Yep, am expecting Mrs S to have a short term rush of buying some more of their cheap sh1te, then that’ll fade into oblivion!

Can we work on candle makers and places like Lush next? 8)

Small local shops – opening hours and working patterns. This.

When I was a lad, mum stayed at home. And shopped locally. The local bakers was really good, and the bread was really nice.

Fast forward a few years, and I find myself back living in town. A few local shops survive (a pale shadow of what I remember from childhood though). One survivor is the local bakers.

While first and then second child were still little(r) we were regularly treated to the locally made, and really quite yummy, bread from said bakery.

Kids are now a little bigger. Mrs edlong is now at work most of the week. The bread now comes from Sainsburys, because they are open when we are available to buy bread, and the local shop isn’t. Bummer.

My two penneth worth on this topic.
I really dont like shopping anyway so on line is very easy when you know you need. I assume it is cheaper but I don’t really compare with the high street as I try not to venture to them.
The long term problem could be that a lot (possibly the majority) of the large shopping centres are owned by pension funds. So fast forward ten years and the Trafford centre is empty of retailers. Do you just go there for the cinema shoes and coffee? Unlikely and that won’t support the place so that investment risk hasn’t paid off so the fund takes a hit felt by the private pension holders, me n thee. Gloomy times indeed.
On the flip side, it was packed near work in birstall this week with the cinema, various chain restaurants and a few big retailers. I expect it will quieten off by the end of jan tho.

The trend towards the out-of-town retail parks (all controlled by one of the big supermarkets) is the main issue for me. I’d actually like to shop in a proper butchers but I’m not driving 5 miles to one when I’m doing the rest of my shopping in the local Tesco retail park – and ofc Tesco won’t allow a butcher’s there even if one wanted to set up.

I’d second Game failing soon to, not that I’ll lose any sleep over it as the staff I’ve come across are pretty useless and arrogant. I’d guess a big name jewellers can’t be far off failing either. Although I noticed a new shop opened up for those Pandora things, how can enough people afford that stuff to warrant a dedicated shop?

crappy mouse button :p

I prefer online shopping for most of my consumerism, i really don’t want to pay £4-£6 to park the car (couldn’t leave my bike it’d get nicked) and then be ignored or spoken to rudely by a shop assistant on minimum wage who doesn’t give a crap.

I use supermarkets but i’m fortunate enought to live in a smallish village with good thriving shops such and have a good butchers, green grocers and deli and also farms selling eggs and other bits.

I have the best of both worlds really, and i don’t see me missing many of the high street retailers that are going under, most of the ones that are going under are going under for a reason, i.e. they’re crap.

did all our christmass shopping ( 2 adults 2 kids full complement of grand parents aunts uncles etc) online with the exception of food and mrs tts fav perfume.. why would i PAY to drive into Rochdale. PAY to park the car in a carpark ( derelict former mill) negotiate the abandoned highstreet avoiding the telephone and second shops (even the mac donalds has closed!1) then run the guantlet of pickpockets muggers and fone and sky salesmen.. hand over a cash premium for stuff that we didnt want because they didnt have what we did want..
when the alternative is answering the door to a nice man in a van with a brown box under his arm..

Will disagree with one of the above statements that Tesco don’t allow butchers on there sites, big retail parks etc..

Inner city Birmingham stores, Hodge Hill, Aston Lane and Springhill, all built in the last 5 years have a separate company runnning the butchers counter, unfortantley they are ran by the National Halal guys, but they have a great reputation and are taking over meat counters across the country in both Tesco and Asda, not your local butchers and no pork, and there methods may disagree with our western ethics but they are successful for all types of customers.

I had to queue out of the door and down the road a bit for our local butchers on Friday before Christmas. It is very good though.

High street looked gloomy amid the supposed post Christmas sales – many people, few with bags and not much tempting me to part with cash while I was out and about.

Did buy a present for a friends birthday from an indie retailer though, wasn’t cheap though so maybe I should have looked for it online!

