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Blacks & Millets in administration

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Been in offing for some time.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb4c061c-3839-11e1-9d07-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1igWVgmpV

They are saying they have received offers for the trade, assets and brands... ( Fat boy chav favorite Ashley? )

Notice there extra 20% off web site now too....
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Sad. "Blacks of Greenock" used to make really good tents. Sad
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
was reading about it this morning. only reason they're going into administration is so as they can wipe any value from the shares. there's already a buyer lined up.
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In return for sorting out a friend's laptop I received a £30 Black's gift card before Christmas and shortly before all this kicked off. I said at the time "I better spend it before they go bust". Well, on Monday of this week, we managed to get to their huge new store outside Chester. In the window they were advertising "up to 70% OFF ALL ITEMS". They didn't really have anything I wanted but I found a descent sun hat in the £1 bin and blew the £30 on a pair of Karrimor boots in the sale. They seemed to have plenty of stock about too.

It seems I just made it in time - phew!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
They've already been selling off some of the stores. Spotted one last week which had switched to Cotswold from Blacks over Christmas. Milletts prices seemed to have gone up in that time too - from some silly deals before Christmas - £15 items reduced to £5, then buy 2 get 1 free and 25% off the total (so 3 x £15 items for £7.50) they were back to just the £5 reduced price last week.
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I guess it's because "this is our winter of our discount tents" (baboomtish)
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
marcellus, a giftbasket of tumbleweeds has been dispathched to your location.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Not quite related but it looks like Kodak is next in the queue - which is sad Sad

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/05/kodak_chaper_11/
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But Pam W, Blacks of Greenock is still going:

http://www.blacksofgreenock.co.uk/index.html

Different company....
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marcellus wrote:
I guess it's because "this is our winter of our discount tents" (baboomtish)


Superb.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:

Blacks of Greenock is still going

Oh good - and welcome to Snowheads. We used to have a Blacks Clansman tent, which was brilliant. I remember wild camping in it, with my parents, on the Ardnamurchan peninsular in 1963 wink
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Just been to Blacks in Bristol. Minimal discounts...........
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My brother works for north face and said that's it's unlikely that we will see blacks disappear. They are too big in the industry to let fail, however he said that if they do go that it will be bad news all round as blacks are the biggest buyer of brands like TNF and it's them that keep the prices down in the uk due to the amount they buy. It would be sad if they went pop, but as has been mentioned its likely they have a buyer lined up. Let's hope to god its not mike Ashley.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
jd sports have apparently bought them out!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Reports I read, understand, seem to imply this was a step to write of debts prior to being taken over.

I would hate to see Millets go from the High Street, part of my childhood!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
ansta1,
Quote:

jd sports have apparently bought them out!



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16451803
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I always watch whats happening with Blacks as their HO is local to me and as others have said many years ago they were a more specialised outdoor retailer. I have always thought over the last few years, where does Blacks (Not Millets) fit into the retail market in the outdoor sector?

As they grew over the years they have become more mainstream and have to compete with sport fashion retailers as well as outdoor retailers. I think the trouble has been that they are neither one thing or the other and as the economic situtaton over the last 3 years has changed so much , Blacks have not addresssed the basics of retailing at all, in identifing their customer base in an already saturated sports fashion market.

I wish them well and the 3,500 people who work for them especially the guys at the HO just up the road from me.

Maybe JD Sporst will have better plans for the brand names of Blacks and Millets and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next year or two.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
livetoski, I'd ecco those thoughts. I went in today and the range was terrible. Nothing high end to lust after but no low end to encourage me to spend. What was left in the mid range were "style" over substance, overpriced fashion items mainly from TNF.

There must be a market for unbranded but high quality functional kit, and that is where I see blacks should fit. Not just trying to cash in on the short term popularity of TNF as a fashion item.
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I hate blacks.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16464914 official JD sports have purchased blacks.
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paulio wrote:
I hate blacks.


Why, please expand ?
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Got a merino zip-top from them a week ago. A few decent deals
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Renry wrote:
paulio wrote:
I hate blacks.


Why, please expand ?


OK, I hate all blacks.

