AIBU to think that high streets and small towns will be thing of the past?

[Lonelybunny]

Well now due to Jessops going broke and clintons and woolworths our town has hardly any shops left. It's so depressing down there, do you think the only shops left will be super stores, like asda and tesco? Maybe due to them selling everything and of course online shopping. I feel so bad for all the retail staff loosing jobs yet again.

[OwlLady]

my smaller town is the complete opposite with loads of expensive shops that I just can't afford the butcher is okay though as they sell cheap game

[quoteunquote]

www.transitionnetwork.org/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns

www.guardian.co.uk/environment/transition-towns

transitionculture.org/category/transition-towns/


Turn your town into a transition town.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Ours is Hampshire. Yes, as well as being remote to bigger towns and no retail parks, no one lives more than about a mile from the centre, also there are three primary schools within 10 mins walk of the town centre, that probably helps as a lot of us parents who live further out combine school run walks with popping into town. There is a large supermarket immediately behind the High Street, a lot of people park there and walk through to the High St shops too.

[TiggyD]

We should go back to the good old days when you would go to the butcher and queue then pay for your meat. Then go to the fishmonger to queue and pay for your fish. Then go to the greengrocer to queue and pay for your greens. Then go to the hardware store to queue and pay for your hardware. Then go to the opticians to queue and pay for your eyes. Then go to the stationery shop and queue and pay for your paper. Then go to the newsagents to queue and pay for your paper. Then go to the off licence to queue and pay for you gin. Then go to the electrical shop to queue and pay for your iPod accessories. Then go to the post office to queue and pay for stamps. Then go to the recycling to queue and recycle your things.

In the old days when you went to the shops it took ages, but it didn't matter because the woman did it and it's not like she had a job. I can pop into Tescos on my way back from work and get and entire weeks shop in half an hour.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

TiggyD, I'm sure you are being deliberately obtuse.

That is not what the people on this thread are advocating and you know it. It's not even what the thread is about.

[magimedi88]

My nearest town, Eastbourne in Sussex, is dying on its feet. The latest closure is Blacks & I was told it is because the rent ( not from council) is up with London rates.

The council started a weekly farmers' market & then decided not to run it in Jan & Feb - for 'elf & safety reasons - FFS!


Also, apparently companies will own a portfolio of shops & it can pay, in terms of tax rebates, to keep shops empty. If this is true, it is terrible news for high streets.

[TiggyD]

Things change. Supermarkets and internet shopping is better for many people therefore they will do well at the expense of their competitors, the high street little shops. The old days are gone because the old days were crap.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

What do you propose doing with high streets then?



Can you justify "the old days were crap" any more?

[TiggyD]

" I can pop into Tescos on my way back from work and get and entire weeks shop in half an hour. "
And then there's the opening hours. How convenient only being able to go shopping during working hours or on Saturday. Not Wednesday afternoon of course, as the shops were shut then.

I'm not proposing doing anything with the high streets. I'm just saying that most of my shopping will be done in supermarkets, as most other people will. I am not trying to set myself up as 'High Street Tsar'.

[TiggyD]

Why were the shops better in the old days?

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Because they were open?

[Graciescotland]

I live out in the sticks and our local town is lovely, very tourist driven though with lots of high end cafes, independent boutiques, a fab but expensive deli, an amazing fish and chip shop and even an ironmongers there is a coop express but that's it in terms of modern high street. I don't think there's even a charity shop. The local business enterprise and town council are very active though and I think they've worked really hard to keep it naice.

I do shop online but I try and give as much business to the town as we can, so meat comes from butcher and we buy petrol at the local independent which has a handy garage attached. I think if you want to keep services local then you have to use them. Otherwise you don't get to be surprised when they close.

[TameGaloot]

I don't know actually I think we are taking a step backwards
Look at the people on tv
Jimmy Doherty
The baker boys
James Wong

There's a definite trend towards going back to roots, knowing where your product comes from and wanting it produced by someone with knowledge and skill.

[YouOldSlag]

Tame- Whilst I do agree with you, shoppers are also price driven. Shopping for local and organic produce is often beyond the means of many who have to keep an eye on the budget.

