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?

I sometimes wonder about Hobbycraft. When The Range opened in our local town, I was amazed at the amount of craft stuff it sold at very reasonable prices. Shortly after, Hobbycraft (and ours is a two floor store) massively reduced their stock lines - consequently I rarely go there now, because they simply do not sell what I want.

I don’t know how any of the high street stores have kept going tbh. I love clothes and fashion but haven’t shopped on the high street for years as online is more convenient for me.

I would never buy supermarket clothes - Tesco & Asda are awful although I don’t have a Sainsburys near me. (Asda great for kids clothes so not being snobby.) I do buy online from house of Fraser, John Lewis and Next a couple of times a year as they do all the brands and Next deliver the next day. Must say much of it goes back though.

I sign up for store promotions and there are always sales eg Dorothy Perkins 25% off everything, monsoon sale, Debenhams, oasis, all of them.

Disagree about Timpson’s, ours seems busy, and they do keys and other bits as well as shoes. I had leather knee high boots well repaired for £12, far cheaper than a new pair!

I read the title and immediately thought of WH Smith.

I also reckon all music shops/game shops. Because internet.

I can't remember the last time I paid full price for anything from Gap - I'm eternally getting emails from them with discount codes. Their Banana Republic experiment didn't work either - you can still buy online but they shut all their stores. It was overpriced anyway, and I found that whatever sold for $25 in the US would go for £25 here etc.

I think the real success of recent years has been Scandi stores, though H&M, Cos and Arket are all owned by the same company. And of course the Spanish stores - the UK's love affair with Zara continues!

Boots will fold I think. I live abroad and used to buy from them but they no longer send deliveries abroad - could be the beginning of the end!

I don't think the high street is in a sorry state it's just changing. Ours is thriving,has a mixture of old and new. Continuously evolving.

True about shopping centres being busy and people buying. On the weekends you literally cannot park in my city centre after 10am and over Christmas, forget it.

Primark does well BECAUSE they are cheap and don't do on-line.

New Look is going under because they are cheap-ish and do online - when you can order say,10 things and have them delivered - you order 3 sizes, 2 colours, 2 lengths - return most of them, keep one or 2 it costs A LOT of money for the retailer.

Are H&M in trouble? Ours are always heaving and a new one has hust opened (end of 2017) in 2 nearby towns.I think they are close to getting it right for a high st shop. Reasonably priced, reasonabke quality and slighty different stuff, great childrens wear, plus you can order it online with a discount code to make up for postage. Id be gutted if they went. My dc are head to toe H&M.

WHsmiths has surely got to be on numbered days? I worry about Boots as well as they are becoming increasingly expensive in comparison to other places and have no real usp (no 7?)

Footlocker has announced it's closing over 100 stores

WHS is always more expensive than anywhere else and looks such a cluttered mess. Also the pushing sweets at you at the till is tedious. I rarely go to ours.

And Timpsons, well I like the idea of repairing things but whenever I’ve asked about stitching a bag handle or repairing shoes the price they quote makes me think it’d be better value to buy a new one. Even the keys are the more expensive. I ended up getting more cut in Homebase. Watch batteries: again considerably cheaper elsewhere.

H&M announced flat year trading figures despite opening more stores so over all a profits drop.

The only Mothercare in my large city is closing permanently this month.

I completely agree about WHSmith. We go in occasionally for pens etc, but on a weekend afternoon we'll be the only people in there.

I think new look have really lost their way. I used to buy a fair amount from there but as a size 18 their plus size range is shockingly bad these days, as is their teen range. They've taken it out of a out of their stores all together which seems odd when there is demand.

I know Minus,even though parking is extortionate.

Love our Tiger,Waterstones,Paperchase,WHSmiths,John Lewis,little indie shops etc

Could do with some more clothes shops for 50s women though. I will never buy clothes online for me. Currently trawl Seasalt,Sainsbos,White Stuff,John Lewis to no avail,Phase 8, M&S... it's exhausting. Need a one stop shop that sells reasonable quality,well cut,flattering,classically fashionable clothes for my post babies figure age group. They'd clean up.

