And there goes Debenhams too. Will we miss our high streets?

[longwayoff]

What will life be like when all the high st stores we're used to seeing aren't there any longer? Will they be just bars and coffee shops with an occasional nail bar and hairdresser? Even £shops are suffering. Will they become mad max wastelands? Housing with no shops?

It's a real shame but no amount of breast-beating is going to reverse the trend. I'm as guilty as anyone (despite having run a small independent shop myself), I never go "shopping" as an activity any more. I just buy online.

Half our house is furnished from Debenhams as we had Debenhams vouchers for our wedding (all those years ago) and it is my go-to when it comes to Christmas shopping (I actually get off my arse and go into town).

Last in a store about a month ago. DH needed a new suit and his usual outlet had failed (long dull story) so we ended up in the suit department of our local Debenhams. There was a lady in the department who was real old school when it came to service. Suggesting suits, bringing suits to the changing room, advising what to wear it with, which button should be left undone, didn't even need to measure DH, knew on sight what size he was etc. etc. She was an absolute credit to the retail trade. We felt a bit sad when we left as I don't suppose she'll be in a job much longer.

I was in Oxford Street recently and went into Debenhams. It was so hot in there, I was sweating from the heat and had to carry my jumper and jacket. So unpleasant, particularly for the staff that have to work there. It’s as if there is no one there in charge of the customer experience. House of Fraser is the same.

Then, went next door to John Lewis, and it was cool and felt relaxing and enjoyable to be in there. They also had a lovely cafe to sit in the women’s wear Department.

Debenhams is the only big name left in our high street and it is one of the few places my Autistic DH can buy clothes.

I shop a lot online though, so I am complicit in the trend.

They've not caught up with online sales. Slow deliveries, difficult returns - I've tried and given up. Our local branch is tired and grotty, with unenthusiastic staff and a very poor layout. It's not a shopping "experience", more like a challenge.

They're entirely responsible for their own downfall to be honest, and I can Marks and Spencers heading the same way. I ordered online this week from them, had 2 items in the parcel instead of 4 - one item has been sent separately and the other was out of stock. Such messing around for simple things and too much hassle to sort out.

I agree that the lack of being able to feel and touch clothes makes internet shopping harder. You need a bigger float of money to send for two or three sizes. I can never buy bras or shoes/boots on line because of this.

Town/city centres are a nightmare to go into though. It can take me an hour or more to get to mine, 16 miles away, due to traffic congestion because of roadworks, broken down lorries, road closures etc. Then when I get there I have to find a parking space and pay a lot for a set amount of time. Then race round shops with an eye on the clock for the parking ticket running out. Can't be arsed with that. Rather to go an out of town place, free parking for as long as I like so no clock watching.

I hope we don't turn in to an American "wasteland". If you've ever been in one of those great big American *cities and are looking for a city centre...and there's not one. Only shopping malls on the outskirts. Depressing.

*obviously not all of them eg San Francisco is fab

I used to buy quite a lot in there but I can't remember when I last found anything to buy there.

Not surprised they are struggling to be honest. Like M&S I'm not sure they know what customer demographic they are aiming at.

In the 90s I shopped at Debenhams a lot, I bought a lot if their “designers at Debenhams” stuff for work
I went in one a few weeks ago and couldn’t find anything to buy at all
It will be a shame for people who work there and the high street in general if they do go, quite often they are the largest store in a shopping centre but I wouldn’t miss shopping there

Not totally surprised. It's ridiculously over-priced, and they have only survived as long as they have because of other businesses having small 'units' inside there... Eg, Chanel...

As a few other posters have said, I cannot remember the last time I went in there. Literally, not even this decade. Maybe not even the last; could be 20 years.

House of Fraser is the same, over-priced and dated, and people can buy cheaper stuff elsewhere. For cheaper clothes for example... Primark, and Peacocks. And supermarkets sell cheaper, decent clothes too... Sainbury's Morrisons, Asda, and Tesco sell pretty good clothes. (And are also good for all your foodstuffs and consumables, along with Aldi and Lidl and Iceland!) And Wilkos and Home Bargains and B & M are great for almost everything else

Debenhams, and House of Fraser, along with WH Smiths and Marks and Spencer, need consigning to the history books. They haven't moved with the times, they are all overpriced, no-one I know ever goes into any of them -- or if they do it's very rarely.

Although it's a shame, and the end of an era etc, times move on, and sadly, the high street giants that have ruled for so many years, and charged astronomical prices for stuff we now KNOW should have been cheaper, are crashing and burning. (Thanks to much cheaper stores, and the companies on the internet... Amazon, Ebay, ASOS etc...

