Is the High Street doomed

[Badgers]

Mamas & Papas to close six stores and make redundancies at Huddersfield head office

 

[cupid_stunt]

If anyone wants a bargain...

Mothercare kicks off closing down sale

Mothercare is launching a closing down sale with nearly all products “dramatically reduced” as it prepares to close all its 79 stores and its website in the UK.

The baby and maternity retailer is to begin clearing stock with the sale on Friday after appointing administrators from the advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers on Tuesday, who are to close down its UK retail arm with the loss of more than 2,800 jobs within the next few months. Jobs at Mothercare’s warehouse and call centres – which are outsourced to other companies – are also at risk.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

If anyone wants a bargain...

Mothercare kicks off closing down sale

I guess you can just pop in and lift anything you like for free, staff are hardly gonna give a fuck...

 

[MickiQ]

Time was when we brought loads of stuff from Mothercare, bit pricey but good quality and everything was in one place, I remember that it was the only place I knew of where there was nappy changing facilities in the gents loo. (this was back in the 90's)

 

[Badgers]

Clinton Cards looking shaky at best

 

[hash tag]

Their busiest time of year by far I guess.
thinking out loud here, do people send out as many cards as ever or do many now send electronic greetings?

 

[Badgers]

Clinton Cards is shit. As always it is a shame for the staff but those trinket merchants are no loss.

 

[Proper Tidy]

I go to card factory. It's just as shit as clintons but the cards are 99p

 

[cupid_stunt]

Clinton Cards looking shaky at best

They went bust in 2012, and haven't really improved trading results since their main supplier took them over.

£34m in debt, for a chain selling cards & bits of tat.

Clintons pleads with landlords to reduce rents as 2,500 jobs at risk

 

[Badgers]

They went bust in 2012, and haven't really improved trading results since their main supplier took them over.

£34m in debt, for a chain selling cards & bits of tat.

Clintons pleads with landlords to reduce rents as 2,500 jobs at risk

It is shit isn't it.

Landlord's are cunts but they are being asked to subsidise a failing/doomed business that is carrying all that debt. The staff and suppliers will get fucked in the end.

 

[hash tag]

It's a dog eat dog world and most are trying to screw Somone else.
greed, that's what is, greed. We all want more.

 

[chilango]

I go to card factory. It's just as shit as clintons but the cards are 99p

29p if you're not fussy about making sure it's the "correct" occasion.

 

[Dogsauce]

It is shit isn't it.

Landlord's are cunts but they are being asked to subsidise a failing/doomed business that is carrying all that debt. The staff and suppliers will get fucked in the end.

Not really a subsidy is it? Commercial rents have increased just as much as house rents, if not more, and it strangles businesses whilst giving them nothing more. A correction is needed there just as much as with domestic property. It’s why this country has fewer independent stores like local bakeries that you see on the continent, because whole high streets are in some cases owned outright by commercial property companies and they squeeze tenants for every drop. Fuck them.

 

[Badgers]

Not really a subsidy is it? Commercial rents have increased just as much as house rents, if not more, and it strangles businesses whilst giving them nothing more. A correction is needed there just as much as with domestic property. It’s why this country has fewer independent stores like local bakeries that you see on the continent, because whole high streets are in some cases owned outright by commercial property companies and they squeeze tenants for every drop. Fuck them.

100% agree with you but why should Clinton's 'profit mark up' be okay whilst a landlord's is not?

 

[hash tag]

Can't believe a correction has not happened/started in respect of commercial rents given how many premises are empty and how many are people forcing reductions

 

[Badgers]

Can't believe a correction has not happened/started in respect of commercial rents given how many premises are empty and how many are people forcing reductions

Yes this ^

Land banking and commercial property banking is a shitfest ruining this country (among other things property related)

 

[Poi E]

Greeting cards should come in a machine with all the designs on them or load your own to print on card. Have them at railways stations. Must be able to do it.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

 

[kebabking]

the local Homebase is closing.

obviously its just the local one, but if its illustrative its a fucking tip compared to B&Q: it usually looks like its been robbed and the stock looks like its all end-of-line stuff being flogged of cheap.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

the local Homebase is closing.

obviously its just the local one, but if its illustrative its a fucking tip compared to B&Q: it usually looks like its been robbed and the stock looks like its all end-of-line stuff being flogged of cheap.

Our Homebase has been spared for now, but that also looks a right mess compared to B&Q and Wickes. Still it's a pretty decent store if you're in to shoplifting

 

[cupid_stunt]

the local Homebase is closing.

obviously its just the local one, but if its illustrative its a fucking tip compared to B&Q: it usually looks like its been robbed and the stock looks like its all end-of-line stuff being flogged of cheap.

Homebase was sold for £1 in Feb. 2017 to Hilco, who announced 42 store closures in Aug. 2018, clearly they are not very stable.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Wheres the line drawn from a place being small to a large, despised chain. I remember Franco Manca being feted as best pizza in town when they had an outlet in Brixton Market. They now have countless outlets nationwide. They have stuck to a small menu, sour dough bases and quality ingredients.

I didn't know the chain sprang from the market Franco. I thought he was an old one-man-band, ish

 

[hash tag]

I didn't know the chain sprang from the market Franco. I thought he was an old one-man-band, ish

Just 50 branches so far and counting. Franco Manca - Sourdough Pizza - Our Pizzerias

 

[hash tag]

Incidentally, I went into the Debenhams in Wandsworth today, which now has its closing down sale. I had a chat with a member of staff who was not too down as she said they had been given 9 months notice which was plenty of time for them all to find new jobs. It is a major store for Wandsworth and will leave another hole in the shopping area, quite a substantial one.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

What did you buy in Debenhams hash tag?

 

[hash tag]

Knickers, this morning! Previously? See posts else where, Me n Mrs T have bought no new clothes for at least a year except emergency buys.

 

[ricbake]

Giuseppe Mascoli moved to London from Naples in the 1990s, he worked as a lecturer in Economics at LSE and at Franco's, an Italian restaurant at Brixton Market that belonged to a friend, Franco. In 2008, Mascoli and Bridget Hugo (BreadBread) took over the place and renamed it Franco Manca's, which means Franco's missing.

March 2015, Franco Manca became part of The Fulham Shore, owned and operated by Giuseppe Mascoli, David Page, Nabil Mankarious, and David Sykes, they also own The Real Greek. In July 2018 they stated in the company report that more than 50% of the people who worked in the business held shares in the company.

 

[hash tag]

Our neighbouring Homebase is a building site for a high rise block. B&Q a mile away has just been demolished, for flats. Homebase opposite that will go at any time.
Nearest B&Q or similar must now be 5+ miles away

 

[Artaxerxes]

Not much call for homebase and b&q when every fucker rents.

 

[Poi E]

the local Homebase is closing.

obviously its just the local one, but if its illustrative its a fucking tip compared to B&Q: it usually looks like its been robbed and the stock looks like its all end-of-line stuff being flogged of cheap.

The Australian Wesfarmers company took the UK's largest hit in corporate history on acquiring the utter dog that is Homebase. And the UK is filled with hardware supplier dogs, so that takes some doing. Wesfarmers cited the "complexities" of the UK home improvement market which I guess means they didn't realise quite how shit house "improvements" in the UK are, comprising silicone sealant and prayer. Anyway, the idiot Tony Newman who heads up Croydon Council still reckons the Aussies will invest in a huge mall in Croydon. No chance, mate. No fucking chance. Anyone investing in retail in the UK needs their head read.