What the highstreets will look like in 10 years?

[whoamI00]

According to DM, M&S announces it will be closing 67 stores over the next five years. It's understandable given previous lockdown and the fact that more people shop on-line. I presume if the big corporation like M&S closes their shops then small stores will be difficult to make enough profit and they may follow the same step as M&S does.
What do you think the highstreets will look like in 10 years?

WHS High Street is a separate division and remains profitable on it's own.

The wholesale division was sold off years ago.

And charity shops.

The frustrating thing for me about M and S is that when I shop online and return something they very often forget to refund me or don’t refund the correct amount. My strong advice is to always check!

I digress! I feel we are going through as significant a period as something like the industrial revolution - the way we work, shop etc has massively changed and has been escalated by Covid. The High St will become face to face service industry stuff like cafes, beauticians, hairdressers etc

I live in a market town in SE which is well known for having lots of lovely independently owned shops so it feels vibrant and busy but there are still alot of empty shops.

Paying for parking has killed the City Centres . That's why out of town shopping is successful. Plenty of free parking. Even more so in these financially stretched times .

I had an embarrassing and awkward period leak at work recently and I can tell you I was cursing that all the shops near my work place had closed!! I passed several shops that used to be reasonably priced clothes shops where I could have bought an emergency pair of trousers and ended up walking over a mile to get something suitable.
I've also ended up with "emergency clothes purchases" when I've been drenched in the rain!

was in Bham City centre yesterday, it has a large M & S on the high street. The city was full of closed up shops, a few chains and beggars. It felt dirty and unsafe. It's not a place I will be returning to.
The business district whilst busy was nowhere near the level of business pre covid and the office workers and shoppers just dont seem to be there.
I am just as guilty as I only go into the office one day a week.
Online and out of town centres with free parking seem to be the place where people now go

I agree. I think city centres will become like the US, where entertainments are out of the centre and the centre will become business districts and quite dangerous for leisure.

Oh yes, opticians too. We have a lot of them actually!

Yep, along with one way systems, traffic calming, pedestrianisation, etc - just driven shoppers to retail parks and out of town supermarkets. Outside the major cities, public transport is expensive and inconvenient for lots of people. Councils have done untold harm. They may have laudable aims, but the sheer impracticality of such changes for the average shopper has killed High Streets.

Estate agent shops will completely go soon as will travel agents. Why would places pay inflated rents and energy bills when they entirely operate online? I can't believe they are still open now.

I think we will see out of town malls surviving, the ones with LOADS of free parking. But high streets and city centres will be dead. After a while the property will change from empty commercial to being residential but it won't be properly converted or invested in so will look a mess and lead to huge vermin problems.

I feel like everyone else must be a lot more organised than me - I often go to a shop for a card that I need to post that day or milk /bread/shampoo because I've run out. I also like to shop in real life because I've often been disappointed in online purchases where the fabric/sizing or quality has not been how I expected.

I guess I'm probably quite biassed as I work in a shop and feel anxious what the future holds. Fortunately atm the store I work in is doing well - back to and exceeding pre-covid sales. We have a lot of customers who come in for the social aspect too.

M&S is ridiculously old fashioned

pricing all wrong

store layout all wrong

style is defiantly anti-fashion , some of it maybe classic.

they have grown old with their target market, who must be in their 70s and 80s now

Younger people in our town go to H&M, Primark etc, middle aged ladies shop at Oliver Bonas or Anthro. TK Max popular too

i can see Phase eight going soon as well (target market 65+ so still a few more years to go)

some shops just grow old with their target market. My mum and her friends generation (80+) loved M&S but most of them are sadly no longer around

@SimonaRazowska

they have grown old with their target market, who must be in their 70s and 80s now

I hear that a lot, but I don't think M&S have any target market anymore. I can't buy anything and I'm in my 50's, My mother is 80 and hasn't bought anything there for years. We both used to buy lots from M&S in the 80s and 90s. So, no, they havn't grown old with their "older" target market at all. I think their buyers/marketeers have completely lost the plot and don't have a clue about their target market anymore.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow they charge 72p for small parcel, do you know how much for normal letter?

A special delivery letter? I’m not sure. About £2.80?

Th old Debenhams in my town which was the main anchor store for the shopping centre is apparently being turned into flats.

The old top shop is a huge unit and still vacant, Disney store unit still vacant, Nike was supposed to open in another unit back in the summer but hasn't happened yet.

