To think it isn't always a tragedy when shops close down?

[tulippa]

A small supermarket close to me has just announced it is closing. This has been followed by many posts on local social media saying how sad this and what a great shop it was.

Whenever I used it, it was always really expensive and had very few customers. Lots of items would be reduced presumably because no-one was buying anything. I'm sure it would have stayed open if it had been profitable.

Yes it would be really sad for people to lose jobs especially now - I get that.

However, AIBU to think that it's kind of our own fault if a shops closes down due to lack of business? There's no point being sad about it - if we wanted it to stay open we should have used it more. Also businesses need to be aware of what people want. They can't stay open for the sake of it if no-one wants to buy their stuff.

Obviously there are people out there who value this business more than you do.

It sounds like it is a small local business and it's always sad to see those fold as they are great for a lot of members of the community who find it hard to access supermarkets.

I agree. Woolworths is just full of tat i wasnt upset it closed. Oasis and warehouse became irrelevant for a long time before they closed.

I can't think of a time when a chain has gone into administration and I've been surprised.

I agree, it's sad for the people who lose their jobs, but most of the time shops close for very good reason.

I did find Woolworths quite useful though. We also had a small chain bookshop in our town until the financial crisis, it was a pity to lose that.

It's sad if a village shop and post office closes due to mismanagement. Ours did (irretrievably, the shop has been converted into a house now) because they weren't rigorous about not selling alcohol to underaged teens and they lost their license, and there were other problems. That has been a real loss, the nearest shop is 3 km each way so beyond realistic walking distance especially for older people.

Other shops in the past haven't mattered so much - woollies died but Wilko and other shops filled that gap. I fear that this time more trade will have been lost forever to Amazon. Online is for some things/people but it's got many downsides compared to physical shops.

Debenhams worries me - what happens to all the franchises which operate from department stores?

Our local FB page is always full of people bemoaning that our high street no longer has a decent restaurant, a bookshop, a toy shop, a cinema and a reasonable priced clothes shop. My answer is always the same . And yes, we had a Woolie’s too. We used to have all those shops and obviously not enough people supported them. Why not? Because you can’t park and when the weather is wet (this is England) it is pleasanter to go to the nearby shopping mall. Our high street is now full of coffee bars, nail bars, hairdressers and betting shops. I wonder how many of these will re-open?

Saw comments like this when the local antiques store closed. It had been there forever, and they owned the premises in full.

The problem was, nobody was buying because it was all hideously overpriced. They got a lot from house clearances for free, but didn't take account of that when pricing. When ALL of your wardrobes are £400 plus, but they have that musty antique smell, of course people are going to be picky.

I had a chat with a competitor company who I bought a lovely 40s sideboard from for £40. They said that because their items are bought by browsers, they want to catch the interest and turn items over quickly, "before they think too much about the smell or the size". If it doesn't shift, cut the price, which doesn't matter too much when you can still charge for delivery and you got the item for next to nothing originally.

Plus lots of warehouses getting elderly house clearances for charity.

The store that closed posted an incredibly whiny and sneery post about people not understanding the second hand antiques market these days - correct, you don't!

I agree, although as you say, i feel sorry for people losing their jobs. I also feel sorry for small businesses and shops that may have just been finding their feet before the crisis.

When it comes to chains i agree with Sparklfairy. They are nearly always way behind the times and doing loads of things wrong. Again, sorry for the job losses but that’s all.

It's sad for the employees who get made redundant and for the customers who liked shopping there. It's not a "tragedy" though. The Dunblane massacre was a tragedy, the Lockerbie bombing was a tragedy.

I agree .Many small shops/supermarkets are way over priced .Feel sorry for older people who may need them though, or anyone without a car .Often food on or near sell by date ,and little choice between obvious "favourites" ie Heinz Baked Beans ,"Digestive" biscuits and so on .There is so much competition now and one large Supermarket used to run its own free bus service!

I agree, they're obviously not catering to their catchment area.

