but how many of us go in take a butchers and then buy it cheaper online?
My dad is a butcher, growing up there where 6 butchers in town, now there is just one. Supermarkets have completely changed the game. Watch out for Tesco and Asda, if they can sell your product better/cheaper they will.
It worries me what will become of our city centresWhy?
A lot of interdependent relaters just can't afford the rents of Blue Water/Lakeside/The Traffard Center.
Watch out for Tesco and Asda, if they can sell your product better/cheaper they will.
supermarket meat is utter shit, only muppets buy it
It worries me what will become of our city centresWhy?
For a starter for 10....
Because there will be loads of empty shop units, lots of people out of work, no choice for those of us that have still have any money to spend, they'll fall into disrepair and be an eyesore thereby turning off investors from doing anything to rebuild our broken economy, people will cease going into town centres because they're miserable and whatever good businesses are left will suffer as a result, those left in work will have to fund the benefits needs of those who've lost their jobs, our pensions will be worth less leaving more people in old age poverty.
It's not that difficult to see why a broken high-street in a consumer/service based economy is not a good thing!
supermarket meat is utter shit, only muppets buy it
Same with supermarket bikes, but Asda don't seem to have trouble shifting them.
[A lot of [b]interdependent relaters[/b] just can't afford the rents of Blue Water/Lakeside/[b]The Traffard Center[/b]
The one who sold dictionaries also must have closed down
Think its google who are bringing out an app, so yu scan the product instore, and the app tells you where its cheaper on the net.
it's already out there, I have it on my android phone...
what's annoyed me recently is Mary Portas' analysis that's completely missed the issue of rents and the government assistance to out of town planning, however I will give her credit for the nailing the parking issue - it's what the majority of shoppers react to.
although the high street really could rebuild if the rents issue is sorted (not easy I know but if there is a will, a way can be found) but the result would be different,
If we all just bought everything online then the city centre as we know it would implode, we'd lose our cultural heritage and we'd just become gimps within a network of distribution centres.
I understand that a lot of people work hard for their money, but if we all shop hard for a bargain on the internet we'll all end up living in characterless housing estates with less soul than Milton Keynes and our real ale / coffee / fine wine delivered by Ocado / tesco / Asda
edhornby has hit the nail on the head. Also as mentioned earlier about the outdoor shop's rent versus his mortgage. Retail property in high streets - and therefore rents - are massively overvalued. And that pushes up the price of goods to us. It will level out eventually I guess.
Sadly a disproportionate amount are owned by pension funds.
My best guess for new year failures are: Ann Summers (does anyone know anyone that buys from them 😉 ), Homebase- must be on the radar, Staples,....
We've learnt the hard way - buy your Christmas vouchers with a credit card.
We've learnt the hard way - buy your Christmas vouchers with a credit card.
yes why waste youre time with pesky money that can only be spent in every shop in the country..never got gift vouchers,
yes why waste youre time with pesky money that can only be spent in every shop in the country..never got gift vouchers,
Because some folk like being thoughtful, or at least pretending they are aware of your interests rather than not giving a shit and just doling out cash?
Because some folk like being thoughtful, or at least pretending they are aware of your interest rather than not giving a shit?
Then why not buy them a gift? id much rather have the cash, for my last birthday my mum paid my council tax..very nice present.
#Nice Edit BTW.
##Edit 2 - that edit just leaves me dangling.
jumpupanddown- I suspect we wouldnt get along in real life and that your mum is a really lovely woman. You and me just wont get each other at all.
So back to the high street......
#Nice Edit BTW.##Edit 2 - that edit just leaves me dangling.
just as im super nice ill give you a gift voucher, go to graze and put in 8jz5xy and you can get two free boxes of food.
and you can still have it even though you said
jumpupanddown- I suspect we wouldnt get along in real life and that your mum is a really lovely woman. You and me just wont get each other at all.
jumpupanddown-
you edit your posts after the event so we cant have a discussion online.
