on a daily basis,even when most of the stock was allocated on high to other divisions..Just think of the lost sales on Wii,PS3 etc..I wish all the rest of the people in HO well, but hope any sale happens Quickly!

How very rude! The stores have been deleted off the ChoicesUK Plc website and off the ChoicesUK.com site! Rumour has it that Blockbusters are very interested in the stores and also an American Games company that is looking to break out into the UK.

I have also read that it could take 2 to 3 weeks for any sort of sale to go through.

Although I would say dont abandon ship just yet, make sure you are actively looking for another job, just in case the worse case scenario happens!

I am still in a shop that is "open" and we are a main shop in the terms of size and money, and we seem to be dead! So if u put 2 and 2 togather thats twices as much money we have took in and makes us think we wont be open much longer!
So with no new rentals and no pop corn is this it for us?????

I agree with D0666 ...No new rentals, no confectionary, no wage slips, no information, no communication, no customers and soon.... no shop. I think it's time to start handing out the CV's, and to think that I used to love this company! I just feel like a complete mug.

no rentals???? thats pretty bad. as for the person who said to do stock checks- I shouldnt bother. Everything gets thrown into boxes and moved to another store.

Our store closed last week and Blockbusters have had their staff posted outside ever since and plastered the doors and windows with posters. gits. I wonder if they took any returns when people tried to bring them back...

REF#166

That is the most intelligent comment to date, unfortunately many are angry and bitter and don't want to know the realities just someone to blame

Well said Sir

When we worked for choices 9 years ago we predicted this outcome. poor management total disregard for staff - lets face it we had to have a pay rise when the minimum pay rates were brought in. Bully boy tactics made even worse by G J - had to con customers to buy £15 loyalty cards and so on I am sorry for the workers losing their jobs but it was inevitable with the sort of people running the company.

please please please administrators let us buy some new reeases, if another person comes and asks me for wild hogs i think il scream, i am not looking forward to monday with no 28
weeks later. We need these titles other wise we will have no business to sell,
It was my quietest sa****ay for ages, with customers telling us were closing down, when r u shutting so i dont have to return my dvd, is this a closing down sale? (please ho let us remove the sale signage).
Oh well off i go to another day of facing questions from customers with still no answers.

Matey if we had the answers we'd tell ya but until the admin guys tell us we know nothin more than you's

i had a customer today who wanted wild hogs and alphadog. i had to explain we didnt have them so he chose 3 films to rent then asked if they could be sent back by postal return, i explained that we werent doing postal return any more. he wasnt impressed at all, then before he left he asked me what new releases we had coming out for rent tomorrow, needless to say he left the shop quickly and said he was going to blockies. i felt really bad having to make excuses for everything.

hopefully we will hear something tommorow i can't put up with another week of this put don't raise your hopes too high

Could someone help me clear something up please... this redundancy thing PWC have sent. Do we have to write to Choices HO asking for redundancy first and send a copy of that letter off with the form from PWC?

So how is everyone today? Had a wonderful boring day with no news? Yup, same here. I think that someone should have said something today, even an intranet page saying something. Oh well, perhaps we'll know something soon... anyone heard any rumours?

Management Buyout seems quite a strong possibility

dull as dishwater, hardly any customers and EVERYONE thinks we are closing, at this rate there wil be nothing to buy, and to be honest I think that may be intentional, there is no company in the world that would buy the retail arm as a going concern so I think, and lots of others, managers and higher, that we are still left simply to sell as much stock as poss then to all get our phone calls.
I know that more branches will be closing soon as the pwc man let it slip at a neighbouring branch. And to be frank I have no reason to disbelieve him. I am looking for jobs furiously but I have decided that im gonna stick it out till the end, even if there is nil chance of getting a redundancy payout Choices will "pay" me something. Treat them as they treat us.

Management buyout, might sound thick, but what does this mean exactly?

this has been the quietist monday evening i have ever worked we didnt even get our regular customers in tonite, they all know now that we havent had any new releases for a couple of weeks. we have had lots of people asking for 28 weeks,as soon as we said we hadnt got it they left and went straight to blockbusters. we have no popcorn, no confectionary hardly any campaign dvds the shop is looking pretty empty now, its sad, people are just waiting for us to close now. please can we have some info this week on whats happening, its getting awkward having to explain things to customers now.

our area manager was away when we went into administration, he came back off holiday a week ago and we havent had any contact with him at all, he hasnt even given us a phone call. so all you who have said your area managers have been brilliant are very lucky. dc you know who you are, give us a call.

