Fopp

Fopp has long been one of my favourite places to shop for music. This branch, although not huge has always been particularly appealing for some reason.
I think because it’s small it can’t have absolutely everything, so you need to go in with an open mind. You need to be willing to look around and to be ready to snap up a great deal as soon as you see it, because they don’t always last for long. Fear not, though, there will be a new great deal next week.
I’ve discovered some of my favourite music this way, by taking a risk with an album that for some reason happened to be cheap that day and which looked kind of appealing. However, I wouldn’t limit your shopping to music; they have plenty of great books and DVDs on offer too.

Love fopp now that there selling vinyl again it, s even better always been very cheap for cd, s and the staff are always pleasant.

I have to admit that I haven’t been into a CD/​Book/​DVD store in years. The rise of iTunes and Netflix basically took over my life. However, I wandered in here at the weekend and was surprised at the offers they had, although was a little confused at why they were selling roses outside (they don’t FYI, that was the flower guy LOL).
The place was mobbed full of people, young & old looking around and with HMV closing on Buchanan Street now, I think FOPP will up there game a little bit more, well, I’d hope so!
I love French movies and it is hard to find them, reasonably priced, so I was happy when I found a whole section full of French movies at bargain prices! Sadly I didn’t have any money on me so didn’t purchase any but I will definitely be purchasing a few once pay day comes!

I love Fopp in general but particularly this one. I lived in the close beside Timpsons on Byres Road for a while when I was a student and spent far too much of my time in here when I was supposed to be studying. Well… they do say time you enjoy wasting isn’t wasted time! :P
You’ll find me usually having a nose in amongst the vinyl, CDs or books. I’m not one for films as such but the phenomenal DVD stock in here saved my bacon on many occasions for birthdays and christmases for the (several) film buffs in my life. The staff have always been brilliant at directing me towards something I can’t find and are generally just very pleasant and efficient to deal with.
I spent a glorious wee half hour or so in here today browsing the books and I picked up a Gaslight CD I haven’t managed to find anywhere else, so was pretty chuffed. The delights of Fopp haven’t lessened over time, long may that continue! :)

I’m partial to a visit to Fopp — it’s a nice way to pass the time and rarely do I walk out without a purchase. What I really love about Fopp is the books though, as I think they have a really interesting selection. Sadly over the years this really seems to be dwindling and there is more focus on CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays. I recently popped in and took advantage of the 2 for £5 deal and got a couple of interesting paperbacks. On another visit I picked up the Barrowlands hardback for just £10 — cheaper than Amazon, it’s worth noting!
Staff are usually ok, not overly cheery or friendly but I think that seems to be the Fopp way!

Ah, Fopp. Foppy Fopp Fopp. It’s fun to say, and even more fun to go into. Enter and behold the precious things of the Fopp shop! HMV used to be good, back when people still bought records and didn’t just illegally download them from Napster, but the digital age ensured that they stopped promoting CDs (and books) and instead started hawking earphones (for generic MP3 players), posters of Simon Cowell’s latest pre-​pubescent devilspawn and t-​shirts, so think of the horror felt by music lovers everywhere when it was discovered that Fopp were to be taken over by HMV. What was to become of this cheap and well-​stocked music emporium? Were the 20^th century existentialist novels and avant-​garde jazz to become a thing of the past?
Er, naw, actually.
Fopp still has brilliant, varied books that are stupidly cheap (Miles Davis’ autobiography will set you back a mere £3, for example). They always seem to have different ones in every week, too, so there’s always a need for a browse in this shop!
The CDs are brilliant: classic albums, obscure albums, new albums, everything here is covered. (You might struggle a bit if you’re a fan of N-​Dubz and the ilk, but if you’re a fan of N-​Dubz, you won’t be scouring wee music shops for CDs, but you’ll be having a knee-​trembler behind the bins at a block of flats, cheered on by your mates and drunk on WKD — fact).
The DVDs are also fab: again, like the music, you’ll find new releases and classic titles, and there are plenty of cheap box sets to be had: this was good news at New Year when I managed to pick up the entire 6 series of The Sopranos for a humble £40 — it never ceases to impress me when a store is cheaper than even Amazon!
You can come into Fopp with a tenner and leave with two or three items, which is bloody good value for money in this day and age.
Now go, go and expand your music/​book/​DVD collection — you’ll find everything you’ve ever needed or wanted in Fopp!

My boyfriend used to work in a branch of Fopp — HMV didn’t save his Fopp and subsequently ended up unemployed, and filling my room with his boy stuff as he could no longer afford rent.
Yet I still love it! And I love this branch especially.
It has a world cinema section which is better than the usual dog-​eared copy of Amelie and an overpriced copy of Chronos. You can buy quality films both classic and new for under £5, a bit of light reading for £3 and they have little bits of commentary written by the CD’s so you know that if you like ‘insert name here glitchtronica/​math rock/​shoegaze band’ that you will like this CD. If you don’t, who cares? It cost £8.
Slight gripe with Fopp post-​takeover is that the merchandising is just like everywhere else. They used to have feature walls with interesting colours grouping CD’s and DVD’s together how they saw fit, it made DVD shopping more exciting and you likely to walk away with something you weren’t even looking for.
I would avoid going Sunday afternoon if you can help it, theres nowhere to move and you can find yourself staring at a copy of ‘The Hangover’ of ‘Sex and the City 2′ purely because there is nowhere else to stand!

