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…

Doesn’t the dude who owns sports direct own house of Fraser?

Pharmacy4U were absolutely horrific for me and one of my parents on separate occassions.

Both of us were left in life threatening conditions because they couldn't secure our vital meds that keep us alive on a day to day basis, failed to notify us of the supply issue until after our last dose ("I'm sure it will arrive Madam, you still have a day left.") and failed to release the prescriptions back to the spine for to us to be able to get them from a different pharmacy. Their customer service was appalling. We both had to go through 111 to get emergency scripts. I was told by the pharmacist that helped that it's a frequent problem and that they wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. It was very serious in both cases, we're on medication for conditions you can't take risks with and think you'll make it through the other side.

Crazy as well that no other pharmacy had a supply issue in either case...but it happened to both of us, on separate ocassions...

If it was on how I 'view' it's quality and relevance to the high street it would be Next and New Look. But I have no clue on their financial situation!

I think Bath must be getting the total funding for Boots reading this thread - our big one at Southgate is lovely, all sorts of different make up brands recently added , all refurbed and no empty shelves that I've seen

Hôtel chocolat have been bought by mars or mondelez or someone, so the quality will deffo decline.

Smiggle is far emptier than it ever used to be here. Dd was into it about 5 years ago, so suspect it's out of fashion or parents realise everything breaks?

Yeah, some of the clothes are OK but then one near us has stunk of sewage and cheesy feet for about 5 years and has stained carpets/ceiling, broken signage outside too so they obviously can't afford repairs.

I think maybe Boden? The quality is so poor now and the designs aren't like they used to be. They have to be struggling a little

I always make a point of having my prescriptions sent to our local independent pharmacy for just this reason.

Yes, that store is lovely.
I think that Boots will probably close their smaller, older branches, leaving many people out of reach of the better stores. Their website doesn’t work very well (or fast) so we’ll just have to hope that it gets a revamp.

M&S fashion fir me. I think they will concentrate on food halls. The ranges are shite now and a lot if other brands taking up floorspace and online space. I used to spend s fortune in N^S every year for work and going out clothes but now struggle. I buy my underwear there but even that is hit and miss now. They are overpriced, aiming for the young market who would not consider M&S to be a place for them and definitely not priced for the younger female. I have purchased 2 dresses in the last 3 years and only when they were in the sale. My partner always says the dresses are "ok if you're Amish" everytime we go up the escalator and pass the latest offerings. That said menswear has improved loads over the years. But for me I think we will see more M&S high street fashion stores closing. Our WHS is also crap and the post office bit is the worst. I use our local PO as they are friendly, efficient and have more than one "window " open all the time!

I worry about Monsoon, several stores near me have closed, and the last remaining city centre store is always empty!

The clothes are a random fit, so you need to try them on so I am not sure how many people buy online.

They constantly have 70% off sales, and are probably under market share threat from Fatface which has a better range of lengths and sizes.

My thoughts are the same, but my local Poundstretecher looks like that most of the time, (I moved to my place about 6years ago, and that particular shop looked always like that.)
There is whole in the roof, whenever it's raining it leaks, on floor there is duct tape to keep the lino in place.
I would say a proper health and safety risk

I'm not sure why people would need to go to a national chain instead of their local chemist. Anyway, I think a fair few branches of Tesco have an in-store pharmacy.

Incidentally, I was passing through a town earlier today, and in the interests of this thread I went to a large branch of Boots on a retail park. The shelves had more gaps than stock, and some of them were pretty much empty.

Asda is really struggling.
Morrisons too.
B&Q are paying way too much in rent and are trying to renegotiate.
Boots definitely a risk.

Everyone says it is terrible that the high street is failing but then shop online with Shein and Temu and pay for children to be sexually abused.

High Street WH Smiths will most probably go soonish. I'm quite surprised SuperDry are still going as they were in real trouble not that long ago.

I really hope The White Company stays. I'm hopeful that the higher end High Street retailers will be ok. 🤞🏻

My Boots is a big store and always very busy and queues for tills. The card factory is always busy but Clinton's is usually empty, can't see them lasting. Supermarkets have such great cards now. Monsoon and accessorize maybe. I use Argos for things like phones, VR, tablets etc. I find easy to pick up as in Sainsburys anyway. I don't trust Amazon for these as I've had reconditioned passed off as new and heard too many stories of people receiving cheaper wrong item of same size/weight. I also had an Amazon parcel nicked off my doorstep last month.

No national alternative, other than the major supermarkets. Our local Morrisons and Tesco stores have good pharmacies - though personally I prefer to use an independent chemist’s shop when I can.

Is M&Co still a thing, or have they gone? We had one on our high street, along with Boots and Holland and Barrett and all three have closed last year. Out Asda also isn’t doing so well with empty shelves a lot of the time, and that’s not even because of the new Aldi we’ve had open opposite!

Can you tell me what comparable national chemist's chain there is? Where will you take your prescription? One of the most intelligent questions you can ask in business is very simple: "compared to what?" I don't think Boots has improved since the Yanks took over but I know of no credible national alternative.

Like others, I use independents but I've previous had better experiences in Superdrug pharmacies than in Boots.

That being said Boots was the only pharmacy open on Boxing Day and New Years Day locally this year.

That tat is bad for the environment. That’s why.

@angela1952 yep we are very lucky - it now looks like an old school department store on the beauty floor downstairs-we are also due to get a new spanking flagship M&S too starting shortly in the old Debenhams and the rumour is Primark are upsizing to the current M&S , it's very very big though so I can't see it 'just' being Primark

Yes I think our one is becoming the range.

It used to be really good, bought our kitchen in the 00s from there

It's Mars. Which are better than mondelez I think.

Their website they haven't managed to extricate from Walgreens completely hence the glitches. They should have started again I think