WH Smith to sell off high street branches

[strawberrythiefleaf]

Was just reading about WH Smith selling off their fledgling high street stores while keeping their more profitable 'travel' stores (airports, train stations, etc).

For reference: news.sky.com/story/wh-smith-in-secret-talks-to-sell-historic-high-street-arm-13295955

The main reason why the travel stores are so profitable is because of how grossly overpriced most of their items are, and the fact that most people don't have any other convenient options in those travel locations.

I refuse to purchase most things from a travel WH Smith because of how expensive they are.

But is this the only way for a business to succeed now? To hike the prices up so much? What could a potential purchaser do to save the high street arm of the business?

Not surprised about their high street stores to be fair, none i have ever been in in the past decade have been anywhere near busy. They look dated, pretty expensive and not really a shop people mentioned needing or wanting to visit. Not sure how they could have adapted given the might of amazon and also the fact supermarkets sell books, stationary and a tonne of magazines now. Whatever branch was in airports etc where there's a captive audience would charge loads, can see why they don't want to give those up!

I used to love going shopping in person, not sure what the solution is with the high street or how brands can save themselves beyond increase their online presence and rely on those sales whilst scaling back physical stores. A big part imo is that high streets often look garbage now and if you want to have lunch and make a day of it it's super expensive. Just not the same. Shops that offer something unique or cater to people that need stuff right now will be fine but sadly can see a lot more carnage with closures.

Our WH Smith’s has the post office in. What’s going to happen to that?

It's a shame. It's the only place that stocks.my specialist magazine. I will miss them.

I completely agree. Sadly I'm not surprised either. Our high street WH Smith is dismal.

But what can be done to improve on unprofitable retail chains like the high street arm of WH Smith without increasing the prices to ridiculous levels?

I'd love to know how a potential buyer would plan to improve them. Obviously refitting the stores is a must because they're awful

There was a thread recently asking what high street shops do you think will be next to close, and almost everyone thought WH Smith so this comes as no surprise.

I only shop in WH Smith when I’m in an airport and only then when I’m desperate and in the airport I have no other choice really.

My local shop has the post office in, I guess the post office will just close or relocate into another existing shop.

I'd also like to know this as ours has the post office as well

And yes to this as well. I love the magazine selection. However I know magazines themselves are dying a death

People buy less newspapers than they used to, not just because of more working from home. There are better bookshops and in my opinion, better places to buy things such as birthday cards. In a way they are like Woolworths became in their latter years, somewhere everyone remembers and has some fondness for, but hardly ever uses.

I don't think that overpriced goods for captive customers is a business model others could repeat, it is historic why WH Smith is in so many rail stations.

As for Post Offices, I am sure other places can be found. To be honest, those in WH Smiths are second only to Crown Post Offices for miserable or poor service in my experience. Sub postoffices are almost always better.

I'm surprised WH Smith inparticular is even still a fixture on the High Street today.

Thinking personally, things I used to purchase from there and what my habits are now:

• Books (they no longer have the best deals, and I've also gone back to purchasing from local retailers or adding to my Kindle for travel reads.)

• Magazines (I never buy them anymore; websites and apps like Pinterest fulfill this role.)

• Revision guides (I personally relied on them from there; now it's all either online in digital format, or the kids get them from school as they have reuse schemes, too.)

• Stationery (it used to be fairly exclusive for this, but not anymore; choice is everywhere now.)

• Post Office services (way more options than just Royal Mail are available, and there are small post offices in many corner shops now.)

I feel awful for retail staff though, yet another shop that's closed on the high street. I don't blame them for focusing on the most profitable part of their business.

When it happened near me the post office closed too and has not reopened.

When the shop containing our post office went belly up we lost our post office. Town of 27k people and all but one bank has closed too. Don't be naive to think that if WH Smith's closes branches they will relocate the post office, they won't!

Lakeland, too, which I'm not surprised about either.

I don't like whs and never shop there, but I love lakeland and do use them, but in a col crisis their prices are very expensive.

I think lush and body shop will be next tbh

I haven't bought anything in WH Smith for years, even though I do go into my local one occasionally just for a look round. Am I going to buy a notebook in there for £8 when I can get one anywhere else for less than half that? Nope.

The latest plan re post offices are to have "banking hubs" which include a post office counter and bank facilities, due to the closure of bank branches - even some relatively large towns no longer have a single bank branch. In a nearby town, the "last" bank has closed, and there are plans for a "banking hub" which will also be the post office, as our main post office is also closing. I suspect that WHS know that banking hubs are the future and that they'd be losing their post office counters, which will badly affect them.

WHS have been closing unprofitable High St branches for years, so the remaining ones will be currently profitable to an extent, but maybe not if they lose their PO counters.

I also remember the recent thread asking which shops people thought would be next to go

Lots of people said WHS, although there was one poster insisting that both arms of the company - the high street arm and the rail and airports arm - were independently profitable, because the latter heavily propped up the former, which I didn't quite follow the logic of!

As was said on that thread, the post office is also in a very vulnerable position. They've transformed from an independent flagship of the high street to sofa-surfing in other shops. As has been said here, many of these shops were WHS, so that's got to hit the PO even further. They're obviously two different businesses, but they seemed to have a natural 'fit' together.

To me whsmith had become unable to really fill a niche in the way it had done pre-internet.
I have fond memories of the seventies and going in there with pocket money to buy a book, a magazine and a pen all under one roof.

I'm amazed they've kept going as long as they have, it's no surprise.

I used to work for WHS over 30 years ago when I was a student. At that time, it was one of the best employers on the high street. Paid better than others, decent staff pension scheme, good staff discount. Our branch was always spotless, well organised and made lots of money. Always busy.

I walk into my local WHS now and it's like walking back into the 1990s but without the standards. Poorly laid out, dated display racking and shelving, pricing labels all wrong. Worn out carpets and flooring. Dirty.

The only thing I buy now is the odd emergency birthday card, Xmas wrap and my academic year diary. It's so expensive in comparison to other retailers. I much prefer Waterstones for books.

I am surprised that the high street shops have lasted this long. I wouldn't be surprised if The Range bought that section of the business and incorporated the physical shops and brand into its portfolio.

I'm not surprised the high street WHS are unprofitable.

They've been using the same old tired formula for years. They don't do any promotions other than Back to School and trying to flog huge bars of chocolate at the till.

Yet all the local science A'level students had to send away for scientific calculators because WHS doesn't stock them. Why don't they do a promo in conjunction with the local sixth forms for such relatively high value items? They don't do weddiing stationery orders any more either (another higher value item), and a high street shop isn't going to make a profit on magazines, pens, rubbers and paperbacks.

On the bright side, it will be good news for Waterstones and the independent book shops.

This is likely the nail in the coffin for lots of specialist magazines sadly
Its incredibly hard to get shelf space in supermarkets for smaller titles
so we’ll be left with ‘my step mother ate my children’ Chat-type crap and shopified content online.
if there’s a mag you like, subscribe!

I get dragged in there by ds to search for Prime, but wouldn't otherwise go in for anything really. The drinks are £2 a bottle, so they won't be making millions off us.

They're not unprofitable. The High St division still shows profits, but nowhere near the profit levels of their travel division. Loss making stores have been closed piecemeal over many years which is why the division as a whole remains profitable.

Our local WH Smith closed and it took 18 months for an alternative site for the Post Office to be found.

I agree. One of the reasons WHS has survived is that it's been the "last man standing" in terms of town centre newsagents where people can buy foreign newspapers, special interest/niche magazines etc that convenience stores and supermarkets aren't interested in.