Ghost towns/retail changes, sad for toddler

[itscomplicatedlife]

Not sure titled this properly, basically waited a long time to have our child, she's now 2 and able fo come shopping in town except of course due to Covid and changes for some time the High streets close to many are like ghost towns with many shops shut it's really sad to see and not the experience I recall when it was in its peak in the mid 90s! I understand most things have moved online but I feel our children are missing out massively on an experience you can't replicate online. For example the trip to town was as exciting as being there, of course there's now nothing there unless you perhaps go to the large major cities which is what we plan to do but I don't know how much of it would now be relevant to young families as I guess most places are bars, restaurants and big brand names mainly aimed at the younger generation. Years ago most high streets had everything you needed for everyone but now it's all online, just feel like this change has made life for the consumer more convenient but taken the fun out of it also esp for those with young children whom I was once myself and abs loved going in to town and physically seeing everything or I'm really getting old! I also find it a huge hassle buying clothing online for DD who is an awkward size and having to keep taking things back at a wknd, some of us are not a standard size, maybe I'm getting old

@HeddaGarbled I aren't tutoring her in consumerism, she is 2yo she just enjoys seeing a new experience but it would be more interesting for her if it was like it was some time ago. She enjoys many other experiences and will do as she grows older this is just a small
facet and topic of life I wanted to discuss that has changed a lot and I think having a child
I just feel a bit sad there may not be as much for her to see in a few years when she can remember as things may further decline as shops are shutting regularly in some towns.

I think kids prob age 5-6 upward are gonna be more aware that it's not that interesting a thing to do as it was for say those of my generation when we were that age entering it all when It was thriving, kids younger won't remember or have much of an idea but it's sad for me seeing it how it is now versus what it was, luckily the bigger places stil have some semblance of a high street still and Kids older will naturally follow online now and they'll form their own experiences of this new way of shopping which being older now I'm unfamiliar with as I don't spend as much on myself now as I once did when I was younger, they won't know the differnce I suppose as they've never experienced it.

It is sad - DH is from a pretty affluent decent-sized provincial town and so many of their shops have gone that the main shopping street is almost deserted. I used to really enjoy the chance to 'go into town' when we visited as we're abroad and our area only has mall-style shops.

@HeddaGarbled

kids love to see differnt walks of life around them, the sensory experience of differnt shops and people of all generations, sights, sounds and smells

I’ve never thought of shopping as such an enriching experience 😃

OK, I can see that it’s an easy distraction, but I think you can get better ‘sensory’ experiences elsewhere, and without tutoring them in consumerism at such an impressionable age.

I totally agree.

If people used the libraries, parks, museums and community centres they’d grow and money would be put into them. Thing is, people have decided to hang out at the shops instead, killing a lot of opportunities for all the people watching, interaction and sensory experiences you would get in the other places.

I have a 2 year old who absolutely HATES a shopping trip. We've tried a few times, it ends in years and a headache.

I miss shopping for me, and my teenager, I miss it for my toddler as she grows up, but it really isn't something that affects her right now.

I’ve got a little girl and one of things I was looking forward to was taking her to the shops and buying her a lovely outfit and then treating her to lunch. I’m now wondering if there will be any clothes shops left on the high street given the way that things are going.

Life is flux. As I've got older (am grandparent age) I have seen so much change. The trick is to embrace change and look for the good things.
It's totally natural to want the same for your child as you had; to show them the things you loved.
It is sad that high streets are dying. I've noticed the same. The only thing to do, in my opinion, is to support them as best you can (but then is encouraging consumerism the right thing? Lots to think about there!)
And go in search for other delights to share with your little ones!
There's a lot to be said for experiences over possessions, and there are still beaches, nature, libraries (use them or lose them, and currently my local one is offering free activities for children and my mum has been going to talks on gardening at hers)
There is so much still to offer. Try not to let your sadness at the changes affect your child.

Oddly, I think it will turn around.

Our town lost Next, mint velvet, Debenhams, John Lewis, white stuff, fat face. It was getting so there was nowhere for teens to meet and try on clothes. The whole social side had gone.
But recently a new Next has opened, and this weekend another new clothes shop has opened. Plus new franchises in our department store. So maybe demand is still there. ....

I absolutely hated going shopping as a child oh the boredom of looking at clothes all day.

@allthegoodusernameshavegone

I absolutely hated going shopping as a child oh the boredom of looking at clothes all day.

I was that child too! My friends did the shopping experience thing back in the 80s but I was the oddball and never did. Preferred kicking a football about with my brothers and helping out at the riding school for free lessons. I haven't changed much!

I feel I had a very privileged childhood but we didn't shop really (1950s/60s), we were in the country and vans came round with food - we had safer roads but very seldom went places for days out. None, then very little tv. Humans adapt quickly imv.

Have you really spent two years looking forward to dragging your toddler round the shops? Shopping isn’t an activity, it’s a necessity. Find something less environmentally destructive to do with your time and your toddler.

@Legoisthebest

itscomplicatedlife does your town not have a library or sports centre or park or museum or community centre to 'physically go out' for ?

I'm not the OP but my town has none of those things.

Christ. I didnt enjoy going into town for the shops when mine were toddlers. They didn't exactly find it exciting either. There's a million far more exciting things you can do with little ones imo.

Yes I agree. My daughter visited our city centre and said how grim it was. There were 3, pound shops and so many closed down shops. Numerous homeless people sitting in doorways. We do live in a deprived area and it shows.

This was always on the cards when on line shopping (which the majority wanted) took off.
But worry not , shopping has become an international sport.
It may be different , a stream line maybe, but real shop's will still be there.
We lost Dorothy Perkins and a few others.

@allthegoodusernameshavegone

I absolutely hated going shopping as a child oh the boredom of looking at clothes all day.

Same here! Hated having to walk a mile from our house to town, then waiting in line at the bank for my mum to get money out because she didn't have a card, then we'd have to walk through the market which was always really stinky (not sure what the smell was, maybe the fish or meat stall), then round the shops to look at clothes which I was never that interested in and if I did have to try anything on the changing rooms were always horrible with gaps in the curtains. By this point I'd need a wee and have to use the disgusting public toilets then it'd be time to walk the mile back home again.

When I got to my teens and had some of my own money it was more enjoyable but up to that point it was a miserable experience.

Our local town is dying on its knees.
The shopping mall ( ugly 60s build) has too many empty units and those that are occupied are tat shops and pop up fashion for a fiver shops.
The high street is awash with mobile phone shops, tat, charity , jewellery ( bizarrely) and lower end brand shops. So many are empty and we've just lost our M&S.

The council's vision of street cafes , artist hubs, open spaces and 'artisanal' suppliers is just a pipe dream.
The rents are too high and smaller entrepreneurs cannot afford to move into these empty units.

So sad .

I guess maybe I'm lucky where I live?

Sure there are empty units but we have a few towns near us where teenagers (my DC not old enough yet to go out with friends alone) would be able to have hours entertaining themselves.

But then as a teen I lived in a pretty big town. It had a high street but there was a big shopping centre on it. So generally we were in the centre.

Same with the town I live in now and the few close ones that DC will choose to go to in a couple of years. But I don't see their experience will differ much.

Shopping centre with shops on high streets/plazas outside too.

Food Courts. Parks nearby.

I'm guessing they'll be spending most of their time in the queue for bubble tea (or whatever the big thing is then) like I see most of the teens/tweens doing when I'm there.