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.

My DH is convinced that WH Smith has some dirt on some very rich business people or the government. There's no other explanation for its survival. I like the cut of his jib.

So, they can't compete on price; I don't know why they try. It's like Boots - they have to offer an experience. I think they should specialise in stationery, perhaps try services like a present-wrapping station or calligraphy writing or some such.

I don't think WH Smiths was ever classy. To me it's a step above The Works and then there's a big gap to Waterstones/independent bookshops.

Maybe it depends on your local WH Smith, some may well be better than others.

I can't fathom it either.
Everything costs a fortune compared to other shops.

I used to love WH Smiths, we didn’t have one in our town when I was a child so going somewhere with a Smiths on the high street was a real treat.
We have one now and it’s a decent sized shop but since the Post Office took over around a quarter of it it’s become really cramped and cluttered, and dark
.
Apart from Asda and Morrisons on the edge of the town centre which both have a very limited range of magazines, it’s the only newsagents in the town centre since McColls closed a few months ago and that’s all it really has in it’s favour.

I don't think WH Smiths was ever classy. To me it's a step above The Works and then there's a big gap to Waterstones/independent bookshops. Maybe it depends on your local WH Smith, some may well be better than others.

And when. In the 80s, up here, it was posh. It sold really expensive stationery, even the kids stuff (Forever Friends anyone?) was pricey and some of the pens were kept in a glass cabinet.

WH Smith and John Menzis used to be where the majority of my pocket money was spent 20 years ago. Gorgeous art materials, books and magazines!

Oh yes forever friends! Begging my mum for the stickers for my sticker collection.

@WeCouldBeSpearows

I don't think WH Smiths was ever classy. To me it's a step above The Works and then there's a big gap to Waterstones/independent bookshops.

Maybe it depends on your local WH Smith, some may well be better than others.

It used to be - certainly nowhere near equivalent to The Works. It used to be a proper bookshop and stationers. Now it’s a shadow of its former self

@BarbaraofSeville , yes, I had to check the date as I thought this thread was from years ago.

There's a large branch in our town that is just like others have mentioned.

The front third is magazines, papers, stationery offers , endless chocolate and cheap ( because they can't shift them) books.

The middle third is dark and houses full priced books ( why would you?) and expensive stationery, ie tumbleweed lurks there.

The back third is eye wateringly expensive gift cards and paper , games and puzzles ( more tumbleweed) and the either closed/long queued Post Office.

Used to love their stationery at Back to School time. It was always really busy on a Saturday.

If you dare to pop in there you're met by an assistant, loitering in front of the cash tills , barking at you to use the self service tills that invariably go wrong/can't scan your item.

Bit sad really.

This has reminded me of an argument I got in to with a cashier once. It was at a train station and I was trying to buy a bottle of water between connections. He made a unilateral decision to scan a Daily Telegraph for me and told me to swap my brand of water. I said I didn't want to buy a Telegraph, and wanted the bottle of water in my hand. He said I didn't have to take the newspaper, but the paper cost less than the bigger bottle of water. I explained that I didn't want to give the Daily Telegraph a sale, and that I wanted the bottle of water I had brought to the desk. He started shaking his head at me and tutted.

It was one of those where you get all red 'cos you know everyone in the queue is listening, and I was being made to feel like a silly, little girl who wouldn't do what was best for her.

Horrible.

Ours is horrible, looks like a jumble sale, the few staff look throughly fed up and are unhelpful, and expensive tat.

@Velvian

It has been absolutely shite for decades. I'll never forgive WH Smith for flogging Playboy stationery to school girls and have not touched them with a barge pole for 25 years.

They do not deserve to survive, apart from my own personal vendetta regarding Playboy merchandise, they have been selling a mish mash of dusty, overpriced, unrelated stuff for eons.

I don't like them, can you tell .

I was working in the Arndale Manchester one in the 80s when Magenta de Vine and a film crew came in to take all the porn mags off the shelf as a protest. Happy days. (Would have been between 1988 and 1991 not sure when exactly though) Some of us on the tills refused to put the squalid little men's squalid little mags in bags and got told off by the manager.

