HMV are trying to clean up their appearance following sales recently falling under £1bn for the first time since the company went public in 2002…
If you’re used to seeing tattooed and heavily pierced music lovers behind the counter in HMV then you might be in for a shock next time you go in to by some music.
The new dress code, which will come into effect from next Friday demands that staff cover up any “extreme body art”. The code stipulates that only “discreet” tattoos may be visible and male staff are allowed to wear blue denim jeans, and women blue denim skirts (and we are hoping this means they are allowed to wear jeans as well!) neither sex are allowed to wear open toed shoes, which is probably not a bad thing…
A statement from a HMV spokeperson claimed that the code had been sensationalised and concluded that:
“We’re sorry if, having read our explanation, you remain disappointed with our approach – it’s never going to be easy pleasing everyone all of the time, but, as we say, ultimately we’re just trying to create an engaging environment in which colleagues will be happy to work in and customers, who we mustn’t forget should to be at the heart of everything we do, are happy to visit.”
Will these changes make you more inclined to shop at HMV?
Text by Phoebe Parke
Player
This makes me less inclined to shop at HMV…putting people in stereo-typical boxes is never attractive..so suffice to say that I wont be going there again. Maybe the reason sales are falling is because everyone is buying more competitively priced movies, music etc. on-line and they should put more concentration in areas where they can grow/improve their business. Also we are in the middle of an economic recession for feck sake! Its shocking to think some-one came up with this as a solution to stop sales falling..i think this is going to make matters a-lot worse..a-lot of people have tattoos so HMV have just stupidly isolated a major segment of their market…my suggestion: go back to school lads!!