I think M&S will cut down their 'fashion' wear but will survive because of food, home, menswear and underwear. DH buys most his clothes from there, the mens seems much better than the womens as its not trying to be fashionable, if that went I don't know where late 50 year old DH will buy smart casual clothes. He used to sometimes use BHS also but thats gone. M&S just needs to ditch most of the womens 'fashion' and it will be OK

Next will survive as a lot of people use the directory which is really like modern catalogue shopping with paying on credit, the stores are also busy compared with Debs, HoF etc.

I thing WHS will end up just concentrating on railway stations and airports where they probably do quite well

HoF will probably go and how the hell Debenhams is still going I don't know

Not sure whether overpriced clothes stores like Fatface, Joules and Whitestuff will cut down their stores and become like Boden or just be in John Lewis, I did spot Boden in John Lewis. I tend to only buy from them in the sale or with a good offer code but I do use them.

TK maxx is making money and expanding.

As the experts say, consumers are a lot more savvy than they used to be, and now expect a deal on everything.

Clothes are cheaper than they've ever been, what with China manufacturing an' all, and people buy more clothes than ever. You would have thought that guaranteed success. But complacency is never a way to make a profit, and those silly opening prices - 120 quid for a polyester dress that doesn't wash - don't fool anyone any more.

The main high street has shot itself in the foot with its relentless discounting on inflated RRPs. Everyone now knows the pre-sale price is a bit rubbish and will go down soon, they don't buy. TK cashes in on that by going straight to sale price and gets the customer's money.

And their high end stuff really is cheaper - I've bought 30 quid stuff in there that is properly on sale somewhere else up the same road for 500 quid. Their cheaper ranges, not so much on the bargain front.

Agree also about the Body Shop. It’s coasting on past glories. Again, overpriced for what is essentially fruity smelling toiletries.

Yes The Body Shop-they completely lost their way being bought by L'Oreal. Shame as I used to quite like it.
Next is just awful so I wouldn't be too disappointed if they went.
I think Dotty Ps time is limited.
John Lewis's profits were down but they'll be ok. Debenhams and HoF not so sure, even their newer stores are depressing.

Next in Manchester Arndale closed for most of last year for a refurbish and has only recently reopened (losing the Christmas market). I used to enjoy shopping there for clothes, shoes and household, but have hardly bought a thing since they reopened. They have given vital floorspace to a Gino D'Acampo restaurant which has poor reviews, why do I want to shop in next and then go there? There is much less choice in clothing, shoes and furniture now and I really can't see an improvement for the millions they must have spent.

All that, and they still don't have touchpay at the tills! Apparently because shoppers at Next generally purchase more than £30 of goods. Well this one doesn't any more...

I think Superdrug keep a very close eye on internet beauty groups and blogs

^This. They are spot on with their marketing too. Boots just seems old fashioned in comparison.

Next's quality of fabrics has deteriorated greatly over the last few years, I think it's how they cut costs. However, their bikinis are the best on the High street I think. You can buy tops and bottoms seperately, the quality is good and they do a huge range of bra sizes.

I don't buy at any of the mainstream shops any more. I'm a TK Maxx-er and I think they get better and better. However, you need time to shop there which I now have, I couldn't do it when the DCs were little.

Thorntons chocolate used to be fantastic, it's revolting now.

All these shops are cutting costs and it shows.

I'd never use Timpsons. Our local one does watch batteries and said my watch needed a service/clean and it would be at least £20. I didn't believe them and my local independent jeweller put a battery in for £2.50

TK Maxx's recent advertising campaign is clever.
They have caught on that their fans like the jumble sale, impulse buy vibe. You go in for a frying pan and come out with a cut price designer frock instead.

They know their market me

I know they buy stuff straight in now. I doubt a lot of their designer stuff was ever meant to see the inside of a genuine Ralph Lauren shop.
I do like that you can get unusual stuff in there at a time when the high street is so bland.

Oh and places like Phase 8, Hobbs etc, the shops will probably go but they will keep their JL presence, Longtallsally (I am tall) is going to be closing all their shops apart from the London one when the leases come up and be online only which is very sad but it falls into the Fatface, Joules, Whitestuff category of being overpriced

I will never go to Timpson’s again after they charged me £15 per key to get them cut and then they didn’t even work! I went to complain and he fed me some nonsense about how it’s a special Yale key and Yale sent the prices blah blah blah before he reluctantly refunded me. Then I went to the man in the market who charged £4 and told me Timpson’s were talking rubbish and that with this style of key the way they cut them would never have worked in my lock. And yes the £4 key works perfectly!