The only clothes shops left are Primark, H&M, New Look and M&S. the M&S is crap.

Is Phase Eight target over 65? When it was a stand alone brand, it’s target was older women but not over 65’s.

l too used to buy loads at M and S. I’m in my late 50’s. I never go in any more.

H and M and Cos are my places.

I needed to go into a bank recently in a different town, on behalf of a relative. I was amazed to see it was open all day.
The banks in my local town are open extremely limited hours. I know you can bank online (and much prefer to use my banking app when possible) and whenever you go in you are bombarded with info (on posters and from cashiers) "did you know you can do x, y or z online...") but the point is whenever I go in, its really busy with people who either don't have online banking, want to do something that isn't available online or query an issue that's happened online.

I have no idea who M&S buyers think they are buying for, The shops are full of strange, long polyester (proudly described as recycled) dresses, leather look trousers and skirts (plastic) and weird slogan fronted sweat shirts. I was given a £50 voucher over a year ago but have found nothing to buy (maybe wine!)

The High St will become face to face service industry stuff like cafes, beauticians, hairdressers etc
That’s what I think will happen too. When I go out nowadays I go to the optician, get my eyebrows done, have lunch, maybe buy some flowers or nice food from a deli, pop to the handmade chocolate shop and grab a bottle of wine to have with dinner. Then I wander round a big department store with a kids department that has toys out for the kids to play with. It’s all about experiences and fresh consumables.

I do not shop in high street stores which don’t even stock half of the products that are on the website. If I need something urgently I might look online first then pop into the shop for that specific item. But mostly I will order online, especially if I can get it from Amazon with free delivery.

The shops are full of strange, long polyester (proudly described as recycled) dresses
They’re misunderstanding their market. M&S used to be the place to go for good quality basics. Their core market wants simple items in natural fibres. I actually like the dresses but I won’t buy polyester, I want cotton.

Our high street is rubbish.

Left side has a Boots which is basically just used as a pharmacy as there isnt actually any staff to run the shop part. And the pharmacy will have you waiting over an hour. It then goes pub, optician, charity shop, co-op, pub, hairdressers, bits and bobs shop, charity shop, indian take away, post office.

The other side of the road goes indian takeaway, charity shop, flower shop, charity shop, vape shop, indian takeaway, pub, indian take away, hair dressers, vape shop, co-op, vape shop, charity shop, indian take away, chinese takeaway, vape shop.

Not sure why we need so many Indian take away??

I have no issue with the actual process of buying online (and I hate supermarkets so always have groceries delivered), but I am out at work all day, there's nowhere to safely leave parcels at my house, and all my neighbours are out most of the day. So I get things delivered to work, which is okay if it's Royal Mail as they deliver during working hours, but Evri, DPD and so on can deliver at 9 pm, when there's no one at the office. They do attempt redelivery, but it takes a while. I then have to haul it home on tube/train/bus. And then if the sizes are all over the place (usual) then I have to return it (can only do that at the weekend, unless I want to haul it all back into central London). So I have to plan it all in advance, not like popping into a shop and buying something to wear the next day. I'm finding lots of retailers don't deliver to parcel shops either, which would help. And also even if I pay for next day delivery, and try and time it for a day off, they then don't deliver the next day. Infuriating.

Sorry, rant over!

Overseas in some countries with adequately managed economies and reasonably intelligent local government, the high street outside larger cities will probably remain similar to the UK until the 90s/2000s decline.

I meant to say my local high street has always been dire - a Boots, Superdrug, WHS, Dyas and Peacocks. Lots of cafes and charity shops.

The nearest town is a little better, but I've never really liked M&S and it's crappier now. Debenhams has gone obviously. Phase Eight, Mint Velvet, White Stuff, Fat Face, River Island, H&M, New Look, Zara, Massimo Dutti, White Company, Oliver Bonas, Warehouse or Whistles (I get them confused!), Superdry, Jack Wills, the Apple store are all there, as well as Superdrug, Boots, WHS, Next, TK Maxx, Wilko - it's pretty good to be honest.

Be interesting what the views are of owners of provincial high street commercial property concerning the value of their assets?

DC saw a photo of a high street routine Saturday afternoon shopping taken in the 1980s and asked what the special event was that meant the shops, pavements and roads were full of people - did flashmobs or mass participation games exist in the '80s?