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 have totally given up shopping in Next. They must have changed fabric supplier a few years back, to cut cost presumably, as most of their tops are now made out of some nasty tyoe of polyester mix, without a hint of actual cotton, that brings me out in a cold sweat/hot flush if I sonmuch as brush up against it. Its weird. Id be quite happy if M & S became food onky as long as they kept doing pants.

I do feel for high st retailers, its tough competing with Amazon. They have to be the same price or cheaper or offer sonething different.

Me and my DC are head to toe H&M. It’s very good for skinny people. Their sizes are very consistent. But I buy a lot online. I have a big store but it’s hard to even get 3 trousers or dresses of the right sizes for the 3 for 2 sale. It’s so much easier to point at clothes on their website, ask DDs to choose and just order. Their online ordering has improved so much last year. It used to take 3 weeks to deliver anything. Now it’s within a week. I made another order yesterday and they are now doing free delivery for club members.

I used to love new look but can’t find anything there now. And DDs love claires. They will be sad when it goes. But I can see why they need to close shops. Too many shops and some are very small and not well stock. How can there be two in Southampton? They are like with 5 min walk of each other.

I hope new look doesn't disappear! It's the only place I can get jeans that fit properly from their tall range

Boots perhaps

WH Smiths has just become a browsing store for online book shops unless you are clever with the 3 for 2 and the vouchers; we occasionally buy a v. cheap item to get the special offer voucher and then buy the books. Our local one is always deserted, not helped by two very inefficient members of staff.

M&C is over-priced, Peacocks is poor quality and all polyester, Marks is too expensive, there is nowhere to get basic affordable clothes that last when you have to wash and wear often.

We've only got ourselves to blame though, all that Internet shopping?

WHS has an air of desperation about it, I really hate when they try to flog me sweets as "special offers" at the till. I've stopped having a go at them for trying to increase my dentist bills, because I know it isn't the fault of the 17 yo assistant serving me.

M&S is on the way back from the brink, IMO. They had a beautiful range of cards, flowers, cosmetics and little boxes of truffles for Mother's Day. They're putting effort into the right stuff again. No tat. Well done M&S. I'll reserve judgement on clothes until I go to their big store in Bristol next week...

Millets are trying hard, they have refurbed our local store and they have decent stock for the outdoor season.

I wonder if people have backlashed against consumer goods in a big way, reality is there is such a massive impact on the environment, esp plastics and cheap n cheerful tat that looks good but not built to last. I have

Next Tall is pretty much the only place I can buy a coat to fit my very long arms, I am only 5"10" so not over tall, but have arms like an ape, I would be very sad if the tall section went, its bad enough it is only online. After years of cold wrists I was so glad when Next did its tall section

I don’t get the range of sizes problem in H&M. I’m consistently 8 or XS. Never needed a 6 or 10.

Backlashed, that is ...

Boots - I buy perfume from our local smaller store for my dd's often paying £60-£70. There is often meant to be a free gift, generally a small perfume freebie. But there are never any. This is because they do not send any to our store because it is not important enough. Head office tried to tell me it was sold out but the staff instore tell me they don't even bother to send any. Treating NW customers with contempt is not the way forward and their customer service is sneering and rude. So that's a good idea.

Laura Ashley - Terrible reviews online. Regular 50% off sales so who on earth is going to buy at full price - just wait.

Debenhams - Have some nice homeware, but horrendously overpriced. Always wait for the regular 20-30% off which makes cushions etc near to the correct price but still dear. Stores with regular big discounts are heading towards trouble.

Problem for the last two is that there are the home enterprises on ebay who make up Laura Ashley cushion covers very well for £10 and top end brands for around £15. They arrive quickly and are always good - people are protective of their 100% rating in a way that many on the high street no longer give a damn about.

M & S - Even the food, well other supermarkets are now at the same standard - not quite at the ready meal standard yet - but mince, fish etc is just as good in Morrisons and even Tesco.

Flowers etc Aldi do lovely bunches of spring flowers rather than the M&S price tag.

The Range - what the hell is that?

I live in a NW town where the Poundstretcher actually closed down with a half price sale. I kid you not.

The local Council have offered incentives for M&S to stay in the town centre for a long time. Otherwise it would just be a wasteland of boarded up shops and charity shops.

A huge "Thank you" to all who have replied (sorry don't know how to do highlighting of names!)

I will certainly check out H&M.

The iron on idea sounds great and one that I had totally not considered and the fruit of the loom tees would be brilliant for that purpose.

We visit the USA every year and they seem to have so much more choice and cooler designs throughout all the age ranges.