Fopp enjoys great esteem among west end music and video fans, and has built a solid reputation on the back of its excellent book, CD and DVD deals. Its financial collapse and subsequent renaissance on HMV’s nickel more or less coincided with the growth of digitally available content, and the increasing dominance of online retailers of traditional packaged media. Nowadays, Fopp feels a little less relevant. It’s undoubtedly still a great place to snag a bargain, and always worth a look to see what is available for often ridiculously cheap prices. In music terms this is more often than not classic rock, and the «nu-​classic rock» of artists like Radiohead and suchlike. New releases too are typically reasonably priced. Likewise, DVDs are frequently available for less than you’d pay for a pint in most nearby bars. So what’s the problem? Well, for me, there is too little diversity in these offers. It rarely makes sense to go looking for a specific item in Fopp, either because they won’t have it beyond it’s initial release period, or because the cheap prices don’t really extend to back catalogue stuff that’s not part of the bigger offers — instead, you’ll typically find comparatively quite high prices. This is understandable, since the premises has limited shelf space, and must offer focused savings. But the issue is more noticeable when you seek products other than books, DVDs and CDs. Bluray discs for example are extortionate, even in comparison with HMV (and ridiculously so in comparison with supermarkets or online), and a (now seemingly aborted) decision to stock video games was never going to succeed, with every release priced at its RRP of £39.99 (when such products are rarely sold for more than two-​thirds of that price in most alternative retailers).
Nowadays, I see little incentive to shop in Fopp rather than a supermarket or online. The historical motivation has been (at least partially) to support local business, but that no longer really feels that persuasive, given its corporate parent. Now, unless I’m picking up a short-​notice gift for someone, or I happen to see a good deal, I’m unlikely to do much else but browse for inspiration that I can take to my Amazon shopping cart.
To compound my feelings towards this specific branch of Fopp, I’ve frequently seen cheaper prices on the same products in their Edinburgh Rose Street branch (and no one in Glasgow likes to see those folks getting better treatment!)

It could have been five stars — if I had not been in this place ten years ago. Back then the records in the bins and especially the books on the shelves were the equipment that someone needed to start a revolution.
Books about radical uprisings and toppling corporations were freely available and you could picture the establishment waiting outside wanting this place to shut down.
Now it seems like a cross between an HMV and a Waterstones. Bargain bin classics and marked down rock cds are not the elements that make up a movement. I am sure the anarchic pieces are still there but they have been watered down with a Bronte «3 for 1» or a Haircut One Hundred box set.

I was tempted to give Fopp 3 stars, but I realized that is only because it is not an independent store and then I realized that was stupid and petty.
Fopp, while small and a bit cramped, is packed with a nice selection of classic dvds, great television shows, and fantastic music selections with tiny artists that pleases me so immensely that if I bought music, I would definitely buy it here. I use Fopp mainly as a gift place, the deals on classic movies can be really good, even with a £4 budget.
So independent or not, it’s a groovy little store.

There was a bit of an outcry in 2007 when Fopp’s big brokers had mistakingly bought over Muzic Zone, and consequently went bust. For a tense few weeks music lovers all over the Uk waited in baited breath to see what the outcome would be. Would someone come along and save our favourite music shop? If they did, who would they be?
a fanfare for HMV, who rode in on a white horse and rescued… well, not a lot of the stores. But the original (and best?) first permanent residence of Fopp lives on to fight another day in its space on Byres Road.
I must admit, I was skeptical at the thought of HMV steaming in and making it a Mini-​Me version of their stores. I was pleasantly surprised that they have adhered to largely the same format, and have gained more respect for HMV as a consequence. It still stocks a vast amount of vinyl, CD’s of every description, classic iconic novels and DVD’s all between 3 – 10 pounds. It’s the only place I can really afford to buy CD’s now, and it’s nice to see that HMV kept it virtually the same.
I love their books and DVD deals as much as the choice of music they still host. Although it may not be as independent as it once was, it could be worse — it could have become extinct. So I for one am glad it lives on to see a new dawn in the media industry.

