Is the High Street doomed
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pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
I’ve been following the hashtag #deadmall on instagram, fascinating photos of behemoth abandoned malls across the USA and its happening here too.
cupid_stunt
Merry fecking Christmas.
More bank branches to close, taking the total to 3,300 since 2015! 
TSB to close 82 branches next year to cut costs
It's estimated that between 300 and 400 jobs could be going, and they are being told just before Christmas.
TSB to close 82 branches next year to cut costs
It's estimated that between 300 and 400 jobs could be going, and they are being told just before Christmas.
Watch those shopping centres collapse after Brexit
UK property funds suffer worst week since Brexit referendum
UK property funds suffer worst week since Brexit referendum
GAME to close 40 shops in the UK due to ‘challenging retail market’
The UK’s biggest video game retail chain is to close 40 of its 300+ stores, including sites in Watford, Leicester, and Glasgow.
metro.co.uk
GAME To Close 40 UK Stores
The retailer has announced the closures as part of its ‘rationalisation programme’
And HMV
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
I get the above, clearly amazon and music streaming/downloading are having an impact.
But is a big part of this just that we have reached, and past, "peak stuff"? we are/were in an era of rampant consumerism. Are people starting to realise that it's shit? I think people are starting to realise this - that you can have 10 pairs of jeans, but actually, you need 2 or 3 at most, so they are just buying less. Capitalism's inability to cope without growth is the problem.
For example, the Paperchase shop in Reading's big indoor shopping centre has closed now. I wandered in before xmas when it had a closing down sale on, looking for "stocking fillers". It was full of crap. Complete junk. It was appalling that our planet's resources had been wasted like that. Cheep crap, manufactured in China then shipped half way round the planet on polluting container ships so that 12 year olds had something to spend their pocket money on. I hope the PE people have lost big time.
I think a bid element of the death of the high street is just that people (massive generalisation, yes) have enough "stuff" and have stopped buying "stuff".
which would be good, planet wise.
But is a big part of this just that we have reached, and past, "peak stuff"? we are/were in an era of rampant consumerism. Are people starting to realise that it's shit? I think people are starting to realise this - that you can have 10 pairs of jeans, but actually, you need 2 or 3 at most, so they are just buying less. Capitalism's inability to cope without growth is the problem.
For example, the Paperchase shop in Reading's big indoor shopping centre has closed now. I wandered in before xmas when it had a closing down sale on, looking for "stocking fillers". It was full of crap. Complete junk. It was appalling that our planet's resources had been wasted like that. Cheep crap, manufactured in China then shipped half way round the planet on polluting container ships so that 12 year olds had something to spend their pocket money on. I hope the PE people have lost big time.
I think a bid element of the death of the high street is just that people (massive generalisation, yes) have enough "stuff" and have stopped buying "stuff".
which would be good, planet wise.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
I see that bellweather of all things retail, John Lewis is having problems. Waitrose excluded, sales and profits down and now the chief exec has gone. When speaking to Mrs t last night about this, she said she hadn't shopped there in the last year. Great I thought, but it did sound like she was saying it was partly her fault.
we have only bought emergency/essential clothing in the last year and I see no reason why that can't continue, though I am tempted by the thought of some new running shoes.
we have only bought emergency/essential clothing in the last year and I see no reason why that can't continue, though I am tempted by the thought of some new running shoes.
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
finishing tomorrow when all stores close.
Did Mothercare sell online in U.K.?
cybershot
Well-Known Member
GAME To Close 40 UK Stores
The retailer has announced the closures as part of its ‘rationalisation programme’www.ladbible.com
And HMV
ETA: Mike Ashley has quite a big share in game so in some respects this is more good news for the downfall of his empire but bad for the staff obviously.
what’s interesting in this particular sector is that CeX whose stock is obviously all second hand+ is thriving. Yes they buy off you at ridiculous prices and sell it on for a profit, the margins aren’t that huge though unless it’s actual tech. Video games, blu rays etc comes down to a few quid and you can pick up some bargains for old games that are a much better deal than games’s pre owned prices.
bottom line is as mentioned countless times on this thread. Greedy landlords. As more of the more street gets emptyand stays empty for a long time hopefully, fingers crossed their bottom lines start to hurt and the pain starts going the way of these greedy cockmonkeys that deserve all they get for being evil.