I actively avoid going into town to shop and buy things. I used to hate going shopping and trying on clothes etc. I enjoy shopping now with my feet up, beer in hand and one click and my goods arrive the next day. Once the next generation grow up ingrained with shopping online, high street is dead. All the spare space will be handy for the housing problem.

Blacks very nearly gone..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16437888

But I expect the prepack admin is just debt and unprofitable site dumping for a new owner. Whoever the new owner is, they are going to have a job getting Blacks/Millets back on their feet.

Clinton cards supposedly had a rough x**s, and how the hell is Superdrug still going?

I went into Blacks on Sat, none of the expensive stuff is there anymore. I nearly bought a GPS just before xmas;funnily enough they are all gone now, along with decent boots,tents,sleeping bags;anything worth more than £200 it would seem

I think the expensive stuff was moved out and sold on.

Ive still got a blacks gift card from about a year ago, think its got about a tenner on it.

Do you think they will honour it and what’s worth getting for a tenner?

I rarely shop. But this year did all my Christmas shopping in my own town, and it was a revalation.
I got everything I wanted at good prices, enjoyed the touchy feely experience of actually being in a shop, and it was nice to talk to people.
On my home I treated myself and family to a selection of Greek food goodies, after a prolonged taster session (internet beat that)at the market. Then picked up Cycling weekly and drove home.

Big downside is parking. Large portions of car parks are given over to permit holders so empty and out of bounds at weekends. And town centre parking in general is a killer. Having to pay to park is having a strangle hold on retailers I would imagine?
On that subject I tried to visit Giants brand store in Radlett three times and never ever found a free meter, and everything else was residential permit only.

anyone have Past Times ?

Now Peacocks and Bon Marche, yes ive never heard of them either

Good riddance to Peacocks and Bon Marche! The trouble is that the chavettes will waddle over to New Look for their disposable leggingz.

And how did Past Times last this long?

Bon Marche was one of the earliest department stores in London, always had a big plot in Brixton.

there methods may disagree with our western ethics

cough>veal<cough

The Peacocks one is pretty annoying. They made a profit last year, but because RBS* and Barclays refused to restructure their existing debt, they have been forced into closing.

*Yes. That RBS. The one that had to bailed out.

anyone have Past Times ?

I assumed they’d gone years ago!

Ive still got a blacks gift card from about a year ago, think its got about a tenner on it.

Do you think they will honour it and what’s worth getting for a tenner?

Don’t see why they wouldn’t honor it, as long as it hasn’t expired of course. I got one as a present a few months ago but couldn’t find anything in Blacks I wanted, but just after New Year I just went and got some socks and dehydrated meals for me and the missus.

and dehydrated meals for me and the missus

You certainly know how to treat a lady 🙂

You certainly know how to treat a lady

😀 She was lucky to get that.

50 %off all stock at Past times now.

Probably only on the nety as they have shut a lot of shops.

peacocks gone too

Here’s a pretty good summary:
Retail research = who’s gone bust

I’m lucky enough to live in an area where I have three butchers, three fruit shops, a deli, a fishmonger and a Mad Jack’s all within a couple of minutes walk. They all open late too – till sixish – so I can get most of my food from them, and only have to venture to supermarkets for bulk stuff like Marmite.

S’good.

Game… No real surprises there though. Some people must have made a killing by buying at 0.5p and riding the rumours of a takeover. I suspect part of it will reappear.

I worked at Gamestation and was there when Game took over. It was obvious back then and said at the time that having 2 shops competing against each other in the smaller towns was a stupid idea. The big scheme was game would sell mostly new games whole gs concentrated on pre-owned. Some provinces just aren’t big enough for 2 shops of this nature and ultimately the rent bill killed (or will kill) the company off. Some people I worked with still work for the company, I’m sorry about their jobs.

Not high street exactly my local photo lab just shut down after I think about 25 years in business. Such a shame.

They were great, really passionate about what they did – bit expensive though so I guess most people just went to ASDA or whatever. I know someone that got some of their wedding photos printed on a machine at ASDA (after I recommended the now-shut-down place) and strangely they weren’t too happy with the quality.