Our area manager has been pushed from pillar to post along with the rest of us and i feel really sorry for him. He has been s..t on from all directions. Going back to jacko - anyone who has ever been to one of his 'sexy' talks will know that he is quite capable of lying through his teeth whilst looking you in the eye, so don't expect any great news or sympathy from him - he is too busy watching his own back- oh and of course his good buddy mr leverton's. It would be so refreshing if we could just have an honest answer for once. I would like to thank all of my staff past and present - you are a great bunch of people and i will miss you.

Discussions are positive and ongoing with regards to the Retail division and it is anticipated that the picture will become much clearer within the next few days.

In the interim period thank you for your continued support and professionalism

Apologies for the lack of info yesterday but the retail team had to move office and as such had no access to the system or email for much of the day


Retail Ops Team
11 Sept 2007

SAME OLD SAME OLD,
what about deliveries when and if are they gong to be back on track,getting very peed off now,we are loosing our regular customers..........

just finished another day at my shop in tommorow for another day when will it be nobody knows why cant they just be honest and tell us when we are going to shut .i stil turn up for my shift but why because nobody cares i only do it for the lovely girls i work with we have such a good relationship i owe it to them all we started together and we will walk out together i wil let you know tomorrow if we have lasted another dayx

Please accept our apologies for what may seem like a lack of information from the centre.

Be assured that progress is being made and we are doing everything possible to secure the retail estate although it is not possible at this time to make any announcements.

As soon as we are in a position to give you any firm details we will do so immediately



Retail Ops Team
12 Sept 2007

well just leaving for another day still going still turning up for my shift will it be today all i ever think about is choices choices choices it is taking over my life i just want to know when we are closing or what is happening maybe today maybe tommorrow that is all i think about it is doing my head in . my day was so boring yesterday no customers or if i had they wanted new releases how are we supposed to make money without the main dvds in the shop to rent i dont know how many people walked out empty handed no sale no sale no sale we aint going nowhere .

stop whining! if you want to look for another job, look for another job... do you appreciate how many laws they break by misleading their employees... do you not think a little bit of trust from their employees would go a long way... keep turning up to work... fight for jobs... stop blaming people and move on, for gods sake, this is business, its not a sodding holiday camp...

what a complete self righteous ****** you are eh? ****s sake are you graham or what?
The guy was only saying how depressing working for choices is these days so give it a rest you ****.
And hes right too, even if,miraculously, someone was thinking of buying choices retail, by losing all of our customer base as we currently are certainly isnt going to aid in that is it?
**** off back to whatever stone you crawled out from loser.

Yes, it has been a rather boring day... we all feel like that.
I am dissapointed that we didn't hear anything today, but then, if they are making a deal, its not something that can be rushed. Has anyone heard any rumours?

Yes another day spent clicking on the damned intranet every five minutes to see if there was THAT email there that told us our fate, it really is horrendous never knowing if it going to be your last shift, after how the other stores were told literally on the day they closed :-(
I think we all will know by this weekend hopefully either way, i will be very sad if we close as i have made many friends at choices but i am in it till the end
by the way mr PUBLIC SPEAKER.. I think whingeing is the wrong word ..very insensitive....and if we do whinge i think we have a good reason too dont you!!

spelling correction you said whining.. same goes for that!!

been a BLOCK on news ths shoud be BUSTED tomorrow morning and the we should know, but only about 60 stores saved....

a block on the news!!!!!! when where, really do u know anymore?

what sounds like blockbusted....

Never come where have u seen that i cant find nethin new ne where

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has already closed more than 30 of Choices UK’s most unprofitable stores but it is understood that a deal for the remaining 139 Choices UK high street sites could be finalised within the next two to three weeks. Blockbuster, the UK’s biggest DVD and video rental store, and Game Stop, the American group that is looking to break into the market, are both rumoured to be interested.

and rumours they will be until we know for sure..the only people that know are PWC so I wont believe anything until I get it in black and white from them.. sad day that was when they closed those stores :-(
hope it be before 2/3 weeks its like slow torture waiting

there is gonna be an anouncement made today, we have been told to check home page of intranet regularly. hope its good news.

