To feel sad about how many retailers are going under

[Cinammoncake]

Just read about Clintons and I felt quite sad and nostalgic about all the losses and how many more shop chains there will be that will soon be lost from the high street.

Retailers aren't taxed any differently than any other business, so I don't think we can blame "crippling" tax regimes. It's also worth nothing that, assuming govt doesn't change it, that corporation tax is set to fall until 2020.

Online retailers have access to tax loopholes that brick and mortar retailers may not, however.

Unfortunately for high street retailers the way we shop is evolving and they can't keep up without radical change or a USP sufficiently attractive to keep them going (like Primark).

People have less disposable income and are spending less.

There is more access to a greater variety of brands and price points via the internet. Not that long ago your only options would have been whatever was in town, now the only limit is your budgets.

People are shopping more sustainably.

Business rates have risen as councils, squeezed by central government, try to raise money where they can. Rents have also been steadily increasing across the board.

I feel the same way, OP. I think business rates and lease costs play a big part in the problems these retailers are experiencing, along with high parking costs in town/city centres. Customer demands are bigger nowadays, too, and one local store can't possibly hold the stock we want to see.
I really am sad to hear about Clintons; I love their card and gift wrap selection. I looked in my local Asda for wedding gift wrap a few days ago and they didn't have a single sheet. Clintons cant be beat, imo.

It is sad, but like other PPs , I stopped going into Clinton’s a long time ago, mainly due to overpriced bits of card that never seemed to be the right one. I’m not surprised that Moonpig etc..
have taken over and it’s all in the comfort of your own home.
There are so many factors that have led to the demise of the High Street... sky-high rents, chain stores paying too much attention to expansion resulting in identikit Town Centres, high parking charges, illogical and expensive public transport, the internet and changing tastes, to name but a few.

I think it suits the government, to some extent, if we buy more online. You can't pay cash for online shopping, everything can be traced.

Doesn't surprise me. I keep trying to do high street shopping but 9/10 times I'm disappointed and resort to online shopping. That said I've gone off Amazon as I'm sick of their sneaky ways of getting you to accidentally subscribe to prime.

Expansion was such a thing, and as pp said it killed independent stores, now if you are huge online you only need one place or none. I don’t think it’s that bad. To earn a place on a high st you have to be nice. Nicer than grotty.

Very nice plant shop, butcher with queues, packed coffee shops - nicer than dusty old brands.

I think it’s interesting that male dominated heavy industries like steel get government rescues and weeks of take but no one gives a shit about retail, despite far greater numbers of employees. Council business rates are a scandal and a direct result of Central gov policy to slash money given to local authorities.

The internet is just too convenient. Retailers can’t compete

The internet is only too convenient because when you go into say next for example , when they do three vest tops for 12 pounds only one in the entire range of black grey blue red brown options will have a size 14.

You go into m&s to buy schools shirts and can only find one 2 pack age 10-11. No thought that actually someone might want 2 packs. And who needs just three pairs of socks? You want to but 2 or three packs of 3. And if you are going to have to pay for delievery well you may as well put what you did manage to find and order it all online cos least that way it wont arrive having clearly been pulled out and shoved back on the packet again.

How many failed attempts to pick up what you need are you supposed to make befire you say stuff it and order the whole lot.

Work gear and school uniform fir example is big business. Thousands people all over the country forced into buying this stuff. But they wont be buying it store when the trousers are available in a size 12 but all the matching jackets are 6s and 8s with a 16 at the back with a foot print on it.....

No thought at all.. no common sense applied. Just a " we are a big name our reputation will make them.come back"

I feel for people with the job losses but ultimately I think companies got greedy, expanded too much and got complacent.

For example, a small town in my region had two paperchases, now neither exist.

There were duplicates of stores in department stores and a stand alone store in the same town (but you couldn't return between the two).

Upselling at the tills puts me off going places. I don't want you to offer me a free bottle of water when I buy The Times, nor do I want an overpriced bar of chocolate for £1. You're not saving me money if I buy something I don't want or need.

Clinton's seems to have done the same thing that Collectables did: generic gift tat everywhere.

I first know Clintons were still going Not surprised with that one tbh as cards are less popular and their stuff was naff anyway. I'm also surprised WHS is still going but it must be because of the station branches.

