Monday 8 November 2010

A Perfect Match

HMV's 2 for £10 deal is starting to piss me right off. Every week I go in there looking to take advantage of their tempting offer, but always walk out empty handed having not found two suitable CDs to make up the deal. Take the last few weeks, for example. One week I had Laura Marling's second album I Speak Because I Can in my mitt, and the following week I walked around the store clutching the third Arctic Monkeys album for nearly twenty minutes, and on both occasions, I was unable to find a suitable second CD to give me my 2 for £10. Now if these two albums had been part of the offer at the same time, I wouldn't be typing out this post, but in a bid to keep the now permanent instore deal looking fresh, HMV add and withdraw titles on a weekly basis. This week I found myself in a similar conundrum. Having chanced upon Little Richard's Greatest Hits in the offer, I was determined this time not to leave the store empty handed. Desperately I scoured the racks, looking to find a suitable partner for Little Richard's two-disc best of collection. Then, just I was about to give up hope, I chanced upon the debut album from New York's Sleigh Bells. The duo had recently been picked as The Guardian's New Band of the Day, who referred to them as the 'Kylie and Jason of extreme noise terror' and recent single Tell 'Em was playlisted by 6 Music during the summer. To be honest, the album is a little too chaotic for my middle-aged ears, but the aforementioned Tell 'Em and new single Infinity Guitars still make me dance around the kitchen and allow myself to believe - for a few minutes at least - that The Ting Tings were just part of a bad dream following a heavy night on the Wensleydale.

2 comments:

  1. Not that I feel any particular loyalty to hmv, but as a slave to said company i'd like to explain that we (almost)never "withdraw" titles from the 2 for £10. Stock is bulk bought by head office and distributed among all the stores, so we get limited quantities of each title and they generally sit in the offer until all are gone. Once a title is gone we then have to sell our full price copies until we get another drop of campaign stock.
    Also, if you can't find another CD you could always take a DVD from the 2 for £10 racks :)

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  2. Thanks for the insider information johno66. I used to work for HMV's great rival, and they had a habit of withdrawing/adding titles to ensure their promotions looked fresh. I stand corrected. I'm also not a DVD buyer, so I never consider this part of the deal an option.

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