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!

All the Coast stores closed years ago. The brand was bought by Boohoo dot com, along with Karen Millen. What high street still has a physical Coast store?

M&Co - always seems quite expensive and dated

They went into administration in December

Lols, I didn't know this was a thing.
I go in for stationary, as do many, hence why they're still around

Yeah Peacocks is minging

Oh! I quite liked that they were around in little towns. Never bought anything though but I liked that people didn't have to go to big shopping centres to get clothes.

I'm so confused, I honestly thought this had closed down

I buy loads of stuff from Seasalt. It’s good quality and lasts ages and has plenty of clothing made from natural fibres, which I appreciate as I get older and want clothing that breathes with me as I flush red hot every now and then.

I don’t find their stuff boring at all, but then I am probably pretty boring myself.

Yes! Whittards! How are their physical stores making money?

I also buy loads from Seasalt as it is good quality and washes well, I am in my 60s though. I read recently they were doing very well

Yes! Me too there was a whole gift card thing.

HMV have just opened a shop in our town and it seems very popular.

Seasalt also in our town and busy, I think they size from a 6-28 so a broad range of sizes which not many companies do, plus they offer NHS staff 35% off which is handy for me.

The Range - pure hell on earth I don't know who buys the tat in there but our local one is like a jumble sale, awful place.

Seasalt haven't got many shops, I can only buy in store if I am on holiday as they are usually in those sort of places, some large M&S sell it. They won't have so many overheads as many clothes shops

Next have an exceptional business . They made £600m profit from online sales and with their credit account make buying and returning incredibly easy .

They also sell pretty much any brand and the fact people can get it easily on credit when they're couldn't afford it otherwise makes it unique.

Their larger shops have so much choice and great ranges across every category .

They are still standing on the high street for all these reasons and their logistics are very clever and advanced on top of that

Peacocks actually had some really nice bits but I don't know how they afford their large units and Louise redknapp tbh ..

It’s not a thing. WH Smith are a plc. Their shares are publicly traded on the stock exchange. Any publicly traded company has to comply with strict disclosure rules, but that never stops people from pursing their lips and claiming that a business they don’t understand is ‘a front for something’.

The town I live in has an independent travel agent. All the thickos are convinced that it’s ‘a front for drugs’ because they don’t use physical travel agencies and can’t see why anyone else would. If you wanted to launder drug money, you’d open a takeaway or a similar business where you could explain away high volumes of cash inflow. You wouldn’t go to the trouble of opening up a pretend travel agency, would you? But that never daunts the conspiracy theorists, even when they see customers - older people who don’t look much like county lines gangs - going in and out to, er, book holidays.

Boots, it’s so expensive. I only go in for the one thing I can’t get anywhere else.

The bigger Boots stores have a fantastic range. If I want a new shampoo, for example, I’ll go there because they’ll have everything including new launches. Or if I want to see all the available types of electric toothbrush to compare and contrast, which isn’t as easy online. If I’m making a bigger purchase, like Dior perfume for example, I’ll get it from Boots because (1) it’s going to be the genuine article, which you can’t always be sure of with solely online retailers and (2j if I use my Boots card/coupons I collect points to spend on other things.

Not sure if anyone has said this but The Futon Shop. We still have one on our High street and in 25 yrs I've never bought anything other than a magazine rack there. Who is still buying all the futons?

Primark

Yes I know some will say that's a mad suggestion.

But it's shite now.

I actually was a Saturday girl in Primark in the mid 90s and back then it was very cheap and cheerful. Even going back before lockdowns, you could get a cheap pair of jeans for a fiver or a jumper that would last one winter for a few pounds.

I went in with DD before Christmas and didn't recognise it. Ours is on three floors and it was literally 3 floors of over priced crap.

Where are the normal clothes? The nice blouses and tops? The comfy and practical jeans and jumpers?

All replaced by stuff with stupid slogans or Disney pics or Harry bloody Potter.
It used to be just the nightwear which had Disney and stuff on. Now it's everything.

And the prices? Madness. DD is probably their target market and she couldn't find anything at all she liked. They are pricing out most teens now. £22 for thin combats.
I always felt that since the likes of Mark One, Topshop, Pilot, Bay, Morgan and similar went Primark had a captive audience for teens but it's so expensive now and just vile. I can't see it carrying on with the overheads of huge stores

Primark are a business. They don’t exist to provide extremely cheap clothes to teenagers. Maybe they have started paying their suppliers better, eh? Or maybe, y’know, costs have gone up?

I always think the same about WHSmith because they’re so over priced and grotty. It’s such a shame - do you remember how lovely they were in the 80s and 90s? It’s was an absolute pleasure to shop there. Something went horribly wrong with them about 20 years ago.

I agree about The Body Shop too. If it was like it was in the 90s I would gladly spend my money there but it’s just been overpriced generic stuff for about 20 years now too.

I though WH Smith immediately too. Overpriced, dusty old shite. I've had a personal vendetta against them for about 30 years, when I discovered they were trying to sell Playboy stationery to school girls.

My superior ex SIL used to buy DS a WFH Smith token (after she moved on from wooden toys). That was quite amusing to me, given my moral objection. (little things! 😁😁)

My teen dd's favourite shop is HMV. She's into vinyl albums, and loves browsing/spending in there.

I may be controversial here...

Pandora, very 00's, have people got bored of charm bracelets yet?
Warhammer, how do people have the time?
High Street travel agents, doesn't everyone just do it online now?

@Romeiswheretheheartis I guess was just my hometown one then. I used to LOVE it there. Gonna go find one :-)