In fact, I'm not particularly keen on rugby in general.
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I think that part of the reason they are in trouble, along with, apparently, a fewer other 'high street' chains is due to internet shopping. More often than not what you can buy in the shops can be bought for less on t'interweb. Perhaps another reason behind their demise is Go Outdoors. They seem to be popping up all over the place and as they are out-of-town/have attached car parks, are probably seen as the preferred shop as the items purchased in the outdoor shops are usually quite bulky. I personally wouldn't want to do a Park-and-Ride/Pay-and-Display etc in a town centre when shopping for a tent, camping furnature etc and then have to hump it back to the car. Would much prefer to park up in the car park right outside the door and load straight into the car!
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bogeylogey, Internet plus no clear ownership of the space - Tesco, Asda etc will sell the festival and family crowd tents and sleeping bags etc - even Poundland will flog you pegs, mallets and torches. I've no interest in paying RRP or near for North Face kit or over the odds for own brand stuff because it has to support a high street rent. I'm a bit surprised Ashley didn't swallow them but AIUI he already has a significnat stake in JD Sports so maybe there is a longer term game or competition commission concerns at play.
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Ashley already had a near 30% stake in Blacks Leisure Group and holds about 19% of JD Sports. "He likes to park his tanks on peoples' lawns", as one investment banker said...
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Whats everyones beef with TNF?!
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Robsaan wrote:
Whats everyones beef with TNF?!


Victim of its own brand extension - it's what 20+ years since they came to the UK in force and unseated the resident occupiers such as Berghaus , Karrimor etc. Everyman and his dog seem to wear bits of it and it's not all great quality yet is priced as if it is something special. This doesn't mean that some of their vast ranges of stuff aren't very good. I had some excellent trail shoes from them that took years of abuse for example but when I went to replace them the equivalents seemed a lot shoddier and vastly more than I remember paying originally.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Robsaan wrote:
Whats everyones beef with TNF?!
No beef with TNF as a whole. I own a lot of their kit but their jackets in the £50 ---> £200 range are proper guff, comparable in function to a £20 Peter Storm jacket, and therefore relying on a brand to sell them to fashion types. This is the range that you can get in blacks.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I agree that some of their stuff isnt up to much, however their low end gear serves a purpouse. Not everyone needs a £300 mountaineering jacket to walk the dog for ten minutes in the morning and I would say that they are better made than alot of cheap waterproofs out there. I think people assume that its not well made because its cheap, however the level of quality is there as they make it in such vast amounts.

fatbob, I agree that their gear has gone up in price, but so have all other brands. This seemed to be an industry wide thing about 2 years ago, also if your trail shoes took years of abuse I would imagine that the price would have gone up in the time whilst you had them.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Robsaan, Take this TNF jacket, £84.99 and the cheapest available in Blacks. It boasts no discernible design features to justify the high price, has basic breathability but doesn't even have adjustable cuffs, a basic prerequisite of a suitable outdoor jacket, just elastic like on a basic pac-a-mac. Very expensive for walking the dog and not even that suitable.


http://www.blacks.co.uk/clothing/men/jackets-and-outershell/product/041076/the-north-face-mens-resolve-jacket.html?attribute=164933

Compare that to this jacket at decathlon. For £15 less you get 3 layer breathable fabric, fully taped seams, waterproof zips, adjustable cuffs, proper hood with stiffened peak and IMO the sytling is a lot nicer than the TNF one. The brand is Quencha though.


http://www.decathlon.co.uk/forclaz-400-jacket-id_8170019.html

Or this jacket at Peter Storm Millets for £20 now but normally £39.99 so half the price of the TNF one but is functionally identical.
http://www.millets.co.uk/clothing/mens-clothing/jackets/product/042130/ps-journey-jacket-black-m.html?attribute=3323816

Even if you wouldn't be seen dead in Quencha or Peter Storm (and who would!) the similarly priced jackets by Marmot and Berghaus by far out spec the TNF jacket.

So that is why TNF gets so much scorn, it used to be a top quality brand supplying high quality, technical kit at a fair price and it has cashed in this good will to sell overpriced tat to brand whores, whilst the top end stuff no longer stands out from the crowd, either functionally or in value.
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Which 'huge New store outside Chester'?! I live in broughton, which has as far as I know the only blacks shop in the Chester area since the city centre one closed. It has since downsized from a double unit to a single unit shop, and is tiny. Are you saying there is another store?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Compared with the old city centre store it's huge.
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Marcellus - very good!
FletCh - spot on.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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It'll be sad if the Blacks stores vanish entirely, but really the company lost it's way a long time ago. They seem to have been thrashing around looking for a purpose for the last twenty years.

There was a time, probably early 90's when they even tried selling skis.

Sort of related, but I don't understand what W H Smiths is for. Anyone know if they are in trouble?
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Spud9 wrote:

Sort of related, but I don't understand what W H Smiths is for. Anyone know if they are in trouble?


Browsing magazines you don't want to buy wink

I think they are perpetually in trouble but do have a wholesale distribution business as well.
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