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.

[elizaregina]

my town i want to get in and out as quickly as poss - its dying - ugly etc etc etc....we drive to towns near us for " leisure" not neccasrily to buy but because they are pretty - nice store fronts - feel nicer than our town. our town is simply depressing and i loathe even going for a coffee there.

[garlicblocks]

Agree, Bonsoir.

[elizaregina]

the towns that are struggling need to me made attractive for people to want to linger in them and potter..

[OwlLady]

or they need to be inventive, set up art initiatives or similar

I have a textiles degree and worked in the fashion industry. I am pretty sure I could, if given the opportunity, makes use of one of the empty spaces in bedford and run classes, sell on artwork etc. not even for myself but for other people. It doesn't actually have to be retail centric. Trouble is for me I don't have any money for rent or to set up and don't come from a naice well heeled family!

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Apart from the growth of online shopping I think a combination of high rents, expensive public transport and high parking charges (although it is cheaper to park in the council run car park than in its neigbouring council who are money grubbers in the extreme) has decimated many a high street over the past decade or so.

My own high street is not bad, it is not too difficult to get parked and the parking charges are pretty reasonable but there are a lot of charity shops and chain coffee bars and only one supermarket now so there is less choice for the consumer. There are a couple of non chain hairdressers and an independent butchers which is doing well but the fishmongers shut up shop (due to higher rent charges).

[Catriona100]

Why has no one mentioned Mary Portas?

[elizaregina]

people seem to be happier to pay a bit more to go somewhere that is attractive.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

High Streets are dying for several reasons.
Firstly the takeover of Tesco Metro and the like. They put smaller shops out of business on purpose.
Secondly the shit-ness of local shops. My local greengrocer just shut down. I was so frustrated with them, because I tried to be a customer, but half the time they were closed, their stuff was manky, the shop was unappealing looking and grubby, they lost veg box orders.
I would LOVE small shop owners to realise that they can use good window displays, lighting, and good service to make money, just like larger shops do, but too often they don't.
Thirdly, car culture is killing shops on busy roads with no parking.
Lastly, and most importantly the damn rents are too high. I once had a shop in a different country. I put down one months rent, and months deposit and I was in business,
Here you have to sign a long lease, pay shedloads upfront, and the rents are so extortionate that only chain stores and charity shops can meet them.
In some places the local councils have stepped in and negotiated lower rents with landlords so that small local business can thrive, but in most places it seems that councils and landlords would rather have high streets full of empty shops, than local independent businesses.
I reckon they think sooner or later Boots or MacDonalds will come along and pay the money. Meanwhile we have to live in ghost towns.

[elizaregina]

I put down one months rent, and months deposit and I was in business


gosh i would open up shop and try it if it was that accesible.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

Yeah, catriona, that greengrocer that mary portas re-invented; that was a great example of how it can be done, but rents still really need to come down-a lot.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

Seriously eliza. Of course, I had to buy stock too, so it was quite an outlay, but do-able for sure.

[elizaregina]

but still prettier places that people are happy to just walk up and down the high street still get more footfalll, and if you people walking up and down more chance of them actually buying even if they had no intention of doing so...

[elizaregina]

we also have a nice town near us where a welll known property developer has brought up alot of shops and he is so rich it doesnt matter if they are rented out....as he just makes money from the building going up. also rich enough to pay back handers to get nhasty office blocks built in the middle of fields!

[elizaregina]

i know what you mean ifnotwhen,

there is an old guard of shop keepers who didnt have to work to get customers they havant moved with the times

[manicinsomniac]

IfNotNow - I agree with your list but would add that they seem to close earlier and earlier as people work later and later. I'm sure 5.30 used to be closing time. Now it seems more likely to be 5 or even 4.

Almost everybody works nowadays so shops are essentially open during hours where they can't get any customers anyway!

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

Exactly.
Tiggy D, don't know if you were just being daft, but since you ask "why are small indie shops better" I will answer:
At Xmas I ordered my joint of meat from my butcher. No difference in price to Tesco, but much better. I didn't have to queue (I am a busy lone parent with a job, not a housewife of yesteryear!).
I told the butcher the next time I went in how fab the beef was. If it had been rubbish I also could have told him, and he would have been apologetic (genuinely) and reimbursed me.
He recently started getting free range chicken thighs in just because I kept asking. I don't think Mr Tesco would do that for me. I don't think Mr Tesco gives a shit about his customers.

Also, when my local supermarket where I used to live was closed for a few months I started using the shops local to where I worked-baker, butcher, greengrocer.
I didn't have to queue-in fact I could call these shops on my way into work in the morning and ask them to set aside my order so that, in my lunch break I could pop in and pick them up.
I also saved a lot of cash, since I wasn't making impulse buys in the supermarket.
Aside from the fact that Tesco are basically evil (true fact) I actually find local shops, when they ARE good and convenient, quicker and easier.

[Bonsoir]

I live in Paris where there are lots of independent food shops and I just love the fact that I can telephone my butcher/baker/greengrocer and ask them to prepare my order and deliver it. Independent shops, when they work well, provide service and products that are on a whole different dimension to the service offered by supermarkets.

[ChristianGreyIsAJackass]

I run a local independant shop ( wont mention what because it might out me) in our town there is a fantastic butchers, cheese shop, bakery, coffee merchant, various clothes shops, a tailor and a fantastic hardware shop to name a few, all independant. The locals use us, tourists use us, repeatedly, but unfortunately there arent enough of either of those groups to keep us in business.
We had a great christmas, tourism was up and the locals were all spending locally, it was great, there was a gat atmosphere, but unfortunately we know the rest of the year isnt good enough to sustain the business.
Its very sad.

[BunFagFreddie]

quoteunquote. I love the ethos of the Transition Movement in many ways. Unfortunately it's focused on the affluent areas round here, with an emphasis on really expensive renewable energy technologies for people's homes. It's very much dominated by the terribly middle class types who are rich in money and/or time. Or it is round here at least.

[OwlCatMouse]

Our town is always heaving. Just a small market town, usual bunch of shops etc. The car parks are always full at the weekends and in the holidays its often too busy to bother going in!

Free parking in town though, I think that makes a huge difference

[OwlLady]

I am glad us owls always agree on free short stay parking

[Bonsoir]

Free parking and cafés encourage people into town and to linger. And the more they linger, the more they buy.

[elizaregina]

free parking and cafes that are nice in a town that is attractive.

[SparkyDudess]

How funny, I immediately thought TSC was talking about altrincham too!

I remember when it was a really busy high street - the Trafford centre put paid to that. Parking in altrincham at the time was £10 for anything over 2 hours, and by the time the council fixed that, the high street was dying. Add in the retail park in broadheath plus the huge tesco, and it'll never recover.

[sherbetpips]

The village I live in is doing okay there has been some recent investment by some strong businesses but there are a few empty shops and four charity shops. I don't know if anyone has mentioned It but charity shops get reduced rates - no such thing is offered to new start ups.
Our town centre however is awful. It was built as a town centre, manufactured to be a shopping centre. It is a dull grey concrete hell hole and it will cost you £1 per hour (or £1.65 in the more accessible car parks thus making a nice extra 35p most times) to park there, there is nowhere to get cash to park. There is no reason to go there, within five miles you can go to every shop that is there. If it was shut down the local villages would benefit from increased local shopping. Yet still the stupid council plow money into it, whilst authorising the building of retail parks around it.