I am not glad - but I am not sorry that these stores are all closing down. Even Woolies used to be one of the best shops on the high street, and I used to virtually live in there, especially coming up to Christmas, but during the last 7-8 years of its life, it became overpriced and drab. Same with WH Smiths. That used to be a great store, but has gone to shit this past decade. That will be next. Then M & S probably.

I suspect Morris that you and I are wearing the same bra :)))

I don’t go in to town anymore for a very boring reason- parking! It’s about £7 for a few hours so I either buy online or I just stick to small independent shops near me (they are usually out of budget so I do this rarely)
I also never go to oxford street, it’s hell!
So yes I’m totally implicit

"Internet shopping can be a painnif you don't have the funds to order 5 dresses/pairs of jeans in 1 go with the intention of buying onkyb1 once you've viewed the realnirem.and tried for fit and sizing."

Add to that the thought that (assuming everyone does the same) the clothes you're trying have possibly already visited several different houses! Don't know why I hate that idea.

My personal opinion is scrap shops as they are now and just order everything you want online for click and collect.
Kind of like Argos massive warehouse out back.
You could try on/return when you click and collect.
That's the only way I can see shops staying on the high street.
I can't remember the last time I went in a shop for something ide seen advertised and they had it in stock and in my size.

I like Debenhams, the clothes and kitchenware are surprisingly good. I hope our local one isn’t on the list of closures as it is now the last surviving department store in our city.
I am really short, so rarely buy clothes online as I have a poor conversion rate for trying on to buying. I also think fabrics can look very different to how they photograph. I like the breadth and eclecticism of department stores, something might catch your eye by a brand you’ve never heard of or have previously dismissed.
They do seem to have a never ending cycle of Blue Cross Sales with whopping discounts, so I’m not surprised they are struggling.
Such a shame. They provide non-hideous, often flexible, local employment for a lot of people.

What I don’t get is that in my city centre it is absolutely cram packed every day of the week with thousands of spaces in the car parks all full and people laden with shopping bags all year round.

I tend to use click and collect a lot, if we had a Debenhams, no doubt I would use them also, so I probably don't buy much from the actual shops as usually they don't have my size and also tall sections are always on line, I do visit the shops a lot though for picking up stuff. In fact the local shops all seem to recognise me

We have a new mall type shopping centre and it is always busy and I use a lot, the local high streets never seem that busy.

Hi. First time posting. I used to work for poundworld and what happened to us was awful. If a huge company like that can't survive then it makes me scared for the future of our high streets. I loved my job and the people I worked with were amazing. I know it sounds like a cliché but we really were like a family. I miss it so badly. Would be a terrible shame if the same thing was to happen to Debenhams. My heart goes out to the staff. I know how horrible it is.

I think as a society we go through these phases ,stores that were on the 'high street' a 100 years ago, most are gone, heck even 50.

Inevitably another will pop along, but it is gutting for the economy and most importantly those working there.

Prepare yourselves for extra tax.!

I'm now making an effort to buy less online and go to shops. Sometimes I do use click and collect in store but I always buy something else when I go to pick my purchase up.

I do lots of click and collect with Debenhams.

Saying that my two nearest stores are located too close to each other. Debenhams took over the second larger site when another indie department store when into insolvency.

It also doesn't help with the smaller store that if the concession does say have make up in they direct you to the concession in the indie department store which is better laid out.

Debenhams is another mishmash of a shop though. The kids’ clothes were good when mine were young enough for them but never bought anything as an adult!

The only good thing about Debenhams is the loos.

Our Debenhams is lovely and is on the corner to the entrance to Liverpool One which has a massive footfall daily so presume it's pretty lucrative.

It has 4 floors iirc and is like a proper department store from back in the day.

Weirdly though, it's somewhere I hardly ever shop and prefer the equally huge JL at the other end.

Joinourclub Actually you raise a good point with the toilets.

As these shops close down, where are we going to go to the toilet in town centres? I have no clue where any of the proper public ones are that are still open and clean enough to use. I always use Debenhams, HoF, M&S. I suppose there's always coffee shops.

yes with internet shopping and high rents/rates, the high street is in terminal decline yet councils around the country seem slow to believe that its a problem. My council gave planning permission for luxury flats and argued that the extra shop space it created would rejuvenate the area by attracting big retailers. No it won't sadly , they will just be shiny empty stores next to the many already less shiny empty stores sitting next door.