W H SMITHS - what's that all about?

[Febrier]

It's a shadow of its former self. It used to be a classy place to go for top quality books, especially of the Christmas present or school award variety. Also, posh stationery.
Now it's just cluttered with cheap toys and discounted Cadburys. (Are they still doing that hard sell at the till?). Customers skim the surface of the shop for ten- a scratch card but none penetrate the dark inners of the store.

How is it surviving? It's ripe for a Sold Its Soul To The Devil conspiracy theory.

It’s not surviving - our local one is closing down and from speaking to friends many more around the country are too. They are selling everything at 50% off at my local one and it’s still overpriced shite which they can’t shift.

It's only still around because of its presence in airports and train stations. I believe the actual high street stores are propped up mostly by the fact they often now contain a post office counter.

I try not to go inside the store we have locally. It's supremely expensive, very cramped and they never appear to have any lights on.

Mine still sells stationary and bestseller books mainly. And cards.

they make their money at places like railway stations/air ports where they have a monopoly . Our local one is closing soon.

How is it surviving?

Train stations and hospital shops. As well as sharing store space with the post office.

I agree, it lost its way some years ago. I am somewhat amazed it has survived through the pandemic so far.

they make their money at places like railway stations/air ports where they have a monopoly

I have just learned on another thread that they are completely separate factions, and the High St stores support themselves.

I try not to go inside the store we have locally. It's supremely expensive, very cramped and they never appear to have any lights on. This is my take on it too.

The one near me is pretty good - spacious, well stocked and good quality stationery. I imagine they can only justify spending on stores with high footfall like this one has, and they leave the less popular ones languishing. That's a bit chicken and egg, but I see similar with Boots.

@Aliceforgot

Mine still sells stationary and bestseller books mainly. And cards.

They may still sell those sort of items but I don't know anyone who buys them, unless it's the only place nearby, for example a hospital, airport or train station. If you're near a WH Smiths in a town then I can guarantee there will be other places nearby that are selling the exact same items for a fraction of the cost.

I haven't noticed it going downhill. Ours does have a post office but they have loads of good stationery, a massive card section (though I don't buy them as they're extortionate), and quite a lot of books. I haven't noticed any toys at all but yeah they do still do the chocolate at the checkout bit.

I can't see it surviving much longer to be honest.

I hate it when they push the chocolate at the till. Or a bottle of water. No thanks. That’s not what I came in for!

Our local one is large and used to be fairly popular but Waterstones has opened above it with a lovely cafe and good quality brands. When I went into smiths last week it was empty.

I'm sure my local is only still open because the back half is now the only post office in town.

If I want a card, newspaper, wrapping paper or chocolate, I'd go to the grocery store. Books- Amazon. Stationary- Wilko or Amazon or Tesco.
Don't buy magazines anymore.

Basically there's not a thing inside there that I would buy from them. It's an outdated relic.

My local one is closing. Everything is on sale at the moment. It's definitely more expensive than most other places to buy the same things.

I remember thinking WHSmith was on its last legs when I worked in one as a Saturday job about thirty years ago. You could get most things better quality and cheaper elsewhere and it always felt dingy. Yet it's still hanging on!

Ours is filthy.

When I was a child I used to sit on the floor to choose a book. I wouldn’t now

Our local one should, by rights, be thriving but it looks awful and positively deters you from going in. I was ina rush once to buy cards, chose 2 without checking the price. Tried to charge me £7.50. I said no thanks and walked out.

They're certainly keeping costs down by not paying cleaners and not turning the lights on.

Our local one is dark and dirty. I think they went downhill when supermarkets started selling stationery at a fraction of the price.

@Febrier

They're certainly keeping costs down by not paying cleaners and not turning the lights on.

You can add skeleton staff to this list as well. Our local one seems to run on just 2 members of staff. One in the back and one telling you to use the self service machines, rather than serving you on the till.

Our branch is pretty much entirely self service now. If you do actually need a member of staff you have to loiter by the stockroom for ages coughing! One way for them to keep costs down I suppose!

Ours is really nice. Good stationery, books, cards, a few toys. It has the post office though so maybe that’s the difference.

@Lalliella

Ours is really nice. Good stationery, books, cards, a few toys. It has the post office though so maybe that’s the difference.

Having a post office makes no difference to how dingy, grotty and dark they are. Our nearest one is in the city centre. It's bloody horrible, the post office that moved into it was much nicer, better set out and very spacious before they crammed themselves into the back of the shop. I'd far rather they had moved a few books and dairy milk bars into the post office to be honest.

I used to work in one when i was in high school and loved it. It was always such a hive of activity and things were reasonably priced and decent quality.

Now the stores seem sad and dull and really expensive, even the cool one i once worked at.

Our small local one isn't up to much, but the town centre one is great.