In a pub over a beer - it might be otherwise.
I wont retort to insults.
jumpupanddown-you edit your posts after the event so we cant have a discussion online.
In a pub over a beer - it might be otherwise.
I wont retort to insults.
youre taking the whole gift voucher thing very seriously.
although the high street really could rebuild if the rents issue is sorted (not easy I know but if there is a will, a way can be found) but the result would be different,
I think that rent is often used as an excuse by retailers who are in fact closing down for other reasons. Its easier to say "its the landlords fault" than "we didn't have enough customers"
It is very expensive to have an empty building, rates have to be paid and insurance triples, so it is in a landlords interest to see it occupied.
Rents, incentives and conditions are much more in favour of the retailer now than in the 80's. Only problem is that bricks and mortar shops seem to be becoming obsolete.
It was better for the landlord to have an empty premises with a notional rentable value of, say £3000pm, than an occupied premises bringing in £2000pm.
I just found out about this the other day. It's maaaadness but explains why two properties on a busy shopping street near me have been sitting vacant for 2-3 years (at least) now.
It was better for the landlord to have an empty premises with a notional rentable value of, say £3000pm, than an occupied premises bringing in £2000pm.
Can someone explain this?
I personally would rather have £24K a year coming in than spend £10K maintaining an empty property.
supermarket meat is utter shit, only muppets buy it
And farm shop meat is overpriced and no better
The lack of parking in towns and cities annoys me. A number of the car parks in the towns near to where i live have been replaced with shops, restaurants etc. You can spend ages searching for a parking space now and when you do find one it can cost up to £10 to park.
The councils thought that by reducing the number of car parking spaces people and telling people how great public transport is they would start to use public transport more.
I have not been to any of the nearby town centres in years. All my shopping is done from the comfort of my own home or at a retail park where parking is free and there are plenty of car parking spaces.
My nearest town is Rotherham and by all accounts there are more empty shops than occupied ones.
supermarket meat is utter shit, only muppets buy itAnd farm shop meat is overpriced and no better
stuff you shoot you're self is best, ducks are yummy and so is rabbit 🙂
I always assumed the problem with HMV is that the stuff is not just a bit more expensive than online, but vastly so. I will always spend the extra 10-15% to buy in a high street store, but when you can get music / Blu-rays for less than half the price of HMV it's pointless buying there.
I personally would rather have £24K a year coming in than spend £10K maintaining an empty property.
Might have made sense in the past but now business rates due on empty premises (*slow clap*) it's a weird thing to do.
Blacks are going under because they're not very good. They're no cheaper than the better quality stores like Cotswold but the quality isn't as good and the staff know less. Simple.
High Streets are suffering in part because we, the customer, prefer the convenience and pricing of the supermarkets. Simple. Our choice too and if we don't like it we just have to stop shopping at the supermarket.
And actually there's a more important bigger picture. Most of the growth in UK retail over the last decade came from debt - the companies used debt to open new stores and we used debt to buy more stuff than we needed. All that's happening now is a correction back to something more sustainable and sensible. We're buying less stuff, getting a sense of perspective back about what's important and as a result, retailers will close down.
Personally I think that's good. We lost the plot getting so focussed on buying 'stuff'
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We had a large retail clothing shop up until 2000,and then sold the business.We'd had the business for about 23 years ,did very well,and employed people.
As soon as out of town shopping centres were up and running our Saturday trade was halved.Sunday openings on the run up to Christmas became a waste of time and you could tell the writing was on the wall.
Shops in the area became services,estate agents,building societies,hairdressers and sandwich shops.
The business rates were an absolute killer.Why were we paying the same square footage for a village as a unit in a shopping centre.
Government policy on shopping centres and local councils total disregard for small businesses completely changed our high street.
I don't see a way back as the retail giants have overwhelming power,and have only to mention job creation to get planning permission.
Our shop is now a pharmacy and i do miss dealing with customers and genuinely helping them ,but i think we got out at the right time.
