To be so angry with the British high street?

[peoniesarejustperfect]

Went sales shopping yesterday with my elderly Mother yesterday. We went to an 'affluent' city in the south east. We always go shopping after Christmas and it's a bit of a tradition and we normally really enjoy it. Yesterday was just so depressing - it made me fizz with anger. I hardly know where to start!!

The shops were just horrible - full of badly merchandised sales stuff which looked totally uninviting.

In several of the shops we went into there were no staff on the shop floor - we wanted to ask where different departments were (to save Mum walking too much), but no one to ask and poor signage.

In House of Fraser (one of the stores which is remaining open) we waited for 25 mins in the luggage department for a member of staff - there was no one there to help - no tape measure, no useful signs about cabin luggage allowances and no one to take any cash. We hung around for ages with two other families - no chairs to sit on, we just stood around. After a while we all gave up. The same in lingerie - no staff on duty. We had lunch there, which was really nice, but the restaurant loos were closed for cleaning when we went in at 12:15. What restaurant shuts its loos at lunchtime??? They suggested we left the restaurant and 'popped down' two floors to use another loo.

The British high street keep moaning but really, why on earth would anyone want to shop there? Why do they deserve our hard earned cash? It's incredibly expensive to park and the retailers don't seem very keen on keeping customers happy - let alone delighting them! There's not enough staff and with some notable exceptions, many of them are poorly trained - it all seems a bit of an effort for them.

Last Christmas we went to the US. I know it's different in America, but every morning in Macy's, when the doors open, a group of staff clap the shoppers in. We couldn't get over this and asked a sales assistant about it - she told us it's an honour to be picked - to welcome customers, look them in the eye and say thanks for coming. US retail is facing similar challenges, but what a different response. Helpful staff directing you to places, gorgeous merchandising, seats everywhere and staff trained to sell.

Anyone else fed up with the high street?

FWIW my favourite shopping experience is the enormous warehouse of a Sainsbury's near my home. I'm not sure if it's a national thing but this store employs a lot of people who would otherwise be fairly unemployable, and they do an exceptional job. I am very happy to give them my custom.

Yep, our Sainsbury is the same, and yes, they make excellent shop workers who seem to actually want to learn about their products and want to help the customers. Our local B&Q store do the same. I was at school with one of the guys at Sainsbury, who was distinctly weird at school (now I realise it was autism), but is a human whirlwind in the store and knows exactly where everything is in the store due to his photographic memory. He's definitely my "go to" guy when I'm looking for something.

I do all of my shopping online as we basically don't HAVE a high street anymore. No department store at all.

Badbadbunny exactly! The internet is now what the hawkers and peddlers were, bringing the goods to your door.

I'm not sure many local economies could support streets full of coffee shops and artisinal bakers. Therefore the space needs to be used up with something. Housing seems like a good choice. Housing could also be accompanied by other services such as doctors, dentists etc.

This needs town planners to manage the transition not just look at £££s in business rates.

bunny gnome exactly

and then we don't have to build all the extra accommodation on green land.

I agree it is dismal but I also think I am part of the problem. The high street has limited choice so I buy online, it is a pain to park etc.

I am trying to patronize more local Indy shops on our high st though.

Individual towns need to discuss/agree what they want from their high street. It depends on the demographics. Personally, I wish shops stayed open later so that I can shop after work. But that's asking other people to work differently to benefit me.

I do buy a lot online - not food though - but did a lot of click and collect this year from a shop I can walk to. And I didn't use Amazon once this Christmas.

@bunintheoven88 I don't expect them to kiss my arse. I just expect them to serve me politely and without a face like a smacked arse.

Their are customers that are wankers. I have been shouted at, sworn at, called names and blamed for stuff that is completely out of my control. You deal with that then move onto the next customer and deal with that customer as though it's your first customer of the day. In any retail job you are being paid to give a service and to do the job well, you should give the best service you can give to every customer you deal with.

If staff can't cope with the entitled wankers in this world they shouldn't be in customer facing roles. Everyone looks down on customer service staff, but to do it properly you need to be good at what you do for every customer, even the arseholes.

It shouldn't matter if you are on NMW on 0 hours contract, the hours you are working you are being paid to give customer service.

I'm a bit surprised -quite genuinely- at the many comments saying that poorly paid staff = poor customer service. That doesn't feel right.....surely working means you do your job to the best of your ability which means being cheery and upbeat if that's what you're asked to do? I've worked in retail in the past and always managed to be cheery, efficient and took a pride in my work even when paid a pittance. What's changed? Why must low pay equal miserable goats?

Two names must take part of the blame.

Philip Green
Mike Ashley

together with the people who encouraged out of town stores and retail concentration

Margaret Thatcher
Tony Blair

brizzledrizzle Ha yes just seen that in the news. I think the point still stands though. Shops need to offer an experience now not just the product. Good service is part of that.

It's interesting how much of a difference there is between shops - particularly the big supermarkets.

We love going to Waitrose because the staff are unfailingly polite. When an item was out of stock, Customer Services took my phone number and rang me up a few days later after they had had a delivery. When I got to the store, the item had been put to one side for me. Fabulous service but you pay for it.

Other supermarkets, if you can find someone on the shop floor, they either don't know where someone is or can't leave their shelf stacking to help you. I feel sorry for people working in retail most of the time

Honestly I worked in retail when I was a student a few years back and it was truly horrible, I was so so glad to graduate and never have to do it again. Customers can be absolute arseholes at times, there’s almost never a shift where you won’t encounter at least one and Christmas is most definitely the worst time for it. Nobody wants to work Boxing Day so I do try to avoid going anywhere on that day in protest perhaps for the staff being forced to work it.

