Is the High Street doomed

[muscovyduck]

How's everyone's local market halls doing? A few high streets I'm familiar with in England have had lots of new businesses move into the market halls while the rest of the shops on the street stay closed. This is after these markets looked like they were going to be the next thing to shut down in their areas a couple years ago. Would be interesting to find out whether it's just a coincidence or whether there's a more general trend.

 

[Marty1]

I was in Primark and Next last weekend, briefly, but neither had what I was looking for so I didn't make a purchase.


I bought wrapping paper in Poundland before Christmas.

So, paid more for parking than I did in the shops.

And usually I make a point of parking for free.

There’s a small retail place right in the centre of Middlesbrough that charges £1.60 for parking (don’t know how long you get for that) - you can’t get in unless you pay at the barrier which gives you a token to get back out again. I think that’s a fortune to pay tbh - but, the crafty sods have placed the Amazon locker just within the car park barrier, likely hoping delivery drivers like me will stump up £1.60 just to gain access for 5mins. Instead I park further up the road in a loading bay and walk down with parcel bag

 

[hash tag]

Tooting Market has lost all of it's character, it's now more akin to a box park with trendy resturants and bars...https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/tooting-market.350198/

 

[hash tag]

Speaking of Ikea, who knew sleepovers was a thing?
BBC News - Ikea says illegal teenage sleepovers must end

Ikea says illegal teenage sleepovers must end

Ikea urges teenagers to stop having sleepovers in its stores, after a YouTube video went viral.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

Department store Beales warns of collapse risk - BBC News

Beales says 22 stores and 1,000 jobs are at risk if it cannot find a buyer.

www.google.com

Another department store on the brink

It's now been confirmed 12 stores are to close, whilst they continue to try a buyer for the other 11.

Beales in Worthing to close with 11 other stores

DEPARTMENT chain Beales is to close 12 of its stores after efforts to sell all 23 failed, according to administrators KPMG.

www.theargus.co.uk

 

[StoneRoad]

It's now been confirmed 12 stores are to close, whilst they continue to try a buyer for the other 11.

Beales in Worthing to close with 11 other stores

DEPARTMENT chain Beales is to close 12 of its stores after efforts to sell all 23 failed, according to administrators KPMG.

www.theargus.co.uk

The one in Hexham - which used to be Robbs, who also had Tynedale Park (sold to Tesco. who had been refused planning for their own intended site) has been "closed" and "re-opened" as a Trading Outlet / Concession site. Very sad at the moment.
I blame Tescox and online shopping. - also for the closure of bank / PO branches.
On a recent visit to Hexham, there were at least six empty units in and around the High Street. Over the past year, closures included a busy fruit/veg shop, two caffs and one site had been a charity shop. The secondhand bookshop (also a well-known chairity) seems to have given up actually organising the shelves in any way, which stops any finding anything unless you want to spend ages searching /browsing.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Over the past year, closures included a busy fruit/veg shop'

News today that a large family run greengrocer is closing in Worthing, after 3 generations have clocked up 90 years of trading.

In other news, Virgin is also closing in town, together with another 24 outlets across the country.

Virgin Media has announced it is to close 25 of its stores across the UK, resulting in the loss of 110 jobs.
The decision will leave just 53 existing branches in the country, although it is feared that more closures will follow as the chain continues further investment in online sales.

Virgin Media announces closure of 25 UK stores - here’s the full list of locations

Virgin Media has announced it is to close 25 of its stores across the UK, resulting in the loss of 110 jobs.

www.worthingherald.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

More bad news for the High Street.

1 - Beales Department stores, 12 branches already closed, now the last 11 are closing as no buyer could be found.

Full list of remaining Beales stores set to close

Efforts to sell the stores failed.

www.theargus.co.uk

2 - Shoe Zone says it mat have to close 100 out of their 500 branches.

Uncertain future for Sussex stores as national chain warns it could close 100 branches

A national chain, which has stores across Sussex, has warned it could be forced to close as many as 100 of its branches, if business rates do not change.

www.worthingherald.co.uk

3 - Laura Ashley is in trouble & trying to raise more funding from their lender.

Laura Ashley could be the next brand to leave our high streets as sales fall significantly

Struggling fashion and home retailer Laura Ashley is in talks with its lender about securing enough money to allow the brand to continue trading.

www.worthingherald.co.uk

 

[hash tag]

Laura Ashley looks doomed.
FWIW; I have been toying with a purchase or two in the coming days and weeks. Is this weird or what? I research the brand and specification on line and check for rough prices.
I then go to a shop to try it out and see what its like in the flesh and then buy it over the counter. I could not, would not buy a big ticket item online.
I have just noticed our local massive Currys/PC World/Comet is now closed.....

 

[hash tag]

Waitrose shops to close and maybe a John Lewis store or two; just whatever next?

John Lewis staff bonus at 67-year low as more closures announced

Three Waitrose stores to shut this year, putting about 400 jobs at risk

www.theguardian.com

 

[cybershot]

Shopping centre giant Intu warns it could go bust

The owner of the Trafford Centre and Lakeside shopping centres reports a loss of £2bn.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Shopping centre giant Intu warns it could go bust

The owner of the Trafford Centre and Lakeside shopping centres reports a loss of £2bn.

www.bbc.co.uk

At the same time, Intu has run up debts of nearly £5bn.

 

[seeformiles]

How's everyone's local market halls doing? A few high streets I'm familiar with in England have had lots of new businesses move into the market halls while the rest of the shops on the street stay closed. This is after these markets looked like they were going to be the next thing to shut down in their areas a couple years ago. Would be interesting to find out whether it's just a coincidence or whether there's a more general trend.

