Dawsons Music enters administration

JohnHarrison

My previous thread was ejected into the void.

https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/dawsons-music-goes-administration-covid-18215022
https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2020/05/dawsons-music-goes-into-administration-with-around-75-jobs-at-risk/
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/18433923.one-warringtons-famous-names-gone-administration/
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/musical-equipment-retailer-falls-into-administration

johnl

Shame (I say, as I refresh their clearance section every 30 seconds)

guitars4you

I had heard rumours about the time of your posting - Heard chatter after and to be honest there had been chat amongst some section of the trade for many months - As always a shame for those who will loose their jobs and the unpaid suppliers

richardhomer

Sad news when this happens to any business - but with Dawsons it’s seemed like an inevitability for a long time. 

JohnHarrison

guitars4you said:

As always a shame for those who will lose their jobs and the unpaid suppliers

It's the guys in the stores I'm sorry for most.  As for the suppliers, the smart ones have already been into the shops and warehouse and taken what they were owed, hence the reason certain manufacturers started disappearing from their website.

Whitecat

Looks like their website is still taking orders - not impossible during an administration but it should be way more clearly posted what state the company is in!

SteveRobinson

"Rick Harrison and Neil Gostelow from KPMG’s Restructuring practice have been appointed joint administrators to Dawsons Music"

Surely a different Rick Harrison?

crunchman

SteveRobinson said:

"Rick Harrison and Neil Gostelow from KPMG’s Restructuring practice have been appointed joint administrators to Dawsons Music"

Surely a different Rick Harrison?

You would hope so.

On the other hand, if Dawsons stock suddenly starts appearing on the website claiming to be 50 years old at 20 times current prices, we know the reason!

guitars4you

JohnHarrison said:

guitars4you said:

As always a shame for those who will lose their jobs and the unpaid suppliers

It's the guys in the stores I'm sorry for most.  As for the suppliers, the smart ones have already been into the shops and warehouse and taken what they were owed, hence the reason certain manufacturers started disappearing from their website.

Maybe that might be the case with some companies but 5K to a small company can seriously hurt as much as 100K to say Yamaha - Remember all unpaid invoices is not just goods, it will be services as well

steer

Gutted. I love my local Dawsons. Hopefully someone comes in a takes them over. 

symphonytech

Strange they sent the letter out to the trade a few weeks ago, but then held off announcing anything publicly.

Makes you wonder if all the COVID stuff - particularly over moratoriums of Landlords being able to go legal, and leniency on insolvent trading laws - has given them some breathing room to get a few last gasps of air. I also suspect the COVID situation will be used as a reason to some degree, when it seems the writing on the wall dried a long time ago.

Looks promising that some other retailers are in discussions and so some sites may be saved. I always assumed a few of the locations may be cherry-picked where there wasnt coverage already, but didnt see any likelihood in a salvation of the company. I suppose it is whether they view the brand to be stronger in that location than their own.

prowla

Dawsons is one of those shops where I could go in looking for something and come out with nothing.

Sad to see a shop go, but it has been coming; they were already "restructuring".

duotone

About a week ago I noticed their website had changed, layout/style basically everything.

SteveRobinson

Gibson guitars are back but no bargains

vivalacoulter

That's a shame, bought a THR10C from there a few years ago.

jellybelly

A shame, but was never a particularly great shop to go to (Manchester centre) in my experience

Manc only has Forsyths and PMT now, for the UKs 3rd city (likely second in terms of music scene - those from Leeds, Liverpool,Glasgow and Birmingham might disagree) that's pretty shocking considering the fantastic shops that used to be around the place just a decade ago. 

digitalscream

JohnHarrison said:

My previous thread was ejected into the void.

https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/dawsons-music-goes-administration-covid-18215022
https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2020/05/dawsons-music-goes-into-administration-with-around-75-jobs-at-risk/
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/18433923.one-warringtons-famous-names-gone-administration/
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/musical-equipment-retailer-falls-into-administration

Just a note on this...the previous thread was removed because - while it's pertinent content - it would be extremely poor form, if true, for Dawsons employees to find out on here rather than from their employer.

I did email a few higher-ups at Dawsons (including the owner) to see whether it was true and if there was an embargo on it, but nobody got back to me, so I left the thread where it was.

Nothing personal; I just know how I'd feel, finding out I'm about to lose my job on a forum.

Hattigol

jellybelly said:

A shame, but was never a particularly great shop to go to (Manchester centre) in my experience

Manc only has Forsyths and PMT now, for the UKs 3rd city (likely second in terms of music scene - those from Leeds, Liverpool,Glasgow and Birmingham might disagree) that's pretty shocking considering the fantastic shops that used to be around the place just a decade ago. 

Is Johnny Roadhouse not still going?

Nitefly

Hattigol said:

jellybelly said:

A shame, but was never a particularly great shop to go to (Manchester centre) in my experience

Manc only has Forsyths and PMT now, for the UKs 3rd city (likely second in terms of music scene - those from Leeds, Liverpool,Glasgow and Birmingham might disagree) that's pretty shocking considering the fantastic shops that used to be around the place just a decade ago. 

Is Johnny Roadhouse not still going?

I went past last summer, there wasn't much to see.

JohnHarrison

digitalscream said:

Just a note on this...the previous thread was removed because - while it's pertinent content - it would be extremely poor form, if true, for Dawsons employees to find out on here rather than from their employer.

I did email a few higher-ups at Dawsons (including the owner) to see whether it was true and if there was an embargo on it, but nobody got back to me, so I left the thread where it was.

Nothing personal; I just know how I'd feel, finding out I'm about to lose my job on a forum.

I understand, I created this alt-account and waited to post the news originally until all staff were informed of the NOI.  Just wanted to get it out there so people could make an informed purchasing decision, as Dawsons it seems (and understandably on their part) has been trying to keep this under wraps for as long as possible.

The news went public today after a 1pm conference call with all staff, updating them of the situation and informing them the company was looking for a buyer.

Moltisanti

i'm not surprised to be honest, i'm amazed they lasted this long. They always seemed a million miles behind the good shops in the UK to me