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This article strikes me as more thoughtful than most.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
It bears mentioning that some of the occupants of the high streets so missed by nostalgists were terrible shops; in one picture in the article you can see a Macfisheries and a Timothy Whites: both useless.
When Sainsbury's opened in Christchurch, the local shops said 'it'll kill the High Street'. When they left years later it was 'it'll be the death of the High St' over again.
Unless internet shopping is a different shift from anything before.
Not Buying It: What Does The 'Death' Of One High Street Really Tell Us?
"The high street of the 1990s and 2000s, soulless and predictable, duplicated all over the country, is finished." But a new kind of future is emerging.
It bears mentioning that some of the occupants of the high streets so missed by nostalgists were terrible shops; in one picture in the article you can see a Macfisheries and a Timothy Whites: both useless.
When Sainsbury's opened in Christchurch, the local shops said 'it'll kill the High Street'. When they left years later it was 'it'll be the death of the High St' over again.
Unless internet shopping is a different shift from anything before.
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19sixtysix
Life as viewed from a Gay Gorbals Garret
I still wonder why some shops are still going. Top of list is WH Smith. Their use of scab tills reached new heights yesterday at airport as it demanded boarding pass (tax fiddle) after taking cash. Cue one bored employee to override demand. Hate that over priced place so much but I'd finished my book and had four hours in the hell of brand shopping that is T5 heathrow waiting on a plane.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I tried to buy a new diary* the same style as one they sold last year but it wasn't in stock. They told me they were getting some more stock in but I phoned to check a few days later and they hadn't. The thought occurred to me then that if you don't get more stock in you can't sell it, and if you don't have stock to sell as a shop you're in trouble. They've already downsized in Manchester city centre, used to have a fairly big store, now a much smaller one. I give their Market Street/Arndale branch a year, if that. Although of course their transport link branches will probably be all right.
* I ended up calling three more branches, two at Manchester train stations and one up near the university, none of which had the diary I wanted in stock. So I ended up buying it online directly from Lett's.
cupid_stunt
Merry fecking Christmas.
They have over 130 post offices in their branches, with more to come, so I guess that helps them.
Our Crown Post Office closed last year & moved into WHSmith's.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Thats another story in itself. The Post Office have closed many branches and moved into existing shops.
cupid_stunt
Merry fecking Christmas.
It had to be done, no point keeping branches open that couldn't cover their costs.
Made me laugh a few years ago, there was a campaign to save my mother's village sub-PO, it was closing because the couple running it were retiring, and because foot-fall was down so much, the only interested party to take it on was the Co-op, who would be offering much longer opening hours, including Sundays, and basic banking services for most banks, when there had never been a bank branch in the village.
And, people were campaigning against it happening.
Yet again the main problem is...Landlords.
Rents for shops are rising, even though footfall is dropping like a stone. Many shop landlords are entities like pension funds, the actual rent isn’t the main thing for them, it is the asset, yet they seem blind to the fact that the high rents that rise relentlessly will one day not too far away make the asset worthless.
Local toy shop closed last year, his rent had been increased from 18 to 32k. The shop is still empty and I can’t see it being re-let any time soon, if ever (odd shaped premises). How can a small toy shop make enough money to pay £32k? Just to the landlord, before wages and everything else. It’s untenable
Yeah, it’s bizarre -do landlords see the writing on the wall and are just trying to squeeze the last drop of blood out their tenants rather than provide more longevity in reducing/stabilising rents now?
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
The aim is to make as much money as quickly as possible then sell it off for a handsome profit in the next round of gentrification.
There’s no interest in acting as shepherds, best to rip the skin off then flog off the body these days.
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
Could have just read the book in the shop..
Maybe but there are definitely people who shop online every day - I’ve delivered in the same area over a 2 week period and delivered to the same addresses every day without fail. Not sure why people don’t order everything in one go (other than the frivolity that free next day delivery unfortunately encourages).
If the every day order type customers are home then it’s not as bad as those who are never in and their neighbours look absolutely sick to their back teeth of reluctantly taking in their parcels for them - I’ve even had some start to refuse stating (understandably) it was getting out of hand as they already had a pile of parcels that hadn’t been picked up yet.
BristolEcho
Well-Known Member
Impulse buying isn't it? As you can look at any time and any moment as soon as the thought comes into your head.
We bought our neighbour some chocolates and wine after a particular period of time when she took in loads of our parcels. Don't blame people who don't take them in tbh.
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