Game/Gamestation are currently on very dodgy ground. After they (Game) bought GS from Blockbuster, they quickly forced the company to move away from the traditional GS ethos (which made money/profit else why buy them?) and basically tried to make them clones of the Game stores. Anyone who was a regular in either knows that they had completely different customer types, this has driven the typical GS customer (hardcore gamers) into buying online etc. The Game stores themselves are really struggling due to low demand on a product with tiny margins and a look into their financial stability reveals a sorry state.
GS always made huge margin on the trade in side of the business, once they no longer championed this customers deserted in droves to CEX etc.
If i had to put money on it Dead Pool style it would be on them, either going under or being taken over.
Will be interesting to see whether the very recent report to the Government by Mary Portas will have any effect.
Nobody wants the traditional High Street to disappear but this is the 21st century and it obviously isn't serving our needs.
One thing that puzzles me is with the boom in internet shopping are people getting their parcels delivered to their workplace? Actually, it could get worse with this new warehouse locker scheme that Amazon has been trialling in London.
I did wonder today where it's all going to end, finished off my present buying this morning and headed in at 9 with intention of being out by 10 when i thought it would get busy. All the shops are in mega price wars, I had in mind I'd probably have to spend £120 odd to get everything. Spent about £60 in the end, got everything and more, 4 shops had 50% off and were still empty. I had a list of 30, yes, 30 books that my sis in law wants for Christmas for us to chose from. Lots of reasonably mainstream I think ie architecture, make up/art stuff. Water stones didn't have any so I came home and got some from amazon. Can see waterstones being next tbf, I haven't managed to find one decent book in there for over 18 months and it's dead expensive.
Left at 11:30 and town was still dead, really sad
Went to town about 11 ish and we got parked!! walked round half emtpy shops like Em82.
sales everywhere
As above therre are to many charity shops , bookies and overpriced coffe cafes,and building societies.
Visit frodsham st in chester, or Brook street, or northgate st and see them all, theyre breeding fast.
Can see waterstones being next tbf
This. They used to be good (pre-HMV take over days) now they are crap.
The writing is on the wall for book and cd shops. The problem is that amazon is way cheaper and has masses more stock.
Which is a shame as I grew up with (if not in!) independent music shops.
emma/emsz - sounds as though the shops were like a normal Saturday then!
Didn't I read somewhere that Amazon staff walk around 4 miles a day in that huge warehouse? 😯
This. They used to be good (pre-HMV take over days) now they are crap.
How have they changed though? It could be my poor memory, but I can't think of anything that is different.
But, I agree the end is nigh, or at least there will be a significant contraction and closure of a lot of stores next year.
This is one thing I really like about Italy.
95% of all shops are independent non chain stores. you go into a town centre and you are lucky/unlucky to see a chain store.
Nah C_G town used to get unbearable. I have to say though I find people's attitudes strange, first we bang on about being in so much debt everyone needs to take stock and cut back then when we do we get told to get spending as our High street 'culture' is disappearing and it's all our fault because we aren't the consumerist greedy pigs lining fat cats pockets like we once were. It's a nightmare now and I really feel for those losing their jobs but this is just the ending of the way things are, new things will come and replace it soon. I'm probably way off the mark but that's just what I think.
And when I say 'people' I mostly mean either people trying to flog us stuff and politicians not you lot 😀 fwiw my local butchers is alwAys heaving and sold out of all stock by 4 pm every day
Watch out for Tesco and Asda, if they can sell your product better/cheaper they will.
Well no business is going to survive if it sells product worse and more expensive! I agree that some balance is required but retailers and town planners/councils really have to be imaginative. Our lives will be poorer if retailing is monopolised and if it is poor quality.
In my village/small town there was a big petition to save the "historic" village bookshop from Ottakers (?) and then on-line. I tried to have sympathy but everytime I went in, I met nice people with knowledge but no stock. We can get it in a few days at 2-3x the price of Amazon. Sorry, but that doesn't work and it didn't - the shop closed.
