Shops you are surprised are still going

[fajitaaaa]

WHSMITHS - who is buying from them? Anything other than a emergency magazine for the train and maybe a bottle of water? But some of their stores are HUGE!

FAT FACE - always a massive sale on!

WHSmiths is so expensive!

Baffles me they still exist

Fatface very popular with mums where I live

WHSmith - always grotty and full of tat.

They used to be so lovely.

New Look. Not that cheap and all a bit crap

Does anyone know the answer with WHSmiths. Are they a front for something?

Peacocks

I can just about see how the ones in stations are surviving but who is going to the ones in towns and buying anything more than a paper and a overpriced bottle of water?

I was thinking of WHSmith as soon as I saw your thread title! Very overpriced.

Saw the thread title and also thought WH Smith. V overpriced.

They must Be. Ours is rubbish though 2 floors. Nothing you can't buy in Waterstones paperchase or my new fave Ryman

Def w h smiths and peacocks

Another one is Lakeland

I know it's a favourite on here but whenever I go past the one in my main town it's always empty

Also tapi carpets is always empty in our town and right next door to another well known brand which is much cheaper and always busy

Genuinely thought they'd already folded

Clinton's.

I used to love fat face but not been in one for a while.

I worked for WHSmith for 5 years and even we weren't sure how they keep going! One of my colleagues used to say they were 'the cockroaches of the high st - everything else might implode but we'll still be here offering chocolate at the till' Both of the branches I worked in have shut now (not because of me I hasten to add, I left in 2019 ) so they do seem to be starting to struggle now.

HMV.

Someone was slagging off tapi on our local fb page earlier.

I’m sure they did, more than once! The one local to me has closed and reopened at least twice!

The nearest WH Smiths also has an M&S food, and the Post Office inside. I’ve always assumed the rent they pay keeps Smiths afloat.

Shoezone! To be honest I went in peacocks the other day on the never ending search for perfect jeans 🙄 and they actually have some quite nice things in

I've thought the same about WH Smith's for years but a lot of them are now housing Post Offices with not enough staff which they are no doubt getting massive payments for. Also I think they have some sort of monopoly on newspaper and magazine supplies.
One I'm surprised about is The Body Shop, there is hardly ever anyone in the one in our town and everything is expensive but I'm sure mostly not that special. For the natural angle, there is Lush (admittedly more expensive) basically, they should go back to their roots with all the perfume oils etc.

Agree with WHSmith. Bought a book in there recently for about 8.99 and the same one was part of a two for £8 deal (or similar) at Tesco.

I think they make all their money from station/ airport outlets. The one in my town is dreadful- terrible customer service, expensive and full of crap.

I went to a shopping mall for the first time in ages today and thought the same thing. It was actually quite busy though. What do people buy in there?

Like others the first one I thought of was WH smith! Hardly ever buy anything there, the DC like going for sharpies and Pokemon cards.

Guarantee I would be gutted if it went, same as I was when Woolworths went.

Isn’t it something to do with having the monopoly at all the train stations or something? WH Smith surviving, I mean.

Mind you, been lots of strikes recently hasn’t there, wonder will that have an impact?

Good shout with the body shop - again I can possibly see why in a shopping centre it might do well but most people would just pop into a supermarket to get shower gel?