It was definitely posher than the Works. Even back in the 80s cards would cost an eye-watering £1.49 for a Camden Graphics or Ling art card and we had Waterman pens that went into the hundreds.

Our one is closing down in May. It has a post office but when you ask where the new post office will be nobody knows. Its always been overpriced and its the same with Boots I would'nt be surprised if thats closes too.

Ours is still pretty good! It's still doing everything it used to do, although I think there used to be a bigger card variety than there is now.

I won't be using it for Christmas supplies anymore though because I realised I paid triple last year for their wrapping deal when I could have got nearly exactly the same a few shops down in Card Factory.

It had tough competition in our town for stationers though so maybe that encourages branch to up its game, and I still prefer it for cards and stationery to the other places.

Definitely quieter than it used to be though.

It’s weird to think back before supermarkets got in on the act of selling everything... It was Smiths or independents for stationery and books, Boots or independent chemists for your toiletries, newsagent at the top of the street for your newspapers and magazines, local beer off for alcohol, Mothercare for baby stuff…

Lots of post offices are now from from.WH Smith's branches. That's the only reason I go in my local one, and to pick up the odd greeting card.

@gildalily

I think that they have a big distribution arm which is quite successful so that probably offsets the tired and expensive stores.

I have a tale about their Soviet distribution arm.

A relative of mine lives in a small village which still has a village store and post office. The demographic is changing and there are more Guardian readers. So the manager of the shop wants to order more (Saturday) Guardians. But WHS says no. You usually get 9, so you can only have 9. Even if you could sell twice as many. It is completely crazy. My relative has to order her copy in advance to get one.

I still use WH Smith for cards because they do the nicest ones, although I occasionally strike lucky in a supermarket.

Agree
Ours is dirty dark and tired ( well both actually in my nearest two towns)
The layout is so bizarre as well.
Last time dd needed a pencil case, we had to walk round the store about five times as they were scattered in various groups on the shelves in five separate locations. ( and obviously every single one had to be examined and discarded 🤣)

Oh and our works is so much nicer, I always pop in as it’s clean bright inviting and you can often find a bargain you didn’t know you needec

WHS own most of their own premises so aren't suffering the stupidly high rents charged by commercial landlords.

They're also often the "last man standing" in terms of town centre newsagents as all the smaller/independents have closed, so have the captive audience for people wanting specialist/unusual newspapers & magazines as supermarkets tend to sell only the most popular ones.

Taking in the post office counters has enabled many of their shops to remain viable - a good forward thinking business decision.

The airports/train stations are indeed a separate division and the High Street shops have their own division which remains profitable.

WHS have been closing under-performing stores for years rather than letting them drag down the whole group. That's the mistake that other chains made, such as Woolworths who didn't chop loss making stores soon enough which brought the whole group down, even the profitable ones.

I don't know where other posters live, but both the WHS branches I go in are light & airy and well stocked, and both seem pretty busy.

By the way, I think WHS have missed a trick when Thornton's closed their shops. It would have probably been a good business decision for WHS to take in the Thornton's franchises in the same way they took in the post office counters. It would have worked for Thorntons as they'd have kept a High Street presence without having to pay stupidly high rents and it would have worked for WHS as another reason for customers to go in. I think it was a lost business opportunity for both.

@HappyHouseWitch

Isn't WH Smith regularly voted as Britain's worst shop? Their shabby carpets have their own Facebook following I believe!

Yeah I think they're known as 'carpeteers' I saw the Twitter account years ago.

I used to love picking my school stationery in there (and another shop called Stationery Box! Anyone remember those?) but haven't been in for ages now - last time was to use the Post Office.

I worked in one of the travel WHSmiths when I was at university. All the other shops in the station used an external cleaning company but WHSmith “couldn’t afford a cleaner” so the floor/shelves never got dusted/mopped I was always so grimy and dusty when I finished my shifts! Pay was rubbish too.