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.

It would be funny if it wasn't so ridiculous SirTobyBelch

I only shop for clothes now when there is a big online promotion eg 20 or 30% off everything.

I don’t visit the stores at all.

Would you be happy for there to be no shops at all Timetobegood?

I agree about the horrible fabric even for more expensive clothes. What I love with ebay is you can even filter by fabric type.

I think it would be sad if shops disappeared completely but shopping habits have changed and I find it more convenient to shop online.

Clinton's are ridiculously expensive. We have one in our high st opposite a Card Factory shop where the cards and wrapping paper are 1/3 of the price ( and less if you get the 10 for a £1 deals.) Why spend a fortune on tacky glittery crap that ends up in recycling?

I’m glad someone else mentioned Princes’ street in Edinburgh. First time in 10 years I’ve had a Saturday off work, child free and money in my pocket. Planned a day shopping with DH to celebrate and after 2 hours there was nothing on offer that I couldn’t get anywhere else on the planet. Unless I wanted tartan tat. I took the bus because parking is extremely expensive but was prepared to get a taxi home after a long lunch. So easily spending a lot of money. (Unusual for me, not a boast, had saved for Christmas and unexpected bonus).
Came back on the bus with almost nothing to show. Service was a massive part of it. I e worked retail for years and years. I don’t expect or want boot licking but I know how it’s meant to go. Even in John Lewis I couldn’t get help despite asking for it.
Definitely online retailers need taxed like retailers. I also think there needs to be a clause that prevents money from stores all going out of the area. Maybe it’s specific to Edinburgh but other than the staff wages it all shoots up to massive companies based elsewhere

I think Oxford have cracked it. New shopping centre in the middle of town, but at least half is it is food and drink. Its got a good vibe, and it has current places, places that people want to be and shop and enjoy, like the Alchemist, Primark, junkyard golf, escape rooms, Cineworld, John Lewis, sketchers, seasonal visiting street food, jo malone, and all these current names. It’s an experience wider than just shopping.

Plus a huge car park (the town planners must have eventually caught on to the fact that people want to use their cars and making this difficult results in a drop in sales, no really!) - and no not everyone can use the park and ride (which for a family is more expensive than 3 hours parking at the shopping centre).

My nearest high street is Portsmouth. It is crap. The places doing well are the retail parks where you can find several shops, cafes, a supermarket, cinema etc all in one area. I would choose a retail park over the high street any day. Having said that I use Amazon a lot because it is so convenient. I honestly wouldn't care if they bulldozed the high streets and built decent housing, that's what's needed.

I also think there needs to be a clause that prevents money from stores all going out of the area. Maybe it’s specific to Edinburgh but other than the staff wages it all shoots up to massive companies based elsewhere

Same with all large firms. They have their head offices in London, so their profits "show" as London-derived profits which makes London look profitable and efficient on paper, but all other areas are made to look as if they're not contributing. At the very least, profits and tax should be properly reported regionally based on their customers/sales in each region so we can see the proper picture as to which areas really do contribute more to the UK economy.

I honestly wouldn't care if they bulldozed the high streets and built decent housing, that's what's needed.

Yes, we need to get back to how it was a few decades ago where people actually lived and worked in town centres - that was the reason why there were shops there. I've long advocated for town centre retail areas to be severely shrunk and vast swathes re-purposed for housing. People used to live above the high street shops and other businesses - now if you stand on your high street and look up, you'll just see empty floors, many abandoned, a few used for occasional storage - all that real estate just prime for being converted back to flats for housing.

Plus a huge car park (the town planners must have eventually caught on to the fact that people want to use their cars and making this difficult results in a drop in sales, no really!) - and no not everyone can use the park and ride (which for a family is more expensive than 3 hours parking at the shopping centre).

Good to hear that a council has found common sense at last. Let's hope others follow. Ours put up the prices of its town centre car parks - fewer people used them, so less money was generated - our brilliant councils' answer to the fall in revenue was to increase car park charges again - fools - obviously, the year later, same story, they reported a further fall in revenue, so put up prices again - idiots. In the meantime, due to fewer people, more and more shops have closed. You really couldn't make it up.

Of course its sad for job losses, but if the business models are outdated - you can't help it.
I shop online for many things - Amazon does have specific items that i want, high street shops don't - simple as that.

Toys R Us I think is an interesting one that indicates it probably isn't all down to tax though. Because while TRU went bust, Smyths is going strong on virtually the same business model - large toy shops in retail parks. I can only think that Smyths, being a newly growing business, was able to negotiate better rents and more suitable premises, while TRU were locked into unfavourable terms

The "Spectacular Failures" podcast did an episode on Toys R Us collapse in America. There were a number of issues.

One being bought by Private Equity, which strips out everything and burdens the firm with debt.

Secondly was aggressive business practices towards suppliers. This meant some companies wouldn't sell their product in their stores.

Thirdly was they forgot what they were there for, to have children go in there and buy toys. They got so caught up in doing exclusive deals with say Marvel for their toys based on the movies, they'd not stock other items. There's the story by an ex staff member who got told off by someone who wanted to buy a skipping rope. They'd stopped selling "toys" and only sold marketing items. So people stopped going as they couldn't trust the store stocked what they expected.

There's a number of other things but that's what stood out. It was a very interesting podcast.

Yet on another thread retail staff have been roundly criticised for talking too much and for being too friendly. It's like you can't win!

There's a lot of middle ground between the two extremes of over-friendliness and being ignored!

There's a lot of middle ground between the two extremes of over-friendliness and being ignored!
Absolutely.
Polite and friendly.

Polite and friendly.

I was always told to "read" the other person, i.e. whether eye contact or not, whether they start a conversation, etc., so that you just smile and say hello to some, and enter into full blown conversation with others. Basically, let the customer take the lead and you follow with your response.

Mint velvet just closed down in my town