DS also loves "The Mountain" t-shirts so I stock up when I am over there! Obviously I would much prefer to keep my money in the UK, hence my initial question.

I think Alot of stores may just change their business model, eg I can see why a small high street Mothercare may struggle but there's a massive one on a retail park near where I used to live and it always seemed to do well - loads of prams to try out, will fit car seats for you etc.

Think fewer stores but bigger will be what many retailers will do.

I believe this is what toys r us should have done, bigger stores and concentrated more on it being a fun customer experience for parents and kids.

Think shops like Sainsburys are taking away the lower-mid clothing budget buyers. If I want something cheap and new, I'll have a look there before venturing to Next actually. New Look, quality not good. Primark, great for leggings and t shirts for the family. M&S - buy the food, forget they sell clothes. Dorothy Perkins - the one in the centre of town moved, and quality not great again. Claires - DD like it, but they have those deals on so you go in to buy one thing, and then spend two hours trying to find 4 others so you get one off!!!!

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill seemed to be in every town we visited in the UK.

When New Look first opened they used to do exciting designer collaborations, and so did Dorothy Perkins.

Many of the clothes shops have merged into oneness. They have no 'USP' which is a retail killer, IMO.

Agree about The Gap too. Again somewhere my friends and I frequented all the time in the 90s. I still go in but am not inspired. And yes, to the PP who mentioned their weird pricing structure that is different in-store, to online and then again to some promotional activity. I bought a lovely jumper (as a present) in there before Christmas. It was a bargain, although I was very nearly over-charged (double the price) at the till, until I pointed out that it was on the 'offers' table. Online it was being sold at four times the price I paid (I guess its original retail price)???

Progress has passed some shops by, I guess, including Long Tall Sally.

Agree that I do tend to spend more time in John Lewis than once I did. It's about the customer experience as well as the products sold. Having attentive and helpful staff does make a huge difference.

ReluctantlyRedundant101 I hated the cold shoulder trend so was unhelpful to buy any tops for a couple of months.

The thing with the likes of Amazon is once they have the monopoly they won’t stay cheap & I have started to find that something’s are more expensive on there.

I hardly ever find clothes I like...there's always so much embellishment, ruffles, cropped sleeves etc etc.

So hard to find a plain black well fitted jumper...so easy to find a too short top with cut out shoulders and a glittery slogan.

Re fashion stores, part of the problem for me is that fashion has been so awful for several years now that there is nothing I want to buy and as I said in a previous post, I love clothes.

How many cold shoulder tops and frilly blouses does one person need?

unable not unhelpful.

Interestingly I bought a bunch of daffodils in Aldi for 95p. I then bought a bunch in M&S for £1. The M&S ones were longer & they were more of them.

I don't shop on Amazon for clothes though - that takes all the joy out of the retail experience. And actually, I'm finding I'm not shopping on there anywhere near as much as I used to. Agree about prices on there too. Recently I was after a copy of a modern classic in paperback. I was shocked to discover it was no cheaper on Amazon than it would have been in Waterstones (and would have preferred to support the latter truth be told).

Toys r us and I've also heard carpet right

I can't remember the last time I shopped in the nearest large town - car parking fees are ridiculous and I can go to the nearest regional shopping centre, park for free and have a much larger choice of stores. The journey is about ten minutes longer do the extra petrol cost is still less than the parking fees locally. I rarely go shopping as I can get most of what I want online. I occasionally visit the large Boots where they sell a specific product I use, which is not sold on the high street. That's all I buy as everything else is so ridiculously overpriced - boots ibuprofen 200 my is around £9 for a pack of 96 whereas the same product, but branded Tesco, is under £3. I visit Debenhams occasionally as it's the only high street stockist I know for a specific brand of makeup, but again everything else is so expensive.
Mothercare - they were bad when my own dcs were born almost 30 years ago and my DIL assures me they are not much better now so she doesn't shop there.
I think so many high street stores will go, including some big names because they don't keep up with the times, either in the products they offer or the level of customer service. Stores like Primark will do on because they are reasonably on trend with their offerings and prices.

I absolutely hate the cold shoulder top trend. Yuk, yuk, yuk! And all those tops and jumpers with statement sleeves look fabulous until one has to wear a jacket or coat on top...

Cheap fashion is a problem and more and more people are waking up to the fact, I think. I would rather pay more for one decent top than have three that will last me a year before ending up in the bin.

I live abroad and my friends and I always gush over Boots. It's one of the few shops we all miss!

Yes Carpetright, we recently had new carpet and used John Lewis instead, price wasn't really any different once stuff like underlay was factored in and I wanted an 80/20 carpet and Carpetright didn't have much choice of them