What retailer do you think will go bust next?

[good96]

My money is on Poundstretcher. Went into my local one today. Shelves empty, looking old and dirty and prices aren’t really cheap for a discount retailer…

Yeah, they’ve been caught out a few times selling things that aren’t up to U.K. standards. Certainly electrical cables and stuff, I actively avoid unless it’s a known brand. Some house fires have been linked to Amazon and eBay chargers.

Will she be my friend too?!

Oh yeah you’re right! If they are busy they will hopefully stay open.

your post struck a cord as I’m making a conscious effort to use a not that local butchers I’d forgotten about, that I could include in one of my work trips. I’d sooner give them my money.

I find on Amazon now that if you type in a particular product brand at lot of the suggestions (even the first one) aren't actually that brand.
Take Lego for example. You get a few actual Lego sets listed then it will suddenly be a load of compatible but not actually Lego products.
Some will be decent well established alternative brands (like Cobi or Block Tech) but some are non specific brand, very close in design copies of actual Lego sets being manufactured by who knows who from who knows where.
You have no idea of those products are safe or not.

Yes, but she'll always try to snog you and squeeze your boob when she drinks too much wine, so just be aware of that!

She's on Dry January so you should be fine for now.

There was a small Leicester coffee chain with 2-3 shops. When they closed down, people were moaning about they will miss the place. Ask them when they went in last. Ooh 5 years ago. Well if you went there more often they wouldn’t close’

if out and about and need coffee, I will try to visit independent cafes or small chains with less than 10 shops across the county or a bordering one.

But that could be said of the likes of Poundland, primark, B&M and all sorts of cheap brick and mortar retailers. Amazon sell a range of different brands, including original Apple accessories and decent alternatives like Anker which will obviously be more expensive than the cheaper, lower quality stuff that can also be found on there being sold by individual businesses.

Amazon have a strict policy against fake or dangerous goods being sold on there so if it’s reported they do compensate. I reported a suspected fake once and they took it extremely seriously. Their customer service, in my experience, is outstanding. I don’t like some of their ethical practices but I have to admit I always feel safe shopping on there.

Yeah, but this is Starmer Labour. They believe in privatisation as much if not more than the Tories do!

@Teanbiscuits33 yes but buying a gadget from B+M/Poundland etc means you have better means to trace it's origins if the product turns out to be dangerous.
You have easier methods for contacting the company directly.
A recall would possibly be issued if something like a phone charger from B+M caused a house to burn down
But from Amazon - it's a lot of non-specific brands made by - who?

Not anymore
They all just stood and glared at us as if we where shoplifters
Not one person spoke to us
We clapped eyes on the headfones,penis pasta and some shitty looking whip and got out of there

Back home,we hit lovehoney and stocked up there
Amazing company-fast,discrete and amazing products

I know what you’re saying, but I’ve also in the past bought a charger cable from b&m that started smoking after a couple of weeks and the staff couldn’t have been less interested, just gave a refund and that was that. There was no recall as far as I was aware.

Yet the time I reported a dodgy product on Amazon, they refunded with compensation and banned the seller from using Amazon again. They are very strict. Other times when I’ve needed to return items to them they have made the process so easy - another time, I bought something that was faulty (a legit branded product) a few years ago so they sent a courier to my door to collect it.

So is Meadowhall on a weekend.

I cannot complain about our local Asda. This may be the exception though.

@Teanbiscuits33 I would have reported it to B+M head office personally not just the shop floor staff.
But that's me.

Bit late after the house was burned down!

It was reported and they are still being sold on Amazon. The only "compensation" offered was a refund for the chargers, which weren't particularly cheap and looked so close to Anker that the family didn't realise it was a dodgy product. I do see it as an issue and think "after the event" is not good enough when it comes to safety. There are lots of unsafe products being sold on Amazon, when you look at the reviews...toddlers bobble hats where the pom poms come off and are a choking risk was one a friend had a recent problem with (Black Friday gift from an older MIL). They are still being sold. Another friend asked for Magnatiles as a toddler birthday gift and was given a replica version which had come up in a search alongside Magnatiles and the person, not having kids, didn't realise the difference so picked "Frozen themed" ones as they were cheaper and looked
more fun. They were flimsy and broke and shattered easily. Again, the original buyer got a refund but they are still being sold and there are reviews that suggest this is a wider and very dangerous issue. I don't think Amazon is all that safe, to be honest.