59 stores sold to blockbusters today - yikes!!!!!

well 59 stores sold to blockies and we werent on the list, whats gonna happen to us now? weve been told to carry on as normal as theres others interested in buying the rest of the retail shops, i dont think theres much hope for us now.

thats good news, I cant believe that Cardigan hasnt been purchased, great store, great manager. Good luck Ben

so what now what about us that have not been saved by blockies,can someone please tell us is it worth carrying on ???????????????????

Can somebody let me know if the Northampton or Corby store has been saved? I know my store hasn't been taken over my Blockbusters but i might try and get transferred to one of the other stores if they are now Blockbuster run.

The way the e-mails were sent yesterday was totally disgusting.I knew we were not on the list 1/2 hour before we were informed.Do h/o think all their managers are stupid ?.Obviously stores that got the first e-mail were going t ring round other stores to see if they had got one.Where are we left now ? how much longer do we have to suffer ?

tell you something for free, if jackson and charlesworth are employed by blockbusters id rather not get a job with them thank you, a more clueless pair of **** s ive never met!
Jeheesus blockies, dont do it!!

has everyone forgot about us lot still employed by choices?
we want to know whats going on we are running our shop on 4 staff (help) bit of news would be nice please

ask the ******* administrators...we asked to continue helping and supporting you guys left out there but we got told A BIG FAT NO by those ****ers!

acomb,banbury,beaumont leys,beeston,biggleswade,blackpool,braintree,bramley,brecon,bridgend,bridport,bury st edmonds,cardiff(newport road),chard,cirencester,clacton,cleckheaton,coalville,corby,corringham,kings norton(birmingham),daventry,driffield,east grinstead,heavitree,quedgeley(gloucester),grantham,hillsborough,huntingdon,ipswich,leyland,lincoln,lowerstoft,ludlow,market deeping,merthyr tydfil,milton keynes,minehead,newtown(powys),norwich(dereham road),norwich(mile cross lane),norwich(wendene),oakham,ormskirk,ossett,paignton,oundle road (peterborough),plymouth,radcliffe,tilehurst(reading),ripon,sandbach,sittingbourne,stourport,tewkesbury,thamesmead,wednesfield(wolverhampton),wythenshaw.
now all bb stores

If you walked in as a Choices employee on Friday morning, by mid-day you were a Blockbusters employee. A couple of things for you to think about:- Did your redundancy payments leave with Choices? If Blockbusters go pop in the next 12 months, will you have a leg to stand on? If you don't want to work for Blockbusters, what payments will you get if you leave? You'll have new contracts, new uniforms & Pos(again), new targets (they don't like it if they aren't reached) etc, etc. Why did Blockbusters buy Choices in Blackpool, when they have a shop 5 minutes round the corner - to buy the small amount of stock or transfer Blockbusters to the better located Choices store sacking excess staff?

76 stores are all that exist now of ChoicesUK - I'm still employed by Choices as Supervisor - if we leave we lose our redunancy (very long winded to claim for) - so we stay put. Staff we have spoken to over the phone for months/years have suddenly become our rivals!!!!
If we are taken over by a different retailer i.e. convience food retailer or cafe - what rights do we have then??
All answers welcome & good luck to everybody, whoever or where ever you may be Dxxx

To all remaining Choices stores. Why not set up a more established site to support each other? Yahoo groups is a free site if someone takes ownership - I am sure between you all a cascade system could be set up to spread the word - and use your continued resiliance to help each other. You cannot blame or condem the stores that BB have gained, it is out of the staff in those stores control, as is their sudden inability to support their colleagues and friends in their neighbouring stores. I suspect that BB have bought key Choices stores that have a better pitch than their current BB store, that they can get out of the lease of that current BB store and move their business to a better location. An earlier comment warning of BB long term status is valid, however, there may be a few more years in whichever business survived en-mass (be it BB or CHUK).

dn

hello

the rumour today is another 40 stores have been sold. does anyone know anything about this.

