UK has lost 83% of its department stores?

[NotSure1542]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58331168 interesting article. As someone who is a massive fan of John Lewis - I would hate for them ot go bust! What do you think the reason behind this is?

@NanaPorsche no Ashford

I would love to go to an old fashioned department store, where the staff really know their stock and can help you find what you're looking for. I'd pay a premium for it. But most these days are short staffed, and the staff that are there can only tell you about their concession. And no help with sizing, or getting alternatives when you're in the changing room.

The last few times I've looked for something in John Lewis once I'd finally found a staff member they all brought up the website on their handheld devices and said it was available online. So why would I now waste time going to the store when I can do exactly what they are going to suggest from the comfort of my own sofa?

As others have said they are an outdated model who have not kept up with modern spending habits. The only surprise is that it's not more than 83%.

I've never understood the love for Debenhams/John Lewis. I just think they are the most uninteresting of shops. And because of the overheads of running such a massive space, usually overpriced and understaffed.

The one good thing about John Lewis was/is? their guarantee on electrical goods.

I'm really not surprised that many department stores are closing.

I live near Birmingham. A few years ago they built a new massive one as the centerpiece to the opening of grand Central. It was the next biggest one outside London. They closed it at the start of the year. Saying it wasn't sustainable to keep it open as people are now shopping and saving more online

Just echoing how much of a hassle real life shopping is. Our local town (Cambridge) has a high end, new John Lewis which is lovely for a mooch round, but parking is a complete nightmare and expensive. Stock levels are hit and miss.

Sitting at home with my iPad I have access to pretty much every clothes shop in the U.K. Thanks to Instagram, I’ve found far more niche and indie shops that would be completely inaccessible to be if they were limited to their physical store. Online customer service tends to be better and I have access to reviews. I also really love looking at the photos of how people who bought clothing are actually wearing it. I can order a whole bunch of stuff to try online and see how they go with other items in my wardrobe and return things I don’t want for less than the cost of a couple of hours’ parking in town.

The items I do think work best face to face are books, beauty and opticians.

[quote OhSmellyCatSmellyCat]@NanaPorsche no Ashford[/quote]
Our John Lewis was also very busy - it was also a very new store when it closed.

Have to travel much further afield now as I'm often underwhelmed with quality of items bought online.

I love John Lewis, but they need to get a bit more up to speed with life. Pre-pandemic I went in to buy a vacuum cleaner. They only had the display model left and told me that I would have to wait 7-10 days for delivery. I could get the same model from Amazon delivered the next day. I ended up buying a different model so that I could take it with me, but it did give me the rage.

I’d be more inclined to use a department store if it was a more inclusive ‘day out’.
If I want a coffee in a department store I have a cafeteria type experience, pick up a tray and follow a conveyor belt system, then find a table etc. If I’m on a high street or out of town place, there’s usually a restaurant where it’s table service. Much nicer.
Department stores are just concessions these days so I may as well just go to the individual shops or order online.

We've lost BHS and Debenhams in recent years from my local city. M&S is still going - we do have an affluent elderly population round here (if you like stereotypes).

Lack of sizes for me. I’m a size 6 shoe nd a size 14…surely not that unusual? Why wouldn’t you have these in stock on a Saturday? When you ask you’re told to order it online .. but then I have to pay delivery and returns so I’ll go with a better organised online retailer. I just don’t understand it

@PalmarisLongus

They haven't adapted to online properly.

There's a reason Amazon is popular.
No crowds, fast delivery, first class customer service, often lower prices, subscribe and save and they'll make a charitable donation on your behalf with their Smile program.

So, let's say I need a bag of cat food, a pair of new shorts, 4 pack of beans and new kettle.

I can get those at a department store sure... But would I go to one when I could get them at just Tesco or Asda? Better yet would I bother getting a bus, walking from the stop to the shops, carry everything, worry about people barging me and such...

Or have a nice cuppa and a sit down for 20 minutes and browse Amazon, could have it in my hands tomorrow and a couple quid on its way to a charity.

Easy to compare prices online too. No driving to town, no parking costs and no way of knowing if the item wanted is actually in store. No carrying things to the car and going back again. Online is just so much more convenient, especially Amazon. Given no masks, no distancing and no isolation online is the much safer option too currently.

Our John Lewis felt weird after they refurbished it. I think they were trying to make it the same as the Cambridge one but they failed to realise that it wouldn’t work for the local market. It’s now shut.

I agree though- unless the town is miles from anywhere, so the store has a monopoly, the department store model doesn’t work anymore.