I can only speak from personal experience. The vast majority of stuff I’ve ever bought from there are branded items from the actual brands shop on there so maybe that makes a difference. I tend to steer clear of the cheaper Chinese stuff, generally. I get that every once in a while someone can be fooled. I think eBay is far worse for its cheap Chinese imports these days, that’s why I stopped using it!

WH Smith does financially well. It has great airport and train operations and runs many Post Offices. It will not be going bust. Boots is part of a very large conglomerate. Similarly it will still survive. Both though may cut branches.

Yes, in hindsight I should have done, as I went all the way to Amazon’s CEO to report the fake from there 🤣, but at the time I was just so annoyed and wanted a refund etc, so I took it back to the shop and told the staff to report that they are smoking. But you’re right, it probably would have helped taking it higher up, but they’re still selling cheap shite ones now so who knows, I would have thought they would have been reported several times by now.

I don't buy unbranded stuff on Amazon but I find it's getting harder and harder to do that without really searching and reading the details. Lots of people (teenagers, the elderly especially) won't do that. The whole point of Amazon is that it's meant to be convenient.

The last time I typed in Apple iPhone 15 Charger, the Apple branded one was 6th or 7th on the list. And other unbranded versions came up as "Amazon Recommended" (from the dodgy Chinese sellers) or were highlighted in other ways first. I can see how many, if not most, people couldn't be bothered to keep scrolling.

Then, there's the added issue that for some reason recently branded items aren't always available as quickly as the unbranded or cheap ones. In the end I got my Apple charger within the hour on the Argos website for under £2 more than Amazon. Even with Prime, I was going to have to wait 2/3 days for delivery. The cheapo Chinese version could have been delivered by 10pm same day with Prime. I know the risks, but most people I know don't and would just think, I need a charger today, that's the easiest option.

You can't have Aldi and Lidl growing so much without a casualty elsewhere. In retail, it's all about displacement. The pool of shoppers and their spending power doesn't change much, so when new entrants come in, something/someone had to give.

Same with the whole high street, too, really. Online sales run to billions of pounds nowadays; that's all money that will no longer be available to spend in meatspace.

We all grumble about high streets full of charity shops, coffee shops and hairdressers; but with so much stuff where it's a known/researchable product, rather than a service or impulse thing - along with parking charges and restrictions - most of us find it so much more convenient to order so many things online instead.

I can see the balance tipping even further as the older generations, who have maybe not embraced the internet as much and only know/prefer traditional shopping, leave us. None of those of us who are confident and used to being online are getting any younger - so as we age and our health worsens, we will probably all clamour all the more for the convenience of the online shopping that we used to happily consider as an option, but which has now become a lifeline.

As for Morrison's, I'm another fan of their bakery - it's definitely one of the best of the supermarkets. Their in-store butcher seems more 'genuine' too, somehow. We used to pick up a cooked chicken from Asda on a reasonably regular basis, but they've recently moved to a new 'help yourself' unstaffed warming cabinet system at our local store, where the chickens always seem to be undercooked, so we don't bother anymore.

Yes, that's the one sticking point, I think: the more remote and less populated areas that aren't profitable in isolation. We definitely need to ensure that we retain this crucial service for folk who live in these places when RM does eventually go.

Out of interest, do Amazon follow the rest of the crowd who treat NI, anywhere north of Perth, most of Wales and Cornwall and the islands as 'not part of the UK' - and either refuse to deliver or charge a buttock-clenchingly high amount when everywhere else is free? Are there limits to Prime availability and/or speed if you live outside of the biggest population bases?

A pp mentioned Smiggle. Tiny shops but bursting with colour (yes eye catching for children) but my guess is that when the parents are persuaded to go in they see the prices and have a rethink. My local branch is as described by pp and I've rarely seen a customer in there.

Quite ironic considering how little time a lot of their 'specialist' underwear is expected to stay on for!

By rights it should be WHSmith but their near monopoly at major stations and airports seems to keep them afloat despite lousy customer service and poor pricing.

Our local high street branch is a health hazard there is so much rubbish littered around the floors and the stock quantity and quality is terrible. Its been this way for many years so I don't see it improving any time soon.