Is it farewell for TGJones?

[MN2025]

Just read an article online that the future of TGJones (former WHSmith High Street) business is to be decided in the coming days. It’s not surprising if the business does collapse into administration.

It is a massive shame - as someone who has been in the education profession for nearly 40 years - I always shopped there until the convenience of online shopping came in.

TGJ/WHS priced themselves out and failed to adapt with the times.

i do think that the post office is the only reason stores have managed to survive..

Feel sorry for all the staff who work there.

Cha

"I always shopped there until the convenience of online shopping came in.

TGJ/WHS priced themselves out and failed to adapt with the times."

This is the problem perfectly demonstrated - they didn't price themselves out, they were undercut by online businesses which everyone uses for the 'convenience' and then gets upset when the high street shops with their higher overheads can't keep up.

WHSmith has been shyte for years. Only kept afloat by airports and stations. Terrible ‘deals’ on books and out of date chocolate.

Our local one is gloomy and scruffy. They had their chance.

It’s a shame but it seems they haven’t changed anything from the failed WHSmith.
They are very expensive compared to the likes of Home Bargains etc for identical products.
I have fond memories of buying new stationary for school from WHSmiths but I don’t think children seem to be bothered by things like that now.

I think they have some really nice stuff though. Maybe I should pop into one before they close!

They are always dingy, dark mouldy smelling shops. I can't remember the last time I went into one!

Such a shame! Lots of them have post offices in now too - I hope they don’t close. Maybe they should set themselves up as online stores with branded wrapping and vans so we can keep some link to the past. I also think they could introduce cafes and changing rooms so people collecting clothes orders can try them on while their shopping buddy has a coffee and then they can return them straightaway without the hassling of going home to try and having to make a second journey out to return it. Reckon that’d help retain some footfall on the high street.

They don’t deserve to survive, they are terrible pits of despair!

It's a shame, they are still better than anywhere else on our high st for stationery and specialist magazines (excluding online) but the shops are such gloomy tumbleweed zones and you can get lot of what they sell in supermarkets now. I do still buy a few bits in there when I go into the PO as I really do prefer shopping in person to online and there is one near work but it is a huge unit in a prime location and always practically empty. If they had focussed on stationery and magazines, moved to smaller units, and dropped board games and general tat they might have done better. But people want the convenience of online.

I don’t know how they select/what they do to their staff but they’re just about always semi conscious 18-25 year olds who look like they’d be happy if you dropped dead at the till.

That and their crap pretend deals put me off (eg 3 for 2 stickers on stationery items that proved to mean 3 for 2 on that exact product only - because everyone wants 3 of the same colouring book or 3 protractors).

The last time I was at a train station I wanted a bottle of pepsi max. I didn't get one as it was around £4 at WHSmith (for 500ml so not much bigger than a can). That's not being undercut by online businesses, that's disgusting profiteering.
If they go under, it's their own fault.

Terrible rebrand. If they couldn't use WHsmith brand name, they should have at the very least kept the "smiths" name. High Street Smiths "HS smiths" for example.

When they sold of the newspaper processing arm of the company decades ago that kept "smiths" in the new name, "Smith's News".

But that's what happens when you sell a company to a large business that doesn't know the territory very well.

The ones near me and my parents have already closed.

Good for magazines but their stationery, even at 50 percent off is still expensive.

Sad that WHSmith is gone. Like Woolworths I've got fond memories of buying my school things from there

The arrival of shops like The works hasn't helped when you can get books and stationery so much cheaper.

When WHSmith became TGJones close to where I live, no changes were made apart from the signage.

They haven't kept - or even attempted to - remain current. As with everything in life 'No effort means no reward'.

It's unfortunate for the staff - but it's not unexpected.

They don’t do anything as a retailer that others don’t do better and for less money.

My local shop is extremely expensive, I no longer shop there

The one in our town is closing soon, or may have just closed.

The store where we used to live is still open and the town’s main post office is inside. There was a news article earlier in the week saying that although the store isn’t listed for closure at the moment, the post office franchise has been made available as the post office are committed to keeping a branch in the town centre.

There was never any intention of investing in TJ Jones to make it successful - the WHS business was bought by a US company that will have asset-stripped as much as possible before letting it fail. The WHS stores left at airports and stations will probably be sold separately.

My local closed, not as much of a loss as there are supermarkets selling the same just nearby. However the Post Office also closed with no plans to replace it so the city centre doesn’t have one. The nearest is quite a walk.
I can collect online parcels in my local shop. Another has taken on the passport service but just posting a normal letter is harder. I send one a week to an older friend who cannot now deal with online (used to be very confident) due to early dementia.

I suspect that was the plan, hive off the umprofitable High Street businesses, change the name, and then dump them. So it wasn't WHS' doing...

I went in for an anniversary card for DH recently (the only other place in our High Street is Card Factory and it’s the same shite every time in there) and got in around half an hour before they closed. The till took ages to work and the worker told me I was the first person to be served at that till that day. I don’t know if the other one or the self service one had been used but I can’t imagine by many people if so. It also cost me over a tenner for just a card and a tiny box of Lindor (no price on them so that was a fun surprise, I’d have probably got a big box elsewhere for the same price).

The lights are also down so low they look closed even in the middle of the day. There have been times I didn’t try the door as I’d assumed they’d closed early and it’s hard to see products properly without decent lighting.

We shall miss the special magazines that we buy. I buy garden of house design ones, different ones that are special. DH buys ones on aircraft or steam engines or shooting. It was nice to get a variety rather than a subscription to just one.
Where else to buy single occasional copies of anything specialised?

It's a shame for all the people losing their jobs. MN never cares about that side of it though.

I really liked our local TG Jones , but it was always empty when we went in

The airport/train station WHSmiths charge outrageous prices. We were in a rush and went in one to buy drinks and it cost nearly £10 for a small bottle of water and a small orange juice

It’s an awful shop now - messy and just oppressive. WHSmith was decent back in the day but has been pretty bad the past few years.
They had a good offer on cards though recently and I picked a few up cheaply.

@Tarkan- that is so true re the lighting - that’s why it always feels oppressive! It’s permanent dusk!!