But I really fear for book retailing. E-books could and are completely decimating the traditional business model.
Nick, yes you are right. I was confusing it with Ottokars which was better and was bought out by waterstones...
They used to have more local independence with the shop manager deciding what to stock, etc. Apparently it's all laid down 'from above'.
Mind you it's not the model to challenge amazon though is it...
Looks like HMV is about to have the last rights administered
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16241326 ]Thank you and goodnight[/url]
Blacks are going under because they're not very good. They're no cheaper than the better quality stores like Cotswold but the quality isn't as good and the staff know less. Simple.
High Streets are suffering in part because we, the customer, prefer the convenience and pricing of the supermarkets. Simple. Our choice too and if we don't like it we just have to stop shopping at the supermarket.And actually there's a more important bigger picture. Most of the growth in UK retail over the last decade came from debt - the companies used debt to open new stores and we used debt to buy more stuff than we needed. All that's happening now is a correction back to something more sustainable and sensible. We're buying less stuff, getting a sense of perspective back about what's important and as a result, retailers will close down.
Personally I think that's good. We lost the plot getting so focussed on buying 'stuff'
This. All over.
I like the supermarket because:
* I can park near to the shopping area for free
* I can push the trolley between the "shops"
* I don't have to contend with traffic
* There is a single point of sale.
I dislike:
* the lack of competition
* few specialisms
* no expert sales staff
Perhaps the next evolution is for Tesco to lease the "High Street" from town councils, and to organize it to have the same benefits as shopping in a supermarket.
Surely though it is not all doom and gloom, there are some retailers doing well(or as well as can be excpected in a contracted economy) I'd imagine, John Lewis, M&S. Places where service is good and the staff are friendly?
Something I spotted recently which reminds me of the local 'bubble' of wealth we reportedly live in, VW have given up some lot space to open Cambridge Bentley. I'm not likley to be shpping there anytime soon though, so no need to flame me 😉
It was better for the landlord to have an empty premises with a notional rentable value of, say £3000pm, than an occupied premises bringing in £2000pm.
Can someone explain this?I personally would rather have £24K a year coming in than spend £10K maintaining an empty property.
Because the mortgage that the landlord has for the property is assessed on a rentable value of £3000pm (as he may have taken a big mortgage out when everything was rosy and banks were throwing cash at anyone who said please). If he takes £2000pm he's accepting that the figure of £3000pm is too high, and the £2000 may not be a sufficient rentable value to support the mortgage at a time when banks are increasingly itchy about the credit that they give. He therefore runs the risk of them foreclosing.
So it's better to have an empty unit where he [i]might[/i] get £3000, than a full one where he definitely won't.
In-sane.
buzz-lightyear - Member
I like the supermarket because:* I can park near to the shopping area for free
* I can push the trolley between the "shops"
* I don't have to contend with traffic
* There is a single point of sale.I dislike:
* the lack of competition
* few specialisms
* no expert sales staffPerhaps the next evolution is for Tesco to lease the "High Street" from town councils, and to organize it to have the same benefits as shopping in a supermarket.
Don't morrisons try and push this idea in their marketing (Don't shop there so can't tell you about it in practice).
Things I like about supermarkets also include the more shopper friendly opening hours. The majority (?) of people in this country work 9-5 or similar. These are the people who have spending money. I have a choice of shopping on saturday morning or one evening during the week. I like to spend my sturdays doing thing like riding bikes not shopping, so I go to the supermarket at 8pm midweek.
I would love to be able to get all my stuff locally produced, have fresh bread by someone who is a skilled baker or meat from a good farm and a skilled butcher and my veg from a green grocer. In reality I value other things more highly so I don't, I go to Sainsbury's which is on the same street as all these shops but open when all these other shops aren't and It's quicker with a single point of sale and having everything close together.
Supermarkets exist and thrive because "we" prefer to shop there...