The place was full of signs telling me that I could buy online if they didn't have what I wanted in stock

Sadly yes, they have speeded their own demise. They no longer bother to stock the usual range of sizes, and if you ask they say they can order it and you can come back next Monday and try it on. House of Fraser actually charge for this!

It's a pity because I used to love a good department store.

Boohoo bought the brand but as an online retailer couldn't be arsed with the high costs of rent etc.
Liverpool closed in may

I must admit I've always found the department store model quite old fashioned, especially john lewis which has always been expensive to me.

Always seemed pointless too in L1 that you had JL at one end, debenhams at the other and then the same concessions had individual stores inbetween the two so you end up looking at the same clothes in each one.

Walking through JL and seeing so many 'old' brands and expensive crockery and stuff just felt out of touch, then inbetween would be dotted some 'younger' trendier stuff. It isn't sustainable now. Especially when in a few clicks you can find out where the product you want is actually available and for the lowest price and have it brought to you.

I had to go into town for school shoe and it was like hell on earth. I know some people enjoy shopping but give me home delivery with free returns anyway over queues, parking fees and stress of dragging children with me any day.

I don’t think I’ve been in a department store since Rackhams in about 1995.

All big purchases are online and all clothing is from charity shops.

Department stores have followed in the footsteps of UK based manufacturing. Far too many people (for understandably reasons) shop on price alone. UK companies could not compete with those in countries with lower wage costs and poor health and safety standards which is why most of the stuff people buy is now made in the East.
Likewise for bricks and mortar stores, when enough people buy on-line with cheaper prices, it will diminish the returns of a shop to the point it becomes uneconomical to run. It doesn't take many people to switch given that retailers margins were always pretty slim anyway, a 10-15% drop in footfall is enough to close down most stores.

People buying online. I am guilty of that. It takes a lot of effort for me to get to the shops these days. What I do hate is returning items so I still buy clothes at the retailers. However, I buy less and less as I get older.

I went to JL yesterday to buy an All Saints leather jacket and a pair if Not Your Daughter's jeans. They had neither in my size (12 to 14). I find this a lot with physical stores at the moment. Coupled with £7 parking costs, it's not surprising that city centres are being hollowed out. So many of my favourite stores have closed.

I gave up buying in shops ages ago. They never have the right sizes.

Dd 15 is 5ft 11. The only places that do long enough trousers for her are Next and New Look. She refuses to go to Next. So that leaves New Look.

Online we have Asos, BooHoo and all the similar brands who do tall. The High street is out of touch

I hate, hate, hate buying clothes online. I like to try things on as sizing and cut can vary hugely, l like to feel fabrics and see how they drape, and I find that colour is often hugely misleading on screen (I also find sending things back a huge faff).

But I don't think I'm representative of the clothes buying market any more

Exactly the same here. I bought no new clothes at all during lockdown as so many items bear little resemblance irl to what’s pictured online - colours don’t translate on screen, you can’t feel the quality of the fabric and there’s no consistency in sizing either between or often even within different brands. I was so pleased when the shops reopened, mask mandates were dropped and I could actually go out and buy some new clothes that fit properly.

I’ve no idea how so many people seem perfectly content either wearing ill-fitting clothes or endlessly repacking and returning all the multiple sizes they’ve ordered online. But clearly the majority are!

There are still things I prefer to see in person before I buy (and some things, like trousers or foundation or eyeglass frames, that I need to try on before I buy) - if I'm buying a sofa, I want to see it and sit on it and feel the material. If I'm buying a chopping board or a hoover... not so much.

It is fun to have a browse when you have the time, but to make a purchase of something you really need, it's frustrating to shop in person. And I tend to prefer smaller stores where I can see immediately if they have what I need.

I can't stand big supermarkets anymore, either.

I'm autistic and found department stores to be very stressful places to visit. I'm much happier shopping online. I rarely visit any shops now, just food and some clothing really.

[quote Hairbrush123]@allChequerBoard is this Cheltenham? I find the store's offerings limited compared to Solihull (my local), Cribbs Causeway...[/quote]

I was thinking of Chelmsford. It's a very shiny lovely store but not really terribly useful. We have a bigger one at Cambridge but that is smaller than it used to be and has a limited range compared to the bigger stores.

I will miss department stores.
I have just spent over an hour this morning trying to arrange for returns of clothes I bought online that were unsuitable, and am more stressed out than if I'd had to drive around looking for parking spaces.
But shopping isn't pleasurable in a mask so I don't go.