This place is as good as it gets when it comes to music, film and written media that accompanies it! Short of taking advantage of online sales, Fopp is seriously the cheapest music/​dvd outlet in Glasgow. I was gutted when HMV announced the closure of some of the Fopp outlets and was seriously chuffed when they decided to retain the Byres Road branch!
Having a perusal today I found some seriously good bargains! ’ Let the right one in’, ‘Milk’ and Man on Wire’ were all being sold for a 5er! Amazing! If your after some obscure cult movies then this is the place to go!
They also offer a good selection of books in store. Particularly the ‘Vintage Classics’ range including authors such as Kafka and Heller for less than a 5er. Are all your pals talking about a proper cool movie that you haven’t even heard of? Guarantied you will find it here, and while you’re at it, pick up a book for a few extra quid. You might just stumble across a hidden classic

Fopp is a West End institution. Selling cds, books and dvds all piled on top of the wooden floors, blasting the latest hip cd at an ear bleeding level, it is hard to imagine Byres Road without it.
However, with the onslaught of itunes, newsgroups and even downloadable books, there is no doubt shops such as Fopp are on the way out. This store even closed abruptly last year, only to reopen when it was bought over by another group.
Savour every moment in Fopp fellow Unilocalers, because sadly, I don’t think there are too many of them left.

I love Fopp.
I love the layout, the selection, the fact that all the products are a nice flat price like £5 or £7 or £10 and I even love the music they play in store.
This store is particularly nice and on a good location on Byres Road making it hard to walk past. Dangerous indeed.
Their selection of CD’s, DVD’s and books is a constant source of joy and there is always a bargain in here.
I still remember that brief period when Fopp was gone-​diddly-​on. Just thinking about it. makes me sad.
Cant imagine my life without Fopp.

If i died today and woke up in Fopp my assumptions would have been confirmed. When Fopp arrived on the scene it really busted a few chops in the music /​book/​dvd industry and despite its now affiliation with the HMV group, it still offers some of the best deals and value for money on the market.
For years now patrons of Fopp have been lapping up the cheap books, £8 for a paperback! i think not Mr Waterstones, off to Fopp i shall go and purchase said book for mere £3-£5. Add to this great deals on classic albums and an independent feel to the stores and you have yourself a wondrous wee shop offering the great and the good in music, film and literature.
I like thee Fopp, you fill my little head and heart with joy when i have e spare £5 and for this i salute you.

I love Fopp and am so glad that their values have not been compromised since becoming part of the HMV umbrella.
Their selection of books remains great, which is something people don’t tend to comment on. While a lot of it is quite pop-​culturey, that isn’t awlays a bad thing, adn they shy away from the football hooligan literature that’s rampant at HMV and focus more on some great modern literary classics like Hemingway and Murakami. It’s far from being a bookshop in its own right but the prices are absolutely excellent and there is a big enough collection to keep me coming back and finding more gems.
The Byres Road branch is quite small, but the stock is a bit more streamlined and attuned to its audience, which is helpful if you’re a guy or gal who knows what they want out of West End living.
Check out their staff picks/​recommendations too. You might surprise yourself.

Fopp is a Byres Road staple, always packed with punters browsing for a bargain, including loads of books and CDs for around £3.
The staff are incredibly clued up on their music and tend to be the hippest of musos with a fascination for all things musical.
Then there’s the books, which are piled high and can have you wandering around here for ages, crouched down trying to avoid being knocked over as you browse the bundles placed all around the floor.
One of the best places to be for books, music and DVDs, in terms of quality and particularly good prices.

I love my Fopp on Byres Road. Sure, it’s quite small and a bit messy at times but, you know, who cares? It’s always bustling and you could spend a good afternoon in here trawling through the bargain books and cheap-​o CD and DVDs.
The staff know their stuff and are always kind to help if you’re looking for something a bit more obscure.
Some sections display CDs with descriptive notes and recommendations. I know that this is a ploy to make me buy more but it’s a good way of picking up something you might not normally go for.
The store nearly had to close down not long ago. Long live Fopp!

Fopp is a dangerous shop for browsers like me.
You aim to go in, ‘just to have a look’. 1 hour and £120 later, you leave holding books, CDs, DVDs and posters (or even the odd tshirt) you would never have normally bought, but as it’s just so CHEAP you feel you must stock up. On everything.
Fair enough, you may have just purchased half the stock, but still. You did not need the entire Peep Show Box Set for £15, or the latest Christopher Brookmyre book for £5. Or those 4 cds by that band that you heard were good, but don’t really know, but you bought the cds for a mere £7 each, so it was a bargain anyway, even if they are crap in the end. Honestly? No. You didn’t.
It’s manipulation. At it’s best. Any why not let yourself be subliminally hypnotised to believe that their low low prices are ACTUALLY amazing? Exactly. There’s no excuse. Go forth and spend, you know you want to…

When a shop is threatened with closure and holds a subsequent candlelit vigil, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Saved from extinction, Fopp may be a faintly pretentious warehouse outlet with branches nationwide, but this particular Byres Rd fixture has always managed to keep a grasp on its close-​knit community spirit.
Strolling in on a Sunday afternoon with the sole purpose of buying rubbish autobiographies and CDs which are just going to gather dust is a West End ritual.