To ask which shops are on the verge of failure

[curiousbeak]

I'm so depressed with the uk high street. Specifically British companies. The likes of Arcadia group, new look (already on its way out), next, oasis , Debenhams etc etc

The clothes are just terrible quality and most stores and staff and just tired, uninspiring and lacking any kind of chicness.

The wave of European brands seem to be killing our home grown business with their beautiful stores and chic offerings.

Who do you think is on the way out?

Thorntons cheapened their brand when they started selling it in supermarkets imo. I remember when they seemed really luxurious and tasted divine! Now they are like Cadbury where you can buy cheap chocolates in every supermarket and they don't feel or taste luxurious anymore!

BonMarche has been around for decades. It used to be a fabric store.

I also think there is a generational issue. I have 4 DC aged 14-25 and 2 nieces who live with us in their early 20's. None of them or their friends go shopping in town anymore. Even the older ones who live and work in central London.
They all had a brief flurry of shopping with friends in Clare's etc when they were younger but they are busy, work or study long hours and order all their clothes, shoes etc online and download music and TV and they add their toiletries to our food delivery order. They want to go to the gym, run, walk, visit places when they are free not have to shop.

They sometimes meet friends in town to eat or have a drink and might browse a bit in Mac or Benefit (to see colours to order online) but Primark is the only store that they might buy in because it's not available online yet..

Our Ocala Homebase is now a outlet store. Win for me but the company must not be doing so well. Newlook I only use when I get Christmas vouchers for the jan sales. I avoid the town centre I just don’t like the experience. I use amazon and eBay for a lot of things. My food shop is click and collect it’s only really Homebase/b&q/b&m I actually visit apart from my Tesco click and collect.

Local. No idea what happened there.

Staples

I think that Staples is online only now.

I thought people stopped eating grapefruits in 1978.

The thing with online shopping is I still have to pick the damn thing up from a shop as I usually click and collect. I only work part time so work delivery is no good. I don’t really want to wait in when I am not working, I could spend a fortune on named day delivery or have my stuff chucked over the gate in the rain. Click and collect or collect from local shop is the easiest option but I still have to go to the shops to collect it

Claires will carry on as long as young people (mainly girls bit yes boys too) want their ears pierced. As soon as the 6 week holiday begins its like Armageddon.

Accessorize - I've had 1-2 nice things from there but so flimsy. Often earrings still on the display card have stones missing

Thornton have all but vanished, they sell in supermarkets but I don't know how long the chocolates have been sitting there.

I quite like Rymans , much better than WHSmiths

Like The Range too , I buy my small animal products there , much cheaper than P@H and no livestock sold.

I bought a birthday card from Card Factory then went into WHSmith, similar card there £3.75 compared to 99p (ok Card Factory not great quality but its a card ) . The queues are an indication that people want to save money here.

I love WH Smith!

I'd be bereft and lost if it ever closed down, it's the only shop I go into every single time I'm in town, I buy some books from there and it's the only shop I can buy my specialist magazines from, I do buy books from Waterstones too, but please don't let WH Smith ever fold!

I like Claire's too, I buy some earrings from eBay and some from Claire's, I got my tragus pierced there last year too, and I'm 51, so not a child or teenager.

I hope Clinton's never goes either, I hate Card Factory, their cards look so cheap and nasty and I hate the soppy sentimental verses in them. Please don't think I'm rich or snobby, I only work part time on minimum wage so money is tighter than tight, I just enjoy shopping in those stores, I'd be so lost without them

Waterstone’s is another one that is always supposedly going under.

"Completely unobtainable for a kid with £10 a week pocket money"

I don't know how old you are YoloSwaggins, but that seems like an awful lot of pocket money. DD is 17 and gets £20 a month. She has some health issues which is why I want her to concentrate on A levels rather than getting a part time job.

I get the impression that most mumsnetters hate shopping. Would it be different if there was a better choice ofshops selling better quality clothes?

Have we got too used to the pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap way of selling?

Funnily enough lonicera, you are near me and you might remember the forum at the bottom of Division Street when it was an alternative market upstairs and lots of little independent shops downstairs. You don’t get that sort of place now where you have a chance of rummaging up a real little gem. It’s so soulless.

Mothercare are supposedly in trouble. Constant sales and events. Terrible collect in store service. I’m going to give them a little shout out though as I’ve found quite a few nice items for a 4 year old boy. The Mylene Klass and little bird ranges are similar to some quirkier more expensive brands and the ‘mothercare’ brand stuff itself has some colourful, reasonably well made items in it. It’s worth a look if you want some boy options that aren’t in the mud brown and green palette.

lozster, mothercare do my nut purely because you can’t just buy stuff and pay. No, you have to give them your email address or justify why you don’t want to give it to them.

Actually another shout out for mothercare - only place to stock a broad range of baby bottles, teats and sterilisation stuff that you can view, compare and buy instantly. I remember a fraught 40 mile round trip to my nearest one after my baby was discharged from hospital following a disastrous attempt at EBF. I had zero kit as I’d been assured by the midwife that ebf never fails.

But eltonjohnssyruo surely you don’t have an email? I absolutely definitely do not

I don't go into Sheffield very often, and probably wouldn't remember the forum as I moved here from elsewhere. It takes me about 45 minutes to get into the middle of Sheffield, and only 20 to get to Meadowhall.

I sometimes think I am the only poster who actually enjoys looking round the shops.

@Lonicera, i used to get that in return for 2 hours a week cleaning for my mum.

When she got an actual cleaner, I got £5 a week for dishes.

i loath shopping, but buying on line isnt all its cracked up to be either and at least you can try things on in most shops and dont have to trudge to the post office or faff about with return slips etc etc to send stuff back if you order then its not any good. bit of a double edged sword.
i can see the high street slowly disappearing though - it will take years and the only places left will be coffee shops and restaurants/ mcdonalds etc. people will still go out, but just to eat or look at the shops that have survived it all!
it will be huge loss though, all those jobs just gone. its quite depressing, but i can see why its happened and sometimes buying on line is easier/ cheaper.

A lot of these shops need a kick up the backside. Debenhams sells too much, it needs to pare down its ranges and make some of it better quality. I have just looked at M & S spring ranges. Dire. Nothing to buy. Quality is bad too. Wallis is polyester heaven. They used to have a few bits and pieces, now horrendous. Fat Face - just the same, year after year. I looked at a plain white long sleeve t-shirt in there at the week3nd - £24.seriously overpriced.

Zara is not going anywhere, always mobbed, but their offering has gone downhill. They used to have elegant basics with a twist. Now they have a lot of stuff you can wear to a fancy dress party. I don’t see people wandering around in their stuff - apart from Trinny on her Instagram but she is somewhat eccentric,

Waterstones seems to be having a revival. Stores opening and the image has had a revamp. A town near me lost their branch a few years back - but a new one has just opened.

Somebody said 'who shops in BonMarche?'. Well, I do!
I am in my sixties and I love some of their clothes, especially the generous tops that cover my bum, of which they have plenty. Their sizing is very good and their online store is very efficient too. However, it makes me laugh when I go in because it is full of women of my age or older, excitedly looking though the racks. I think 'Oh look, a shop full of grey haired old women' and then realise that, of course, I am one too.

Waterstones is the only high street chain book store isn't it?! Was in there on Saturday and it was very busy, hope they don't go under.