To think parking charges are killing the high street?

[menztoray]

Lots more people are shopping online now including myself. But if you do want to shop in traditional high streets, parking charges are often fairly high. I think this stops people shopping in high streets, especially if they just want to buy a few low value things. I understand that local councils need to make money, but I do think this is contributing to killing the high street.

No, its the unfair pricing advantage internet retailers have over high street retailers that is killing the high street

Their overheads are lower, so they charge lower prices, so attract the customers watching more for less. It's down to customers not willing to pay a fair price. We all want a bargain these days!

Something has to give. For me, that means rents are far too high, so landlords are going to have to start to be more realistic.

And yes, councils are also mostly to blame for being anti-motorist without offering up viable public transport alternatives.

The only changes I am suggesting is to parking. And retailers catering better to the older age range. It is very low cost. I appreciate things will change, but nobody knows what things will look like in 20-30 years time. Maybe we will all be sending robots out to do our shopping for us.

And yes, councils are also mostly to blame for being anti-motorist without offering up viable public transport alternatives.

Much as it grates (!) I have to say that's a tad unfair to councils. They are constrained by whatever the government of the day wayback when legislated. Which is that all road design and planning needs to act to disincentivise private motoring. Hence the proliferation of "bypasses" and the like which add time onto your journey thanks to deliberately ill-phased traffic and pedestrian lights.

(Incidentally, on the theme, one of the "bypasses" near me was bitterly opposed by retailers, as it takes all the traffic around them, rather than past them ...)

I appreciate things will change, but nobody knows what things will look like in 20-30 years time.

We have a pretty bloody good idea. I've been buying stuff from Amazon for at least twenty one years (I bought a batch of books from Amazon.com in December 1997, but it's possible I bought stuff earlier than that with a different email address I no longer have access to) and the way the wind was blowing was entirely obvious to anyone with ears.

Societal changes of the scale of "The Internet" don't happen overnight, they take at least a generation. Anything likely to be mass market and changing the way we live in 2039 will be at least present in the lives of, as a first port of call, affluent university students.

Societal changes of the scale of "The Internet" don't happen overnight, they take at least a generation

And then some ...

The things that were predicted 30 years ago when I was young, have rarely happened. Things change, but not necessarily in the way we predict.

The things that were predicted 30 years ago when I was young, have rarely happened.

I'm willing to stake a large round of drinks, claimable from my estate if I am dead, that in 30 years' time there will be at most half the number of people walking around high streets buying from shops that there are today. My money is safe, I think: whatever new is around the corner, the resurgence of the High St is not going to happen.

My local high street is free parking but its not got any decent shops. Its just charity shops, vape shops, estate agents, more charity shops and indian takeaways. So i would only go there for my doctors surgery.

The "city centre" (not a city but called that) is good but parking is expensive and the type of things i can buy there i get cheaper online and honestly its not worth the hassle.

We have great retail parks which i will go to, just avoid weekends. And our cinema will refund you the cost of parking or take it off concessions so works out nicely.

My local council has announced car park fee changes which will make it even more ridiculously expensive than it already is - £2.00 for the first hour, £2.50 for the next, £3.50 for the next and so on. They are also going to start charging on Sunday's, whereas currently parking is free. Given that a three hour shopping trip would cost me around £8.00 just to park in the poorly maintained, badly lit car parks, is it any wonder that I choose to do most of my shopping online where I get free delivery much of the time or that on the rare occasions I need to actually visit a store, I prefer to drive 30 minutes to the large shopping mall with its free parking, good carparks and where the stores are all under one roof?

Didn't a similar thing happen when the big supermarkets first appeared?
They forced the small independent butchers to close, bakeries to close, clothes shops etc. Back then I m sure people blamed the customers for wanting everything under one roof to save time. These days it's even quicker to do it online. I can do a fortnight shop in a few spare.minutes with an app, it gets delivered when I want it too so all I do is put it away.

Been a long time since my mum's era of spending g a whole day shopping, getting a bus to town, going to Kwik Save and every other shop to save a few pence here and there in thi ngs, loading it all into bags and getting the bus home.

Didn't a similar thing happen when the big supermarkets first appeared?

Before then actually. It was the proliferation of national chain stores on the High Streets that started the demise of the corner shop. Instead of small chains or independents on the High Street, suddenly there were national chains knocking a few small shops together or moving into shopping centres that were built after rows of small shops had been demolished. That's when your corner/precinct greengrocers, butchers, etc started to disappear. (Obviously lots managed to survive, but it was the start of the end). Then along came out of town supermarkets which closed down more corner shops, but also closed down some city centre national chain stores shops. It's retail evolution. What is noticeable now is that there are a lot more local/small convenience stores opening up.

What is noticeable now is that there are a lot more local/small convenience stores opening up.

And with a range of products which a thirty years ago would have required a trip to a city centre specialist. The first time I bought a Mexican cook book, about 35 years ago, and decided to try some of the recipes I started by making tacos, because it was not possible to buy them in large supermarkets. Obtaining avocado to make guacamole was not hard, but certainly required a very large supermarket. Now every Tesco Local has both soft and hard tacos and soft and hard avocados. The same for a wide variety of other things.

The price of parking has killed Ipswich town center it’s now full of £1 shops and charity shops. It’s cheaper to park in London than Ipswich