Choices poised for administration
ChoicesUK, the homegrown DVD rental and retail chain that is a rival to Blockbuster, is set to go into administration.
The company is seeking to appoint an administrator following failed attempts to sell or refinance the business.
The collapse of the chain is another signal that high street stores dealing in packaged home entertainment are struggling. The music retailers Music Zone and Fopp have both gone into administration this year and while HMV has bought a handful of Fopp stores it too has reported poor results.
At its peak Choices, part of the Home Entertainment Company, had 230 stores but had scaled these back to about 120 in the past year. It is a listed company and its headquarters are based in Peterborough.
It appointed former Warner Home Video sales director Anthony Skitt as chief executive earlier this year.
The company scrapped its Sky home shopping channel ChoicesUK TV in May last year.
Both Choices and Blockbuster have faced competition from the internet in the form of DVD rental companies such as LoveFilm and retailers such as Amazon. They have both invested in their own internet operations.
Blockbuster marketing director and managing director online Alistair Macrow recently resigned to join McDonalds as marketing director.