[TiggyD]

ArielThePiraticalMermaid But they weren't open. In the old days they opened in working hours and Saturday (But not Wednesday afternoon). You are wrong. Even now the only shops that are open in my town when I come back from work are the mini co-op and a few small expensive corner shops.

The high street shops tend to be knowledgeable about their products and have top quality, but you do pay for that.

[TheDuchessOfEarl]

TiggyD - yes it's conveient for you to pop into Tesco on your way home from work now, but the style of business model companies like Tesco, Asda et al work to means that eventually they will close the store which is handy for you & build a super deluxe store 20/30 miles away. So you'll have to use that.

It'll be far less convenient then I can assure you.

I would imagine that once all the smaller shops closed down they'll decdie that they don't actually need stores anymore and close down the super deluxe meaning we all have to shop online. Some people (the elderly in particular) will go weeks without speaking to another human being (except the delivery driver of course). Local high streets are a god send to some people in terms of human contact.

Supermarkets & out of town stores alienate people and take people a step further away from the food they eat & products they buy.

[Astley]

TSC's town sounds like Altrincham.

[Mandy2003]

YY Duchess

With the rising cost of fuel, will out-of-town retail parks seem so attractive to shoppers in the near future? Local councils have learned to become reliant on the income from town centre/high street parking. This is a shame because if it was suddenly made free everywhere then shoppers would move back to visiting the high street.

[garlicblocks]

This town's weird. It's pretty in parts - mediaeval, in an agricultural setting - and has been dying for a very long time. The centre's a mixture of charity shops, decay, quirky independents and antique/second-hand shops. It could be so much more; it still has things going for it! But we have a local authority that says "No" first, then demands a fee ... it persistently invests in out-of-town developments with serious flaws (like being built on a flood plain, for one example,) permits rectangular new builds enclosing old buildings and alleys, hikes up rates and charges to independent traders and imposes parking fees.

They're doing it all backwards, in my opinion. But senior council officers do seem to be very well off

[lljkk]

(very keen to know where TameGaloot is as I am also in N Norfolk)

Near to me I would say

thriving: Wymondham, Cromer, Aylsham, Holt

okay: Sheringham

struggling: Stalham, North Walsham

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Tiggy, no one as you initially seemed to be claiming, is arguing the case for going back to the "olden days". I don't know why you keep going on about that. They are arguing for local authorities to do more to encourage thriving high streets today and now. Having a thriving high street does not mean that you, personally, are prevented from shopping at Tesco's on your way back from work.

As you well know, I was not saying that high street shops were open all hours, to which you said no they were closed on Sundays and Wednesday afternoons (which was incidentally when they did their accounts and stock takes). I meant that they were open as in not out of business which is what the situation is like now.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

And Duchess is absolutely right about timescales. You only have to look at the Wal-Mart model in the States.

[TameGaloot]

Lljkk
You mentioned where I am

A lot of our high street is owned by the same company
I guess it's an old fashioned department store

[TameGaloot]

I will be interested to see how Sheringham does with the new tesco
I was saddened when it finally went through

[bigbluebus]

Tame I am saddened to hear that Tesco has finally succeeded with its application to build in Sheringham. As a regular visitor to N Norfolk, we were delighted that the residents had fought and won for so long.
As mentioned up thread, our town has fought Tesco due to their arrogant attitude in the small store that they have had in the town for years when they applied to build a big out of store town. Tesco lost, but Sainsburys which applied at a similar time and whose store was to be built much closer to the High Street, was very much supported.
There is a belief that the Sainsburys store will bring more people into town, and so far the Chamber of Trade is talking positively about the effects (although it only opened at start of December, so time will tell).
Even knowing that Sainsburys was coming, there were new food shops opening in the town and the electrical retailer says they had their best Christmas ever.
I think it is down to geography and also the mindset of people living in the towns. Shopping is still a social activity for many around here - you rarely walk down the High Street without bumping in to someone you know, and the customer service in the bakers, butchers etc if far better than you would get in any supermarket.