Is the High Street doomed

[Elpenor]

Last Night at McColls?

McColl's convenience store chain on brink of collapse

The retailer said on Thursday that it was increasingly likely it would enter administration.

www.bbc.co.uk

A convenience store I’ve never actually shopped in. I can imagine though that for many it’s the only place they can get a pint of milk and a loaf of bread within walking distance?

 

[BristolEcho]

They are so expensive so not a total surprise.

 

[pogofish]

Last Night at McColls?

McColl's convenience store chain on brink of collapse

The retailer said on Thursday that it was increasingly likely it would enter administration.

www.bbc.co.uk

A convenience store I’ve never actually shopped in. I can imagine though that for many it’s the only place they can get a pint of milk and a loaf of bread within walking distance?

I don't know about south of the border but McColls going under in Scotland means that many communities/neighbourhoods will also lose their sole Post Office, pay-point for gas, electricity and council services at one stroke. Especially in the more peripheral/poorer/remote places.

With Spar currently divesting itself of its Post Office counters - They have already closed a significant number and recently it was reported they are negotiating to get out of their contract with the PO and close the lot, this would seriously damage access to basic services in a great many places.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I don't know about south of the border but McColls going under in Scotland means that many communities/neighbourhoods will also lose their sole Post Office, pay-point for gas, electricity and council services at one stroke. Especially in the more peripheral/poorer/remote places.

My local McColls is my nearest PO, I regularly use both the PO & shop.

I've just been in there, and found out they are due to be re-branded as a 'Morrisons Daily' convenience store in the next couple of weeks anyway, and it's a fairly busy place, so I reckon they will be saved, certainly the staff are confident.

Anyway, it's confirmed that Morrisons has made an improved offer to fully take over the business, and the petrol station/retailer 'EG Group', owned by TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers, have expressed interest too, so fingers crossed.

Morrisons pitches last-ditch rescue deal for ailing convenience retailer McColl’s

The supermarket giant has proposed a last-ditch deal that would avert McColl’s collapse into insolvency and preserve the majority of its stores and workforce, Sky News can reveal.

news.sky.com

 

[cybershot]

My local McColls is my nearest PO, I regularly use both the PO & shop.

I've just been in there, and found out they are due to be re-branded as a 'Morrisons Daily' convenience store in the next couple of weeks anyway, and it's a fairly busy place, so I reckon they will be saved, certainly the staff are confident.

Anyway, it's confirmed that Morrisons has made an improved offer to fully take over the business, and the petrol station/retailer 'EG Group', owned by TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers, have expressed interest too, so fingers crossed.

Morrisons pitches last-ditch rescue deal for ailing convenience retailer McColl’s

The supermarket giant has proposed a last-ditch deal that would avert McColl’s collapse into insolvency and preserve the majority of its stores and workforce, Sky News can reveal.

news.sky.com

Didn't Morrisons launch a very short lived express type stores recently?

ETA: Sort of. They sold it to private equity firm who surprise surprise put it out of business within a year.

Around 70 stores were opened by the end of 2013, boosted by the purchase of 7 Jessops and 49 Blockbuster stores from administrators.[101] On 26 February 2013, a further six HMV stores were acquired from administrators.[102] The M Local chain was sold to a private equity group in 2015 and rebranded My Local, but entered administration itself less than a year later.[103]

 

[cupid_stunt]

Didn't Morrisons launch a very short lived express type stores recently?

Yeah, they seemed to have messed up IIRC with the supply lines to smaller stores, but I guess after becoming wholesalers to McColls a few years ago they have sorted that out now.

 

[hash tag]

It's crap that post offices are at the mercy of shops and not a branch in their own right. It remoter parts they are a vital part of the community as they are for people on benefits or pensions etc. I guess as the world moves on, in 20 years time, even the very elderly will be used to doing everything by card, phone, online etc. So demand for cash transactions will diminish.

 

[cupid_stunt]

McColl's has gone into administration now.

 

[pogofish]

Yup, just saw that reported, so the last minute deals didn't go through.

My local PO has just got a lot further away - out to the city sorting office at the back-end of an industrial estate several miles away.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Yup, just saw that reported, so the last minute deals didn't go through.

My local PO has just got a lot further away - out to the city sorting office at the back-end of an industrial estate several miles away.

I assume the administrators will keep them trading, whilst trying to put together a rescue, the EG Group is pushing ahead with a potential take-over.

EG Group, which is controlled by the billionaire Issa brothers, could strike a deal to rescue the bulk of the company, Sky News reported. The Issa brothers also co-own Asda, the supermarket chain.
EG Group declined to comment.
The group owns thousands of petrol stations and convenience shops in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and the US.

McColl's collapse puts thousands of jobs at risk

The convenience chain falls into administration after failing to strike a deal with its banks.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

This was the best possible outcome.

Supermarket group Morrisons has won a battle to rescue McColl's, the convenience store and newsagent chain, and taken on all 16,000 staff members.

Morrisons beat a rival offer from EG Group, the petrol station empire, owned by the billionaire Issa brothers.

Morrisons will pay off McColl's £170m debts and take on its 1,160 shops and pension schemes, with 2,000 members.

Morrisons rescues McColl's taking on all 16,000 staff

The supermarket chain has beaten a rival offer from EG Group which is owned by billionaire Issa brothers.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

Turns out that alcohol sales at McColl's have been suspended, as I found out yesterday, because Morrisons have to apply for their own licenses, which I guess is for hundreds of stores and involves loads of different local authorities, how mad is that?