No there was a rumour yesterday but we're yet to her anything. I wish theyd hurry up. not likin all this

someone was intrested so proberley right but not blockbusters proberley gamestop though

not 100% sure though

JAK SIE MA****ency very good me to. work with choices
Kind very much being.

Another day and still no news except more Blockies rumours, to say it's depressing is a massive understatement how long have we got left on death row?

Guys face facts, for those sthops not brought by blockbuster,it now looks grim. Very grim. its now run by the accountants. Some of the unsold shops will be sold to convenience stores,more wil close down.

Who would have thought of it. Choices stores sold to Blockbuster. Ian Muspratt must have sleepless nights? The fat slob.

i dont know why your moaning about ian muspratt he is a really nice man and has admited some off this his fault so stop all the blaming now its done and if you still want to blame anyone blame the board

You mssed the point. Its not about been nice, this guy was as one of the founders and until recently Chairman of the board. If you know anything about business which clearly from your reply youre seem clueless, dim more like, Ian Muspratt is the one responsible over the years steering the company to where it is now 'bankrupt'. Albeit there were
others on the board who were there for the ride.

when are we going to hear some news. weve gone all weekend not knowing anything, please can we hear something soon. the shop looks bare, weve no pop no sweets no new releases, surely we cant stay open for much longer, we have nothing to sell.

Dont count on any news. The only news you will know is when Pwc arrange a meeting with you about closing stores.Retail are not running the show. Lets face it theyre flogging a dead horse now. Apply for jobs now. Its hard told I know. Pwc are not intrested in people, its numbers they care about. Its a wake up call. This will be over sooner than you
think. Closures?

Rumours are rife that PWC has instructed Wincanton Logistics to close all the non BB stores this week.If this is correct call as many local papers as possible and expose the disgraceful way you've been treated.Nothing to lose

who the hell are wincanton logistics? ive never heard of them. ive worked for choices for 3 years now, ive been doing double shifts for the last few weeks thinking it would matter, i just wanted to keep the shop open,we have 2 members of staff we cant take on any more. whats happening, are we gonna close this weeek, dave leverton sent a pathetic email today saying he doesnt no anything, someone somewhere knows something, please tell us. at least if we knew we could all move on.

WincantonLogistics is a distribution company. This is nonsense. I undersatnd your fear and anxiety. You will be notified only when they know what to do with you. David Leverton has jumped ship. He's out for himself now. Its a sinking ship. Stay put, be positive if you can. Your staff are looking to you. Give them support, be honest. There is nothing else you can do. Believe me its reaching its final conclussion. Good luck!

Very clever - the only person making any effort to do anything at all is Dave Leverton and now you are making him the enemy as well.

Don't suppose you have considered ringing him instead of just ****ging him off people can say alot more than they can put in emails

all the stores will be closed by friday the administraitors have been in and closed so many today mine being one of them and was told they will all be gone by friday so to everyone good luck

Avenger

Like the rest on here you are a gutless ******* hiding behind an aliasand making the rest of us look like an arrogant bunch of ****s in the process.

How long have Game been renting and selling DVD's you idiot

Think Global, Apolla, Fopp, Silverscreen, Music Zone, MVC, Towe Records, Andys Records, sanity and then add Choices to that list

You clearly have nothing between your ears and being so thick you think you know it all

I don't know who you are or care for that matter. My store is now with Blockbuster and I have sat through a meeting where they spent all day telling us how they were going to do everything choices did 2 years ago muaic ipods phones etc etct

I feel really sorry for people who are losing their jobs but you deserve it go and get a job sweeping streets and stop being an embarassment to the rest of us

You clearly don't possess any form of bussiness acumen or analysis of the retail market place. The Game chain of stores are sell thru and trade in and they do it very succesfully as opposed to Choices who did neither...

Blockbuster succeded in a market where the rental market
has been declining year on year from a market worth 500million in 1998 to an estimate of 200million by 2008. (source Mintel Intelligece reports)

Bad bussinesses flounder and dissapear from the lexicon of examples you have illustrated, because they lack vision and are run badly.

Blockbuster amidst this falling market share are succeding where choices have failed and why might you wonder?

1. Adding value to the rental market.

2. New rental incomes streams e.g rental by post.

3.Imroving the sell thru offer.

4.Excellent trade -in offer.

I can give you a lot more, but I can see you have neither the intellect or the capacity to comprehend the bigger picture this will be futile?