I took mum shopping today.

Shops very very busy, but t k maxx was the ONLY store that saw how horrendous the queues were getting and put more staff on.

I walked out of 2 shops with massive queues and a solitary member of staff on.

Saw 2 car prangs in the car park, nearly involved in one myself after a car pulled out of a space without looking.

It was a horrible experience and one I won't be repeating prior to xmas.

It's no surprise to me at all the high street is dying.

WHS has the service station / airport market

I make my own cards. Because of me, Hobbycraft and the Range have no fear of going under

Oh no about Clinton’s! half my home row jace lost their jobs then! Most of my class at schools parents worked in their head office. So sad.

*Home town have

I'm very sorry for the employees at Clinton's.

I feel like there's a huge trend amongst my friends and I to buy less crap, and I see it with the teenagers I volunteer with too. People are thinking about landfill/buying pointless tat and the shops which thrived on this are doing badly- my local Clintons is full of weird tat that I can't believe anyone actually wants. I'm also one of the few people I know who do birthday cards.

I'm lucky that I live in London and don't have a car so no extortionate parking to pay, so I shop on the high streets quite a lot and can choose to go to several local ones, or get the tube to Oxford Street or Westfield. When I lived outside of London I did most of my shopping online due to high car parking charges and the very small chance of the local m&s/New Look/Clarks actually having what I want in store!

Yanbu. I also feel sad. For all the myriad faults and frustrations I do think going out to the shops is a good thing, the high street is a good thing and the obscene amounts of cash going into the coffers of Amazon is a bad thing.

I live in a place which has a long high street full of indpendent shops (and a few chains which are creeping up in number) and I never forget how lucky I am for this.

Can I just say littlecaf that what I've read is that Clintons is in crisis talks I think? Not over yet so I think there's possibly still hope?

Totally agree with you AgeLikeWine. Nobody is working together to save the high street. A lot of the solutions are just common sense but nobody will work together to implement them.

I think the last few weeks is just the tip of the iceberg. People just don't have disposable income anymore. I for one have to pay out so much in childcare that I have to buy second hand clothes most of the time, and eating out is a rare treat. Then people wonder why nobody is shopping for crap they don't need (why would you spend £4 on a card if you are a) young and broke and b) environmentally conscious?)

Just wait until after christmas when profits are massively below expectations and nobody can afford to hit the sales.

I'll really miss Clinton's if it goes, always loved that shop and always preferred to buy cards from there.

Card Factory are cheap and nasty and have awful gushing wording in them.

Card Factory is more suited to my budget (Universal Credit) but I just don't like them

I'm not sure that the price of parking is much of an issue in the woes of the High St.

My local city has medium priced parking, I'd say, but the town centre is heaving almost all the time. Mid-week, too.

People aren't necessarily buying "stuff," though. They're eating, drinking coffee, browsing (and spending in the cheaper shops, yes.)

Clinton's is a very odd shop. Crap, glittery cards but at the price of the more quality end of card market: Paperchase/Waterstones/JL/independents. Next and M&S cards are nicer but cheaper. Supermarkets, Wilkos and Card Factory are similar quality and even cheaper.

I buy handmade cards on eBay which in turn supports local businesses and saves me walking into town in the rain. Online is the future of business

I echo pp, though, with regard to stores - almost all of them - getting the basics wrong.

Too many staff hassling you at the entrance or on the shop floor or just talking to each other: no-one on the tills.

Shops FAR too hot.

I'm sure if they changed these two things, we'd all spend more.

People just don't have disposable income anymore
This is definitely an issue monsterinmyshoe people are also being more cautious and paying off debt because of Brexit. I think Brexit has a lot to do with the high st woes too and so all these shop closures are going to increase. I agree with pp that I can't see how Laura Ashley is surviving.

Retailers aren't taxed any differently than any other business, so I don't think we can blame "crippling" tax regimes.

Err yes, they are. Prime retail space (i.e. High Street) is charged at a higher business rate multiplier than, say, a warehouse. So, for two identically sized units, the High Street shop is probably paying 2 or 3 times as much in business rates as the internet shopping warehouse.

A good start would be to scrap the different multipliers and charge the same percentage of business rates regardless of usage.