Is the High street going bust?

[joe-90]

Topshop and other Arcadia Group shops to close (about 260 shops). Dixons still losing money. It seems that only shopping centres and On-line will survive. And of course the supermarkets will get ever more dominant. Would you agree with that?

 

[Djnikon]

Yes, absolutely Joe.
Even our local shopping centre is quieter week-on-week than it ever was.
Supermarkets in and around the town are choking the life out of the town centre.

 

[gasbanni]

And now Thomas cooks as well, Comet sold for £2 or was it one ?

 

[joe-90]

It was £2. Well overvalued.

 

[Paul_C]

Supermarkets in and around the town are choking the life out of the town centre.

Aided and abetted by the government by way of ever-increasing business rates and refuse collection charges, hundreds of new rules and regulations each year regarding "health & safety" which mandate such things as the replacement of perfectly serviceable signage and equipment, masses of employment legislation which make small concerns wary of taking on employees because the legal balance is so heavily skewed in favor of the employee, and so on.

The big chains and supermarkets can afford to deal with all that and to have a legal section just to keep abreast of the new regulations coming into force every day. Small concerns simply can't afford it and keep up with it all any more.

 

[joe-90]

Coupled with disabled access and which signs you can stand on the street etc in case people fall over them.

 

[Blasphemous]

Yes they'll further their domination but Supermarkets have been dominant for years, nothing new there. They began the destruction of the high street and the economic downturn is finishing it off. A 'High Street' will be a thing of the past in years to come. Of course there are those that will say that the High Street will be resigned to the history books along with the likes of the horse drawn plough as the advancement of Supermarkets, Online Retailing etc is just the evolution of retailing. After all, there was a time when we didn't have a 'High Street'.

The economic downturn has no allegiances. Like some kind of great tsunami, it destroys anything in its path. When a major smartphone manufacturer is struggling in 2011 you know you're in trouble!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15866820

HTC can give all the excuses, Apple launching new products, Google's newest Android operating system (Ice-cream Sandwich), slow to release, increased competition etc but ultimately, people aren't buying. And who can blame them? No one's job is safe!

The domination of supermarkets doesn't guarantee job security either! Do they need Checkout Operators? They've already started to get rid of some of those jobs with the Self Scanning tills. Why pay someone to man a checkout when you can get the shopper to scan the goods themselves and pay the money into a machine? And Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, etc aren't pushing their online retailing side for nothing! We're all too busy to even leave the house to shop now apparently. Pay a fiver and they'll deliver your weekly groceries to your door. Spend over a certain amount and they'll waive the delivery cost. With all the spare time we'll have we could go out shopping!

 

[Djnikon]

I don't think waste collection charges and the like are the same in Scotland, Wee Eck is all for helping the small business dontcherknow...
He helps them by allowing permission to build copious amounts of supermarkets.
Dunfermline is a town of less than 60,000 and yet we have; 2 Large Asda supermarkets less than 2 miles apart, a Tesco Extra store and then 2 Tesco Express stores less than a mile away (in fact one of them is only 1000 yards from the Extra store. We also have a large Co-Operative supermarket and there is now construction underway on a Tesco "hypermarket" less than 2 miles from the Extra store.

How, in that situation, is the small business meant to survive?

 

[Blasphemous]

Of course, it's all cyclic. Remember how 'successful' the country was back in the 80's...?

 

[Blasphemous]

Topshop and other Arcadia Group shops to close (about 260 shops). Dixons still losing money. It seems that only shopping centres and On-line will survive. And of course the supermarkets will get ever more dominant. Would you agree with that?

I agree that mega retailers such as supermarkets have ruined the high street but isn't Arcadia just another mega retailer?

 

[Susiejb]

Yes they'll further their domination but Supermarkets have been dominant for years, nothing new there. They began the destruction of the high street and the economic downturn is finishing it off. A 'High Street' will be a thing of the past in years to come.

Totally agree there...a friend of mine has small bed linen shop and they are struggling...you can go to Morrisons (food) supermarket now and come home with pillows, duvet covers and a bag full of furnishing accessories... and that is not a large superstore ...just our local supermarket.

The problem is we are of course all guilty...I rarely buy from a butcher or a greengrocer as it is more convenient to buy it all together.
Online shopping gives us the chance to compare prices and that is usually the the determining factor in where we make our purchases.

I purchased a child's workbench from Sainsburys rrp. over £60 for £20, do they even make a profit....if they do then the manufacturer is obviously paid virtually nothing. But we are all an the look out to save money ....you only have to read recent posts on here .... we are all pleased when someone leads us to a 'bargain' so I suppose we are all guilty of the High Streets demise.

 

[joe-90]

Good idea. Get 'em on the tools early.

 

[Nige F]

A 'High Street' will be a thing of the past in years to come.

small bed linen shop and they are struggling...you can go to Morrisons (food) supermarket now and come home with pillows, duvet covers and a bag full of furnishing accessories... .

we are all guilty of the High Streets demise.

And you can go to IKEA and come home with food .............of sorts

 

[Nige F]

Good idea. Get 'em on the tools early.

But did you buy the workplace safety signs and risk assesments to go with it

 

[BigDY]

And now Thomas cooks as well, Comet sold for £2 or was it one ?

Sold for £2...

...but they did make another £4.5bn on the 5 year extended warranty.