I feel sorry for Blockbuster that you have transfered, because your retail backgorund comes from cornershop metality.

Do the honourable thing , step down , and give a chance to a collegues with more intelligence that will do well in Blockbuster.

Its very clear you're bussiness acumen is that of a market stall trader.

yesterday an administrator came in sthe shop and said we were to close the doors staight away as we were all redundant, we were gutted, couldnt believe it, we were convinced some one would buy our store. the administartor was a really nice man, very understanding, that made it a bit easier for us. i will miss the shop, the customers but most of all i will miss working with sarah and clare. we have become good friends. loughborough was a great place to work. good luck to everyone who is still left at choices, i hope you are luckier th**** lot.

SHREWSBURY GONE THIS MORNING (11.00AM) ON THE DOT.
TOMORROW OSWESTRY STORE,

At Last the agony is over its a very very sad day for everyone who have lost there jobs :-( it must have been a nightmare waiting after BB bought the other stores Just wishing you all the best for the future and good luck in finding a new job. xx

we'll meet again......
and now we face the final curtain......
so long, farewell, auf wiedesein, goodbye......

and most of all

dont blame it on the boogie....

its been an interesting time dontcha think???

Well I was walking down the highstreet in Tiverton only half an hour ago only to find a big black choicesuk-style sign on the door saying the store is closed.

I used to work at this store only a year ago - and I have to say that there was only one decent member of staff who worked there -- Pat her name is.

Management is absolutely useless - and practically non existant. I started working for the store in October 2006, and the training I should have had was overlooked.

I have had several dealings with the company, including payroll issues, staff attitude problems and discrimination. Members of the store would regularly take DVDs home for free to copy them, and others even brought their notebook computers in, sat them on the front desk and copied the stock onto their machines!

I lodged a complaint a while back to Graham Jackson and had an interview with him in a (not-so) s****y hotel, because I was discriminated on the base of Sexual Orientation. The company (naturally) hid their blushes accusing me of joining in on the "banter" yet the assistant manager was clearly humiliating me in the store by making ****phobic badges and forcing me to wear them.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't all about me, and I do agree what people have said about the staff duties. Staff was expected to hoover the floors, clean the toilets, you name it -- and most of the staff that were working at the Tiverton store really did slog themselves out in getting the store up to scratch.

Where the management of the company is concerned, all of you, including me, who have had bad dealings with the company...

We have the LAST LAUGH! :)

ending the song in quote 197
But they did it there way.....

and yes a very interesting journey indeed.. :-)

au revoir amis

I must take issue with allegations of ****phobia in Choices
stores. Obviously I cannot speak for individual staff members
in other stores, but in my dealings with head office etc, I
have never personally encountered any examples of
****phobia. Choices policy on this was quite clear and well
laid out. Of course I have had comments that could be
MISTAKEN for ****phobia, but i can confidently say
that they were meant in good fun and taken as such. My
store has had both straight and *** members of staff, and
everybody was treated with the same respect regardless
of sexuality. (except bisexuals of course, they are just
greedy) ;-)

OH. MY. GOD. This website censors the word ****phobia.
Look - it did it again. ****phobia - - and again

oh for cryin out loud - and it censors the word *** - dammit -
***. that is

one more go - G(ignore this bit)A(ignore this bit)Y

GOTCHA lol

I guess you can take those comments with C**K firmly in cheek

I wonder if it really took all of that money to set and then close choicesuk TV??

You could always email him and find ask...yes all of you!

www.simplygames.com

Originally launched in 1998, Simply Games is one of the longest-established online retailers of PC and video games. We enjoy excellent trading relationships with all of the major manufacturers and games publishers. Our logistics partners ensure that your orders are processed and delivered quickly and securely. At the heart of everything is our absolute focus on providing our customers with excellent levels of service

www.simplyphones.com

About Us

We’ve been involved with retailing phones for over 10 years through various businesses and various brands. We’ve sold them through retail stores, online and even on TV! We are well connected with all of the major sellers of contract mobile phones and they are all featured on this site. All of them are highly experienced and credible within the marketplace.

interesting - what tv shopping channel was that?

BT, you're a loser anyway, get yourself a proper job. What will this achieve you blithering numskull?l