To not give two hoots about the demise of BHS?

[LunaLoveg00d]

(Disclaimer: obviously very sad for anyone employed there who is now facing losing their jobs).

Couldn't really care less if BHS ceases to exist. They're not a patch on Debenhams or John Lewis, and are beaten by places like M&S in the market for knickers and school uniform. Haven't bought anything in there for about three years - and even then it was in a Wallis concession rather than in BHS itself.

All this harping on about 88 years of tradition on the UK high street is ridiculous - it's a company which has failed to move with the times, has no defined core shopper and which sells tat.

[MadHattersWineParty]

I agree, but I've got no idea where my Nan will go for her breakfast when she's 'up the city'

[BillSykesDog]

It's very sad for the employees.

But yes you are right, the shop has been allowed to stagnate. It's like going back to 1981. I went in there for the first time in ages last year. They had some nice stuff, but the way it was presented made you feel like you were buying cheap clothes even when you got something nice. The customer service was dreadful and everything was drab and uninspiring.

[BillSykesDog]

My Gran likes it too! She is 87. Their demographic is dying off.

[Andrewofgg]

Businesses come and businesses go. There was a time when a World Without Woolworths seemed impossible but the sun still rises and sets. We "lost" our nearest BHS 15 years ago and it did not blight our lives.

[bakeoffcake]

Yabu

My first thoughts are for the thousands losing their jobs and then another borded up shop on the high street.
You don't have to actually buy stuff from a business to feel some empathy about it closing.

[leelu66]

I like their leggings. Very comfy and with 25% off, were £6. I wish I'd stocked up.

[CrotchetQuaverMinim]

Their slippers are good too. I wonder if they're still available to stock up on.

[LunaLoveg00d]

When Woolies went under people were queuing around the block to say how say how sad it was and how much they'd miss it - but had they shopped there in the first place, it wouldn't have gone into liquidation.

Unfortunately people's grans going for a cuppa aren't going to keep the store going. There is no way an investor is going to take the company on and try to turn it around, it would take billions, a complete rebrand, refitting all of the shops and changing the stock offering in its entirety.

[NapQueen]

Ive a 30yo friend who only shops there. She is distraught!

Personally I cant recall the last time I went in, but I do remember thinking it was such a drab and dated store. No real merchandising,no vibrant colours, no sense of pride. More:- here is what we sell. Here. All of it. Right here.

[AndNowItsSeven]

Very sad, I love the children clothes.

[Andrewofgg]

As for the vacant shops: online is doing to bricks and mortar what the supermarket did to the indie, what the indie did to the street market, what the railways did to the canals, what refrigerator ships did to European stock farming, what the word processor did to the typists, what the typewriter did to the old Dickensian copying clerks . . . that's life.

[PerspicaciaTick]

We got a voucher from WHSmith last week for money off at BHS. Presumably part of a pact between retail dinosaurs.

[ANiceSliceOfCake]

I like their homeware, but yes the layout of the clothes is terrible!
It's a shame but as you say it needed to move with the times.

[LunaLoveg00d]

I like their leggings. Very comfy and with 25% off, were £6. I wish I'd stocked up.

They appear to still be trading online too - as long as you pay with your credit card you're safe to buy even if they do go into liquidation. Just don't pay with a debit card or order vouchers.

[DisgraceToTheYChromosome]

Mildly miffed that I can no longer buy cheap trousers cut to accomodate a colostomy bag, or possibly a small goat.

[JimmyGreavesMoustache]

the fashion is shite, but the homewares are great. We've bought bedlinen, cushions and lighting from there in the past year.
I wonder if they could ditch fashion and stick to the stuff they're good at?

[treaclesoda]

They have a homewares only store near me and it is actually quite nice - very big and bright and modern and some nice things in it. Some horrible stuff too, but then no one is going to like everything that a particular shop stocks, even if it were a much more fashionable shop than BHS.

I'm only 40 so won't be missing their 'fashions' but I can see why my elderly mother in law might be sad about it though. It must be quite hard to find suitable clothes at her age as the high street is very much geared towards the younger end of the market.

[LunaLoveg00d]

We got a voucher from WHSmith last week for money off at BHS

Wouldn't be surprised if WH Smith disappears from the High Street and concentrates only on selling books at airports and stations. They have been struggling for years - I used to work down the road from their head office in Swindon in the late 1990s and even then they were having problems with being too expensive and old fashioned and that was before the internet boom.

[BombadierFritz]

Its going to really impact our town centre which i am sad about. Another empty shop and the town becoming more and more deserted. Its mostly pound shops, betting shops, pawn shops and pasty shops now. :(

[MadameCholetsDirtySecret]

They had an out of town home store in Reading that was rather good when it opened but went down hill and closed a few years ago. I haven't been in a main store of theirs since I was a child.
Very sad for all those who will lose their jobs.

[Sparklingbrook]

My Mum is early 70s and loves BHS so not sure about the dying off thing. Their lighting is really good too and doesn't just appeal to the older generation.

Unfortunately they turned our local one into a Primark years ago.

I think they just lost their way among others who do it a bit better. But wouldn't rave much about any high Street stores at the moment.

[murphys]

I didn't know they were liquidating. But it does explain why we are seeing so much BHS clothing in the shops here which sell overruns and imperfect clothing.

(Not in UK, we see a lot of brands here from UK stores which have been sent over and get sold cheap as chips in discount shops).

[LunaLoveg00d]

They've called in the administrators who I am assuming will try to find a buyer for the shops as a going concern, but if they can't, the next step is closing stores and liquidating the company.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36123444

[helensburgh]

Sad for people like my SIL who has been a store manager for BHS. V sad