Whilst some stores, in particular the smaller newsagent types, will be closed, which McColl's had already started to do, the larger convenience stores seem safe.

Apparently McColl's was already operating 270 'Morrisons Daily' outlets, with plans to convert 450 by November, 100 more than originally planned. Retail Gazette thinks that number will now increase further, because like-for-like sales are 20% higher in 'Morrisons Daily' branded stores compared to when they operated under the McColl's name.

What next for McColl’s under Morrisons? - Retail Gazette

Morrisons fought off Asda owner EG Group to snap up McColl's, but what will it do with it's new acquisition?

www.retailgazette.co.uk

 

[Artaxerxes]

Seems like a weird strategy but you do you.

 

[hash tag]

Thats interesting. Near me, a medium sized store converted to food only and it is exceptionally busy. Also nearby, is an M&S in a petrol station which also do well. It is well used for food only as well as fuel.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Thats interesting. Near me, a medium sized store converted to food only and it is exceptionally busy. Also nearby, is an M&S in a petrol station which also do well. It is well used for food only as well as fuel.

Several stores are being converted to food only, and they have extended the partnership with BP until at least 2030, there's over 300 M&S stores on BP forecourts.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Yeah MnS isn’t having issues with its food just it’s clothing.

It’s about the only place I can find dull casual clothes, everywhere else is aimed at a much younger cooler audience and has blaring music which I cannot fucking deal with when shopping

 

[hash tag]

Mrs Tag would have agreed with you over clothing, though I gather it has been improving. Going into a large store, the clothing is all over the place, what with all the different "brands". They were also a bit of a one trick pony for clothing and food, selling nothing but own brands. I gather this is changing.
I've never bought M&S clothing.
There is doubt over their store in Oxford St which they want to redevelop but are struggling to get planning permission.

 

[Elpenor]

A move towards out of town food stores given we are a car driven society and M&S has a fairly suburban appeal make sense

I imagine food basket size at the city centre stores is constrained by location.

 

[hash tag]

On the whole, food stores should be local and walkable for those that can't drive or choose not to.

 

[Artaxerxes]

A move towards out of town food stores given we are a car driven society and M&S has a fairly suburban appeal make sense

I imagine food basket size at the city centre stores is constrained by location.

Nobody sane is going to do a full shop at Marks, it’s the food to go and slightly posh stuff that gets picked up either for a treat or on the go.

Out of town makes no sense for that market

 

[Elpenor]

Nobody sane is going to do a full shop at Marks, it’s the food to go and slightly posh stuff that gets picked up either for a treat or on the go.

Out of town makes no sense for that market

I saw quite a lot of people doing a trolley shop in the stores I used to go which were largely suburban.

On the whole, food stores should be local and walkable for those that can't drive or choose not to.

Yes I agree - but perhaps M&S think they are an exception

 

[8ball]

Nobody sane is going to do a full shop at Marks, it’s the food to go and slightly posh stuff that gets picked up either for a treat or on the go.

Out of town makes no sense for that market

There’s an out of town one near me that is hugely popular. I think people go to pick up treats and a few other bits when they happen to be shopping at the other places on the retail park.

 

[8ball]

On the whole, food stores should be local and walkable for those that can't drive or choose not to.

Def agree with the “should” bit.

 

[hash tag]

Also, what about carers who have to shop for people. Their time is pushed to the limits as it is without having to traipse around for miles shopping.

 

[cybershot]

Rich people moved out of cities. Marks and spencer know their audience.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Department store 15:17 in liquidation

Department store start-up 15:17 has gone into liquidation, two years after it was launched.

www.drapersonline.com

That's a bugger for Worthing's town centre, as they were the largest retail outlet that moved into the former Beales department store site.

Department store start-up 15:17 launched in 2019, snapping up a former BHS site to open its first store in Ayr, on the south-west coast of Scotland. In November 2020, it opened a 15:17 in a former Topshop store in Cardiff, followed by a third store on a site previously occupied by Beales in Worthing, Sussex, which opened in December 2020.

In March 2021, 15:17 struck further deals to open stores in former Debenhams, House of Fraser and Topshop sites. These stores have all since closed.

 

[ska invita]

not high street, but building firms

Welcome to nginx!

piece in the FT - doesnt sound good at all

"More than 3,400 smaller UK construction businesses went into administration in the year to April — the highest number since the financial crisis. In April alone, almost 400 went bust, representing a near 50 per cent increase compared with January 2020, before the pandemic, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures. Bankruptcies in construction are outstripping those in every other sector in the UK."

worth reading the detail rather than me C&Ping it

 

[Cloo]

Out of town has held up very well over the last few years, somewhat to people's surprise. It's the free parking that helps a lot, plus these days they usually have somewhere to sit and have a coffee, so it doesn't surprise me if M&S are looking to that model.

 

[cupid_stunt]

not high street, but building firms

Welcome to nginx!

piece in the FT - doesnt sound good at all

"More than 3,400 smaller UK construction businesses went into administration in the year to April — the highest number since the financial crisis. In April alone, almost 400 went bust, representing a near 50 per cent increase compared with January 2020, before the pandemic, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures. Bankruptcies in construction are outstripping those in every other sector in the UK."

worth reading the detail rather than me C&Ping it

I have a number of mates in the trades, and they are certainly suffering from the constantly increasing prices for materials.

 

[sparkybird]

I know London is a different planet but everyone I know here is swamped with work, less Eastern European workers around too.