I work for one of the retailers mentioned quite a few times on this thread (look at my NN and it won't take a genius to work out which one!)
I don't think it's tasteless to speculate on which shops are likely to close - those of us in retail have had this hanging over our heads for quite a few years now. I'm glad to see that those of you that think that my company may go under have expressed sadness at this.
I think it's fair to say that most retailers will close stores if and when their leases expire because, with high rents, rates and taxes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to turn any sort of profit, particularly from small stores. Amazon, of course, as many of your are aware, don't pay any UK taxes as they have exploited a loophole in European tax law and have based themselves in Luxemburg. Hardly a level playing field.
Competition in my industry is fierce, mainly from the internet and e-books, but also from the likes of the big supermarkets who cream off the best selling titles and offer heavy discounts. What they don't do is offer you the consumer any choice, beyond the bestsellers, or any expertise/good customer service. If you're buying the latest bestseller then you could argue that you don't need that - all you need is the book to be available at a cheap price.
TBH I think we are getting the High Street that we deserve. Money is tight for most of us, so bargain stores and charity shops are going to increase, whilst specialist retailers like mine, who can't compete on price, are going to be forced out. It seems to me that, although people say that they want good service, they aren't prepared to pay for it. People use shops like mine to browse and ask questions and then go and order what they want online as it is invariably cheaper. So you get the service, and a company that doesn't contribute one penny of tax revenue to our economy, gets the sales.
If we want to keep a good range of specialist shops on our high streets (and I do agree with some of the criticisms on here about certain retailers and their less-than-perfect standards) then we have to actually spend our money in those shops. And it's up to us, as customers, to feedback to those retailers when we are unhappy with service, standards, or the direction in which the company is going. But don't have a go at the sales staff - we're just trying to earn a living and are doing what we are asked to do from On High 