They are paid pittance, most often now on zero hour contracts too so have no idea how much they will be paid week to week and there’s generally low staff morale. I worked in a few different stores/restaurants and none of them were nice experiences. Everyone I worked with counted down the hours until home time. They aren’t doing the job they always wanted to do, they’re there purely to pay the bills so I really wouldn’t expect a humongous grin and joyful demeanour.

It’s worth noting I always tried to have a cheerful disposition whilst working retail but some days I just couldn’t fake it anymore. One job in a well known bakery chain was so abysmal I just quit on the spot one day, I couldn’t handle the stress anymore. I say this as a teacher, my job now is easier than that job was. I think the difference is I want to be a teacher so it is a pleasure to do, I worked in those jobs because I had bills to pay.

The high street in my local seaside town is a no go zone full of screaming druggies and drunks.
They hang around during the day getting more and more drunk and by evening hit the pubs for refills.
Shopping is not a pleasant experience and the police don't want to know.
Filthy streets/rubbish/vomit/ broken glass everywhere.
It's like a war zone.
Online everytime. No contest!

We are currently in France and went to our local town to have a look at the traditional French shops.

It reminded me of my childhood in a way; people buying their bread in the bakers, a proper butchers with a vast selection of meats and a few other niche shops. It was lovely and I was telling DDs that I remembered similar when I was little. We did a weekly big shop in the supermarket but my mum worked in the high street and top ups were bought there. I miss the days of having somewhere to go for a wander, particularly at Christmas.

I’d happily stay here with this way of life. Sadly claustrophobic home town is where we will be in a couple of days.

Daytime storage for drunks/druggies on main shopping street.

dont kinow how well waterstones is doing our main shops closed down then the concession went aswell

i bought 2 present from our high st this year only because amazon didnt have what i wanted at the time

Before the rise of internet shopping it was common to read about how awful it is that shopping was enjoyed by so many people as a leisure activity, like it was the worst expression of capitalism gone mad.

Now we're all nostalgic for those days when the high street was a fun place to be. There hasn't been one comment saying that actually we should all be going out for a walk in the countryside instead.

I think the High street stated dying off in the 70s with the advent of the yellow lines.

My home town had a bustling busy high street.
I remember being dropped off to buy something or other in the high street if a parking space couldn’t be found.
Then they stopped the parking which meant having to park at a metre on a parking lot 200yards from the start of the high street.

Then they stopped you driving down the high street. Which meant instead of going to the high street to buy something it made you think twice because by the time you had parked and paid for parking and walked to the shop it was quicker to pop to one of the big retail places that had started to open out of town.
The high street was then paved over and to pay for that they raised the rates so the struggling one man businesses closed to make way for the chain stores.
Now the chain stores are struggling and no one wants to go to the high street because you can get the same shops, inside a nice dry shopping mall and you don’t have to worry about parking or getting a parking ticket because it is free to park.

Now we have online shopping so people don’t need to go out.

And as a final problem, (which might just be my area). If you venture into a shop and want to ask a question and you actually find an assistant then trying to communicate is almost impossible.

I think there is much made of the shopping experience but as someone who is in a large much ignored demographic I find that the high street no longer applies to me.

I don’t want an experience I just want to buy something there and then.

I don’t want to walk miles, I don’t want to pay for parking and be under a time pressure and if I want to ask a question I know it might sound petty but I would like a person to be able to communicate with me .

Asked in a department store for a clothes airer.
Assistant showed me a suitcase.

EddieVeddersfoxymop I think the issue is with the way staff are managed. If they are poorly managed with all the focus on 'efficiencies' (queue length, speed of scanning etc) then the customer experience isnt valued. The quick but surly member of staff will be valued above the slightly slower but cheerier person.

ForalltheSaints I'm not sure individuals are to blame. The advent of internet shopping was always going to change the high street.

The problem is that the high street hasnt evolved. Our planning laws seem to be too inflexible. It is very difficult to get space redesignated for a different use. Business rents are too high. Depending on the area the rates can be too high as well.

I don't think people expect the high street to be fun, just useful, clean and convenient would do.

Greedy councils charge too much for parking, greedy bus companies charge too much for fares, greedy landlords charge too much for rent. I’ve long since given up on the high street. Why would anybody shop there? I’d rather shop local and online. That way I’m not fleeced before even walking through the door.They reep what they sow. At the moments it’s stores losing out and cutting staff in a downward spiral. Soon landlords will have worthless stock. I feel for those losing their jobs but that is it.

Zero hours contracts, expecting staff to be 'fully flexible' is an horrifically precarious way to live.

Regular hours, mean people get to know each other, get to know who's in, who's out, who knows what and who's best to ask.

Random hours means you're landed on different aisles, at different times, no clue who else is on and no idea about stock, people or where to go for help.

I've worked in shops as a regular and as a zero hours worker and the entitlement of customers is appalling.

I prefer regular hours. You know where and who to go for for back up.

The high street is failing miserably.

Overheads are massive, parking and traffic restrictions mean passing trade is diminished, landlords are clueless about 'reasonable' rates, the merchandise is cheap tat and choice is restricted.

Chuggers, beggars and random nutters make our high street an unpleasant place to be.

FWIW my favourite shopping experience is the enormous warehouse of a Sainsbury's near my home. I'm not sure if it's a national thing but this store employs a lot of people who would otherwise be fairly unemployable, and they do an exceptional job. I am very happy to give them my custom.

It's the same in a supermarket near here as well. They also treat trans staff appropriately and don't discriminate when it comes to employing them.

I’m particularly fond of the older staff that our B&Q hire. They are quite marvellous and they know all about the products and how to use them.