A IBU to predict which shops will close next?

[muttimalzwei]

I am pretty sure I won't be allowed to name them on here but it seems to me that the places where customer service is poor or resting on its laurels are the shops that will be closing down before those where staff actually try to engage with their customers and find out how they can help them. In my town it seems to be well established high street stores (going since at least the 80s) who are just not doing what they could to offer good customer service. And they.ll be next to close....

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

Purely based on the fact that they are always empty, Thorntons and Body Shop.

Oh and also maybe Homebase. I went there yesterday and everything was daftly over priced.

[Nancy66]

I reckon shops like Thorntons have such mega trading around Christmas/Easter that it's almost enough to see them through.

...and I assume kids still buy their mums a basket of shite from Body Shop for Mother's Day?

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

We have a Thorntons cafe and it's always bunged.

[monkeymoma]

what would I save?

H&M
M&S maybe?
and all the others are indis

off all the ones that have closed already the only two I miss are Borders and TJHughes

[GnocchiNineDoors]

Yes, I would be very sad to see H&M go.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

H&M went and came back again didn't it.
Debenhams is really the only decent store we have in my city. Monsoon has gone, M&S tiny and the rest is all £1 shops.

[CaptainHetty]

We've just had an entire 'underground market' of independent shops closed down to make way for a H&M, don't think they're really struggling at the moment...

I love H&M but am genuinely sad we've lost a dozen independent stores to make way for one shop.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

I know someone in the rag trade and the likes of gant, Fenn Wright Mason, Phase Eight have had huge growth since the recession...

I think GANT has a very good positioning, aimed at the reasonably affluent bloke who wants to look good, but isn't really very interested in clothes so probably isn't going to go for the top end designers even though he could maybe afford to. It's a very safe look (lots of classic cuts- not a twisted seam in sight), but the clothes are very nice and very good quality. The service is also good- assistants who suggest other stuff you might like etc.

[TheBigJessie]

Boots will not go. They have a rock solid backbone in the pharmacy, and I really do think people trust Boots pharmacists more than supermarket pharmacists. Thus Boots have more custom, thus more tablets available, even for unusual prescriptions, and so more custom...

Then, there's the make-up- big moneymaker. Oh, and they do lots of children's stuff. With the coming demise of mothercare, they will sell even more of that. Good range of ELC toys, too!

And pretty good customer service.

[TheBigJessie]

I have spent so much money in Boots since I had children!

[M1SSUNDERSTOOD]

Boots have taken over dolland and aitchisons optician so have even more presence in the high street. they also have their own dispensaries and contracts with health boards to supply medication to nursing homes etc.

[TheBigJessie]

Certain members of my family coughFILcough, may prop up WHSmith's and Waterstones. Amazon is only good, if you can remember to buy birthday and Christmas presents more than a day before the big day!

I buy stuff in WHSmith and Waterstones out of loyalty. If the only reason I know about a bbook, is because I saw it on the shop shelf, then I'm screwing myself over long-term if I go to Amazon.

[GnocchiNineDoors]

Hmm...WHSmith do all the newspaper distribution to corner shops etc, so think they may be OK for a bit.

[sieglinde]

But do you want them to be, Gnocchi? My local town has a much much cheaper Indi pharmacy, and an overpriced Boots.

Agree about Borders, by the way; MUCH better than Smiths and Waterstones because it had far higher stock levels. This and not price is where amazon wins out for me. They have what I want. I don't want This Week's Hyperventilated Hyped Bestseller, or not often.

[OhTheConfusion]

I was in Laura Ashley yesterday and the shop was too full of sale stock leftover from the winter to get around properly.

I am not a Debenhams fan either but can't put my finger on why.

[OhTheConfusion]

Nigel, it's not your size it is this seasons poor stock. I went in armed with my card and the need for a summer wardrobe yesterday... I left with a pair of earings and some flipflops

[SleepyFergus]

I really should set a direct debit from my salary to Boots, I find it impossible not to spend a fortune in there!

One of the reasons Boots does so well is that you can depend on it, their stores are clearly laid out, their staff on the whole v knowledgable, well stocked, stores are clean and well lit, pricing clear and decent offers. Their loyalty scheme is great esp their Parents club. I've just stocked up on essentials in their 3 for 2 baby event and made some great savings.

We have a Superdrug about 2 mins from our office. It looks run down, tatty, some of the stock looks old, cheap and the staff are not uniformed but look as if they've just rolled out of bed. It doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I'd rather walk further to Boots and feel I'm in capable hands.

Granted, this just might be my local Superdrug, but on that basis alone, I'll never shop there unless Boots was out of stock of a particular item I was really desperate for, (but that's highly unlikely.)

[ConcreteElephant]

Fenn Wright Manson opened a new shop here, which then closed a matter of months later - bit odd when that happens... Surely they prepare very carefully for new 'markets'? Must have been an expensive mistake.

[lololizzy]

had a beauty salon here that was open for about 5 months before they did a 'moonlight flit' Could've have been to do with the kiss of death given to it? (Katie Price opened it) it's still standing empty, in a prime spot in Kingston

[Silverstar2]

I for one would be GUTTED if the Body Shop went - I buy all my make-up from there and won't buy any other shower gel, as I find nothing compares.

I agree about WHSmiths though, although our local one does have the post office too.........

I hope none of them go.

[helloclitty]

and the winner is MorrisZapp Thu 10-May-12 22:57:54

French connection have just announced profit warnings

[Birdsgottafly]

"I think ALL chainstores are evil"

Maybe so, but in the North West, TJ's, Peacocks, Ethel Austin's, Woolie's were relied on for work, in all divisions.

My DP was in the Warehousing/transport side of things. The loss of warehousing has been devastating for the over 40's, the over 50's probably won't work again. They have been in Warehousing all their lives. The same applies across the Lorry drivers.

Both EA and TJ's went through mis-management and creaming off the profits, yet those that did that walked away with high pay outs.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

'and I assume kids still buy their mums a basket of shite from Body Shop for Mother's Day?
Well said!!
I think Monsoon deserve to go under, and The Body Shop, but ehre are still hippies whp shop in both ( and imagine TBS is somehow ethical, even tho it is owned by anotehr American mulitnational.
Boots is a wallet owned by the sharky assetstrippers-- Venture Capitalist KKR - won;t be going under any timw soon.

[Glittertwins]

I love quite a bit of Monsoon but I don't think anyone who knows me would ever call me a hippy!!

[Emo76]

Haven't read the whole thread but has anyone suggested "Past Times"?

Maybe French Connection - always having profit warnings, overpriced and often empty in my experience..