Leeds market is a shadow of its former self. For example, “Butchers’ Row” used to have over 25 shops - now there is just one. A whole block of stalls has been removed in the centre of the covered section to create a performance space - but who the fuck wants to play in a cavernous metal roofed concrete-floored area with shit acoustics? And what has that got to do with a market anyway? Over the last few years, LCC have been upping rents while access to the market (& footfall) was partially blocked by the construction of a new John Lewis store that also removed a cheap open car park (replaced by an expensive JL version). Rates at the old multi-storey by the market have soared as well thus pretty much wiping out any savings made by shopping there in the first place. LCC also have the stupid notion that the market will benefit from passing trade from JL customers. If you can afford to spend £70 on a scatter cushion, I hardly think you’re counting the pennies to the extent that you’ll make a diversion to the outdoor market for cut price veg. The outdoor veg section lives on (just) but the soul has been ripped out of a place that was once the biggest covered market in Europe by a pack of clueless twats who I doubt ever shopped there in the first place. Bastards.

 

[Marty1]

Seems to be getting worse by the day.

The owner of the MetroCentre and Eldon Square shopping malls has warned it could go bust if it cannot raise further funds as it slumped to a £2 billion annual loss.

Metrocentre and Eldon Square owner warns it could go bust as losses hit £2bn

The owner of the MetroCentre and Eldon Square shopping malls has warned it could go bust if it cannot raise further funds as it slumped to a £2…

www.hexham-courant.co.uk

 

[skyscraper101]

Carphone Warehouse, gone. Haven't been in one for years myself.

All 531 Carphone warehouse stores to close with 2,900 jobs at risk

Dixons Carphone decided it would simple sell phones through its Currys PC World branches and shutter all of its standalone Carphone Warehouse stores seeing 2,900 workers put at risk of losing their jobs

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

That's a lot of jobs gone.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Shopping centre giant Intu warns it could go bust

The owner of the Trafford Centre and Lakeside shopping centres reports a loss of £2bn.

www.bbc.co.uk

They're halfway through demolishing and rebuilding a shopping centre here in Nottingham. It's right by the station and you basically have to go through it to get into the city centre. I fully expect it to be abandoned in its current skeletal state any day now, leaving a vast and hideous scar on the city.

Inevitable questions about why the city council gave a company that was already listing to port the green light to start such a big project.

 

[ska invita]

Pretty much every single last business small or large is doomed under current forecasts and status quo. Government this morning now openly saying shutdown will last months.

Amazon are hiring though

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Carphone Warehouse, gone. Haven't been in one for years myself.

All 531 Carphone warehouse stores to close with 2,900 jobs at risk

Dixons Carphone decided it would simple sell phones through its Currys PC World branches and shutter all of its standalone Carphone Warehouse stores seeing 2,900 workers put at risk of losing their jobs

www.mirror.co.uk

Had no idea they were still around. Who goes in to a shop to buy a phone these days?

 

[MickiQ]

Coronavirus is going to be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of firms in this position.

 

[ska invita]

Coronavirus is going to be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of firms in this position.

Most people not employed by the state are fucked unless the government step in. That includes me btw, I'm not being flippant

 

[Artaxerxes]

Had no idea they were still around. Who goes in to a shop to buy a phone these days?

Me, I like to see the size and weight and if I can take the battery out.

A new phone every 5 years isn’t enough to support them clearly though.

 

[MickiQ]

Me, I like to see the size and weight and if I can take the battery out.

A new phone every 5 years isn’t enough to support them clearly though.

The shop is the entirety of their business, the phone shops run by the networks are a customer front end to all the services they provide, they can afford to run them as loss leaders and subsidise them on the dosh they make from the services they provide.
Carphone Warehouse can't, they sell a phone maybe get a commission on selling a contract and then that's it. They were doomed the moment that Vodafone and O2 et al started having a high street presence of their own.

 

[souljacker]

Carphone Warehouse, gone. Haven't been in one for years myself.

All 531 Carphone warehouse stores to close with 2,900 jobs at risk

Dixons Carphone decided it would simple sell phones through its Currys PC World branches and shutter all of its standalone Carphone Warehouse stores seeing 2,900 workers put at risk of losing their jobs

www.mirror.co.uk

Not actually gone just getting rid of their standalone stores but keeping the ones still in PC World and Currys.

 

[souljacker]

They were doomed the moment that Vodafone and O2 et al started having a high street presence of their own.

Doomed? £10bn revenue?

 

[MickiQ]

Doomed? £10bn revenue?

It's not revenue that Currys/Dixon are going to lose, they can still sell phones through their other branches and other stuff besides, The only losers of course are the people in the shops who aren't absorbed into the rest of the corporate structure.

 

[hash tag]

Carphone Warehouse, gone. Haven't been in one for years myself.

All 531 Carphone warehouse stores to close with 2,900 jobs at risk

Dixons Carphone decided it would simple sell phones through its Currys PC World branches and shutter all of its standalone Carphone Warehouse stores seeing 2,900 workers put at risk of losing their jobs

www.mirror.co.uk

That was a bit of a surprise.

Had no idea they were still around. Who goes in to a shop to buy a phone these days?

Me. I would never buy a phone without checking it out in the flesh before buying it. I like to check the size, weight, quality and general feel of it as well as spec.

 

[platinumsage]

Had no idea they were still around. Who goes in to a shop to buy a phone these days?

My mum goes to EE shops to buy top-ups and also to get them to change the clock twice a year.

 

[skyscraper101]

Laura Ashley now also gone.

Coronavirus: Laura Ashley set to become first retail casualty of crisis

Retail analysts warn Laura Ashley will be the first of many retailers, in non-essential spending categories, to face defeat

news.sky.com

 

[hash tag]

^^^ was just reading that. Never a fan myself but very sorry for the staff. Im not convined it was down to the virus though ^^^