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 also don't buy the 'spend more better quality' mantra unless we're talking spending hundreds. I've had tops and dresses from new look and even primark cost £10 and last years looking lovely!

Peacocks was in trouble a few years ago but were bought out by Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

I could see WHSmith closing some high street stores but our local one now houses the main Post Office as do quite a number I think. It's a horrible store though because they still stock the same amount of items, it's just all crammed into a smaller space and finding a particular magazine on the shelves is a nightmare as you can't see the titles properly - even the staff struggle if you ask for help.

The local Boots must be on it's last legs too. They don't even man the tills full time. Basically you have to walk around the store until you find a staff member standing near to a till to serve you. I would expect that a lot of their money is made at airports though.

Edinburgh Woollen Mill keep buying failing brands like Jaeger. I think they're ok! They plan to open department stores.

Argos seems to be going the way of having small stalls in shopping centres and Sainsburys with very little stock, so you order one day, pick up the next or you can get same day home delivery on some things

HMV, Surely people are buying vinyls ? not download so much - again online
my dc refuse to shop in primark, I dont buy from there either tbh

M&S and Debenhams

Last time I went to Miss Selfridges the quality was appalling

Sorry to derail the thread slightly but as we are talking shops and this thread has loads of traffic, can anyone recommend anywhere to buy bright colourful tops, t-shirts for my 13yr old DS? He has severe SEN and would wear Thomas the Tank tops all day if he could. He has always loved boden applique tops with animals on but now he is outside the age range for this style.

I'm struggling to find alternatives to bloody skulls!

Thanks in advance for any advice :)

If this is anything to go by, Debenhams can't last long. What mum (or anyone else for that matter) would wear this type of ugly tat?!

they are owned by conglomerates

Arcadia own
Miss Selfridge,
Dorothy Perkins
Burtons
Top Man
Top Shop
Evans
Outfit
Wallis

I can't help feeling we've reached supermarket saturation level - and a lot of people I know have deflected to Aldi or Lidl for quite a bit of their shopping.
Our average sized town has an Aldi, Tesco superstore, Morrisons, sainsburys, Lidl, Waitrose and Iceland. Surely at some point one will go under?

WH Smith will pull through as they are in airports and train stations. I'm sure I read that they had seen an improvement in profits? Personally I'm not a fan but I think they will keep going somehow.

Basically anywhere that sells mainly stuff you can get off Amazon for less is sunk. Especially with Amazon prime, it comes to your door the next day or even the same day and the cost of it is very cheap.
So book shops, toy shops, electronics, music / DVDs. All these places are sunk. Everyone I know looks at what to buy in the shop and then orders if for less online.

Dd (9) will be devastated if New Look goes. She loves their style and it's much cheaper than River Island. Perfect pre teen shop (a lot better than Primark and not much more expensive). Clarks. Not sure how they keep going apart from school shoes. Our local branch has gazillions of adult shoes in sale.

H&M Lee

I think timpsons get a lot of funding and subsidies as they hire recently released prisoners. So they probably have some staying power to them even if they aren’t turning a profit.

Any shop that flogs crap at the tills I always think is numbered. No Doreen I popped into WHSmith for a magazine not a family size bar of galaxy and some polos. Same with savers. I’m buying a £1.79 bottle of shampoo why are you trying to flog me the latest Britney perfume.

I think Zara is about to have a massive struggle. There’s a number of legal suits being launched against them for plagiarism from independent designers.

Bunnings (formerly Homebase) I think this Australian company have got it so wrong. The stores give the feeling that it’s a closing down sale.

@lee have you though about buying plain ones and applying iron on motifs with him?

Agree with nowater that all shops seem to have the same thing so if frills are in everywhere has frills even though they suit no one over a size 10!

I need dotty p to stay open because they're one of the few places to sell tall, cheap dresses.asos tall fit strangely.

LEELULUMPKIN

You could try fruit of the loom. They are plain but in lots of bright colours. For some reason teenage boys clothes seem only available in various sludgy colours.

I also really like the Homebase garden section & I do a fair bit of DIY.

Waterstones is a good example where the personal touch makes a difference & hopefully they will continue to exist. I get that cds, dvds etc are fine to be bought online but I like to feel clothes, sit on sofas etc so I hope not everything goes online.

Boots used to be a mecca back in the 80s/90s but it is expensive and there's so much more choice now. I've found that since the children got older (used to buy healthcare products and clothes for them there when they were little), I rarely shop in one, even with an appealingly large store nearby. I probably go in about once every couple of months.

Love the idea of Urban Outfitters but it's not designed for parents, that's for sure. Some of the clothes are fabulous but most designed for teens and early twentysomethings...I can't get over the prices though.

Zara is an 'upmarket' version of Primark in many ways.

HoF used to rule London. Most of my 'memorable' pre family clothes purchases were from one or another of their stores, including my favourite ever Calvin Klein sandals.

The branch of the Body Shop in my town is absolutely massive. There is just so much in there. It would take me ages just to look round let alone decide on what I might want. I think it needs to be smaller, and have less choice. I mean, how many different shower gel scents are really needed? Everyone knows that pink grapefruit is the best anyway.

WHSmith annoys me hugely. The only post office in my twon centre is now upstairs in WHSmith and so often, the escalator doesn't work. There is a lift, but it is also used as a service lift, so often blocked in the base,net for loading and unloading. And it is creaky, small and slow.

M and s just has too much womenswear. Way, way too much.

House of Fraser doesn't do anything as well as John Lewis. Debenhams doesn't do anything as well as house of Fraser.

Toys r us. Well. I have two DSs. They never want anything in there! I have been carrying round £60 in gift cards for nearly two years and just couldn't spend them. Today is the last day that they will honour them, so we went in yesterday. I ended up desperately buying play doh, a football and some Christmas presents for my very young niece. Such a shabbily stocked store. No thought or care about what they sell.

DS(25) reckons that Hollister has lost it's way and always in sale and quality not so good, I remember going in there when he was a teen with his Christmas and Birthday money and sitting on the settee in the dark while he browsed. Apparent DS clothes are a mixture of Urban Outfitters, Jack Wills and Primark, he gets his work shirts online from Charles Tyrwhitt. He said that Next clothes don't fit him well and are a bit daddish.

Toy shops should be a delight to visit, even for grown-ups. ToysRUs never was. Just a warehouse of a shop really, with no heart or soul.

Long Tall Sally - shop for those 5"8 and over.... extremely overpriced. I stopped shopping there a hundred years ago when the likes of Next, DP, Top Shop etc all did ranges for us taller girls. You'd say about it on the LTS FB page and they'd post how everything they did was designed specifically for the taller woman blah blah implying that the high street fashion stores didn't. Well actually they did thanks! Saved a fortune there.
New Look because there are so many of them.

I cannot fathom how they can smell embellished girls tops for £1.30

Sweat shops, child labour etc.