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

Same here.

As for the influencer lot, aren't they more likely to buy from Tictoc or online than Boots?

I care about the staff losing their jobs in our local one. All except for one who i suspect is going to have trouble finding other work

Also lets not forget The WHSmith "boarding card scandal" where airport retailers were caught demanding passengers' boarding passes to reclaim a 20% VAT (tax) relief on purchases from customers travelling outside the EU - instead of passing the tax savings on to the travellers, the shops were pocketing the extra profit

I had to keep asking them to bypass it on the tills as i didnt want to show mine - i ended up shopping elsewhere instead and purposly avoid them since

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/legal_matters/5394731-wrongly-accused-of-shoplifting-and-harrassment

Had no idea about this 😨

I see that TG Jones has been saved (for now!)

Great news for the vast majority of employees although it seems they are closing some stores and I believe there’s also jobs at head office at risk.

i think it shows how badly the rebrand went given that lots on this thread alone don’t seem to realise that the TG Jones high st stores are now a completely separate company to WHSmith in airports and stations.

I had a Saturday job at WHSmith in it's heyday. They were a good employer - lots of training and opportunity. Unfortunately for them competitors moved into book retailing and the effect of the internet has impacted how we listen to and buy music, how we get news, etc, etc. I can't remember the last time I went into one of their stores other than in an airport or a station. Their whole raison d'etre has disappeared and they haven't been able to transform.

If they do all close altogether, then it's the end of an era and it does seem a little sad in some ways, (as most of us here remember the glory days of WH Smiths when they sold records, DVDs, magazines, books, stationary, comics, annuals, art materials and paints, puzzle books, and all sorts of stuff.)

It was a lovely place to look around and explore pre 21st century, but as has been said, they lost it years ago, with their high prices for things, and never really modernising.

Also, as someone mentioned, most of the shops look incredibly dingy and threadbare, and dark and dull, and they often have fusty carpets.. I think I have bought 5 things from a WH Smith/T Jones store this century. It isn't helped of course that places like Home Bargains and B & M and Poundstretcher, offer most of what WH Smiths/TG Jones does, (and more!) much cheaper, and have much more of a selection.

But they had their chance, they had plenty of opportunities to improve and they didn't. Only the train station and airport branches kept them going. They should have been shut down 2 decades ago.

I find it hard to feel sad or blue about it, because I was 'over' WH Smiths 25 years ago really.

My local one is absolutely filthy. They used to have toys on the first floor and the stairs going up were utterly disgusting.

Now it has almost no stock. I avoid it now but in it's day it was great.

I suppose they have just got to think of all the years they did have business, but times change. Apart from the Post Office and all the magazines, most things you can get elsewhere.

Wonder what will happen to all the magazines?

My local branch has the best greetings cards and wrapping paper. Our only other options are Card Factory and Cards Direct, and I'm not a fan! I love choosing my Christmas wrapping paper in there every year ...

I too remember buying stationery, pens, geometry equipment etc. there for school. For all these sort of things I think town centre shopping is better. Nowadays I find Ryman is better stocked, especially for filing stuff. But it will be a pity if TGJ closes nonetheless. What about those branches which were British Bookshops / Sussex Stationers till Smith's bought them up? They brought stationery to some areas where you couldn't get it before, although it's a pity the greater variety of shopfronts went.

I went into our local store today, apparently it’s in the last few days of the closing down sale so I picked out some (15!) birthday cards at 70% off.

Someone was serving a queue at the till, one self service till was in use so I went to the other, the cards were scanning at full price but at the end it reduced the total so I paid.
When I looked at the receipt it had only given a 50% reduction so I asked at the till if I’d misunderstood the offer.

I was told that I should’ve scanned and paid for each card separately and that there was a sign on the self service till telling you to do that. There was only a sign on the other till and it was blocked from my view by the customer using it.

They closed the pharmacy in their store on a retail park near here.

used to love going in W H Smith but then the stock became awful with prices way too high. a lot of it was dated and tatty. the shop smell awful too

The pharmacies will not be keeping them afloat. Most are lucky to break even, these days.

I also have fond memories of buying school stationery in there but in recent years it has become truly crap.

They didn’t keep up with supermarket and other competition.
their shops are awful and depressing.
The airport and train stations ones are an awful rip off and I feel so cross that they seem to have a monopoly of those sites. I refuse to shop in them.
I hated it when they tried to sell you chocolate at the till.

Sorry but TGJ is expensive compared to lots of physical stores.

Nowadays you can get all the normal stationary items in each larger supermarket and most shops like Tiger, Home Bargains etc.

If I want something nicer I go online or to an independent/small chain shop because I hate shopping at TGJ, the shops are a mess, dirty, uninviting. That is their problem, not keeping up with how to be at an advantage to the easy way to get a pen/envelopes/notepads during the weekly shop at Tesco.

We had a nicer stationary shop on our high street, I went there out of protest if I couldn't get my basic items at the local Sainsbury's. They went out of business because of too high rent and business rates.

Or maybe they stop using the High Street because so many shops refuse to stock normal items or restock popular items that have sold out and want you to order it online to send to the shop instead?

WHS wasnt competing with shops in the High Street, just about everything they sold could be bought cheaper from a physical shop in another store, so its not that everyone went online. Id never consider buying stationery online....but neither would I consider WHS or TG Jones. In our town TG Jones is next door but one to sainsburys. They sell almost nothing i couldnt get cheaper in sainsburys (and its a shit sainsbury!)

Some shops just appear to like doing stupid things and then going bust because of it. The Woolworths near me decided to randomly go some groceries and stay open to 10pm, even though there was a supermarket about 2 doors up that also stayed open late. Would you really buy a packet of apples from Woolworths where you didn't know how long it had been there or from the supermarket that you could guarantee fresh produce from?

I went into a big one a couple of weeks ago. Half the shelves were empty.

Even the brand change to TJ seemed a disaster m though. I'm not surprised.

I use a few branches of boots.
There is one in a nearby (more deprived) town. It has barely anything on the shelves and almost everything that is out, is security tagged. I think there are a lot of addicts in the town and I see them get their supervised methadone there. The whole shop looks very tired and due for a refurb, and is referred to by us as "smelly boots"

The brand change was probably a disaster as TG Jones is a made up name with no history behind it (unlike WH Smith) and sounds way too much like TGI Friday (and disappointingly doesn't sell milkshakes). If they had given it a name that ment something, then it probably would have been accepted more.

It’s not just on line they are being priced out by. I went in to get DS his high school stationary. Popped literally across the high street to the works and exact same equipment was a fraction of the price.
It’s nuts. And the TGH in our town is so depressingly gloomy.