They were great, really passionate about what they did – bit expensive though

I’ve been looking for a retail unit where I live, small market town in the SE, 30k people – just seen a 308 sq ft shop, a block back from the High St, no storage, for 24000 a year rent, rates nearly 8000.
How difficult must it be to run a small business like a photo shop, up against the supermarkets etc with their economies and convenience when your costs are frontloaded like that.

Was that town Chichester?

As 1 closes another opens on my high street. Debenhams are coming to town taking over the empty TJ Hughs shop. News agents has opened around the corner and added fresh baked bread, offy and convenience foods. Just happens to be opposite a bus terminal and stays open late. Another £1 shop is closing down but the whole building is getting a makeover, used to be an ironmongers for yrs & yrs. New toy shop has also opened . A supermarket developer has had an out of town plan refused but offered a site in town which will be controversial due to loss of parking unless they can be imaginative with the site. The old Woolies shop is now a thriving Iceland.
Just need to do something about the roads, too many deaths recently and like everywhere else gridlock and potholes 🙄

Best get used to it, if this is anywhere near true

40% of high street shops face closure

I worked at Gamestation and was there when Game took over. It was obvious back then and said at the time that having 2 shops competing against each other in the smaller towns was a stupid idea. The big scheme was game would sell mostly new games whole gs concentrated on pre-owned. Some provinces just aren’t big enough for 2 shops of this nature and ultimately the rent bill killed (or will kill) the company off. Some people I worked with still work for the company, I’m sorry about their jobs.

I’ve watched the Game debacle with interest, as a former employee when I was a student, a gamer and a game dev. I remember some towns had three stores – Electronics Boutique bought out Game and rebranded their stores ‘Game’, so they had two stores, then bought out Gamestation a couple of years later, adding a third… sometimes even afourth if they’d got a store in Debenhams in addition to their standalone shops.

They really shot themselves in the foot by pushing pre-owned so heavily – it meant less room for new stock, particularly the more obscure titles, and earned the wrath of the publishers. It’s not really a surprise that the likes of EA and Ubisoft refused to give them any leeway.

News agents has opened around the corner and added fresh baked bread

That’s how you play the game.

They really shot themselves in the foot by pushing pre-owned so heavily – it meant less room for new stock, particularly the more obscure titles, and earned the wrath of the publishers. It’s not really a surprise that the likes of EA and Ubisoft refused to give them any leeway.

I disagree here, trade in was a good business model. A title is traded in and resold on average 5 times before it loses it’s Market value with the retailers head office being able to decide how much it is worth. An example: a copy of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas could earn and extra £65 ontop of the original purchase price when traded in 5 times until Market value is dropped. Trade in also offered titles at a lower price to those who don’t have the funds for RRP or wish to part exchange. Trade in works fine in other countries and could do here.

Having stock of more obscure titles will never bump sales anything like a new COD or MOH title with a TV campaign. A shop needs to stock what sells.

Game was spread too thin and the rent bill killed it off. It’s now in admin.

I disagree here, trade in was a good business model. A title is traded in and resold on average 5 times before it loses it’s Market value with the retailers head office being able to decide how much it is worth. An example: a copy of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas could earn and extra £65 ontop of the original purchase price when traded in 5 times until Market value is dropped. Trade in also offered titles at a lower price to those who don’t have the funds for RRP or wish to part exchange. Trade in works fine in other countries and could do here.

The problem is, it screws over the developers and publishers, who don’t see any of the cash from the resale of a title. I don’t disagree with people being able to trade in and resell their games, but I don’t think it’s healthy when a specialist retailer makes it their main focus.

Game and Gamestation would actively push their pre-owned stock ahead of new stock. You can pick up second hand stuff in charity shops, but you don’t see huge pre-owned sections of second hand books in Waterstones, or pre-owned CDs and DVDs in HMV. It’s the main reason why games have started pushing on-line passes and one-time use codes for additional content.

The problem is, it screws over the developers and publishers, who don’t see any of the cash from the resale of a title

but keeps the consumer consuming the products they make. It’s up to the developer and publisher to set their own budgets.

Game and Gamestation would actively push their pre-owned stock ahead of new stock

As highstreet branches trade in is offering something not as easily available online.