The village shop I frequent is next to my butcher. They're the only shop for a few miles, next nearest is a big Sainsburys that opened about 10 years ago. So instead of selling standard run of the mill stuff they sell quality local produce - excellent veg always very fresh, top quality bread from a local bakery, cheese from a local dairy, milk from another local farm dairy. Local honey, birthday cards made by a local artist, Cakes by a local cake baker (we LOVE the chocolate brownies). Boxes of fudge, Even flour from a local flour mill. Plus a range of staples of well known brands: biscuits, tins, tea bags, tomato ketchup, instant coffee (& specialist coffee from a local roaster). Also has a PO and sells newspapers and magazines. So many people go for the quality stuff you can't get in Sainsburys, and while the locals do pay a little more than Sainsburys it is very fresh far better quality and right on their doorstep, and they draw in people like me from a further distance because of the quality & locality of produce. And in these hard times they've teamed up with the butchers and organised a few volunteers to run a delivery service to village & outlying people in isolation.
If you want anything eg fresh yeast was a recent one somebody asked for - they find a source and stock it to see if it will be popular. They also take orders in advance so you can just go & pick up.

I really don't think they'd be doing as well selling standard run-of-the-mill produce that is also available in Sainsburys/Tescos in the nearby towns, nor would they if they didn't provide such an excellent service to the village and to all their customers. People don't mind paying a bit more if they perceive value for money (fresher, nicer, helpful staff & owners, better service)

I will defend Woolworths because I used to work for them. They certainly didn't sell 'tat'. Man I hate that word. Ladybird clothing was good price decent quality children's clothes. The toys were good quality popular brands (Lego, Hot Wheels, Baby Born dolls etc) plus the own brand toys (Chad Valley) were excellent. The stationery and craft items were - well stationery and craft. Play Doh and Parker Pens are not 'tat'. Obviously not as popular now but cds/dvds were big sellers. Towards the end it was the Playstation/Xbox/Nintendo that was more popular. They sold Ipods and whatever the latest phone was. They sold household items like microwaves, toasters, kettles, saucepans etc. The bedding and pillows etc were fine.
None of that is 'tat'. Just ordinary, everyday, normal products.
Most of these products are now sold via Wilkos, Argos, B+M etc. It wasn't the products that caused Woolworths downfall. It was miss management and failing to pay their suppliers.
Rant over.

Well it’s always sad for the people losing their jobs. And I think most of the time it’s a loss if it’s small local businesses. When we we end up with nothing but huge global behemoths, we will regret it.

There are many shops that I enjoy going into, will spend a bit of money in, but not huge quantities. If they go under I’d be disappointed. But I’d have to accept that there weren’t enough people who shared the same view to keep them afloat.

Speaking as one who is sad about Debenhams (loved the kids clothes) AND Oasis/Warehouse.

It wasn't the products that caused Woolworths downfall. It was miss management and failing to pay their suppliers.

Exactly this. And this is usually the case.

The loss of BHS to the high Street is huge. Where else can people go for wedding outfits that don't cost the earth?

ssd I would have never thought of BHS as a major place for wedding wear. Maybe I just never noticed it because it is never something I would buy. Debenhams hasn't closed all their stores so can you not buy wedding wear there? Or Tkmaxx?

Any small supermarket closing in THESE conditions is doing something VERY wrong

All small shops are doing ROARING business right now

I feel sorry for the staff who loose their jobs when any business shuts but there are a lot of businesses big and small that are fairly and superfluous at the best of times without a pandemic. And I agree with others there is a lot of small individual businesses that charge a fortune for pointless items and then wonder why people don't buy them.

Our local craft market has numerous small shops and stalls selling handcrafted candles, handbags, hats, stuffed animals, etc. Hardly anyone buys their stuff. It's vastly overpriced.
A stuffed animal is only worth so much. Nobody's interested in how many hours it took you to make. You need to price it according to it's worth not how many hours it took you to create. It's all pretty but useless stuff. It should be kept as a hobby rather than a business. IMO.

All small shops are doing ROARING business right now

No, not all. Some aren't able to open because they're too small to enable social distancing between staff and/or customers.

The owner's of some are in the shielding group of the most vulnerable so unable to leave their home, let alone open and run their shops.

Our village Spar shop has stayed open throughout and initially was very busy when the big supermarket shelves were empty and there was huge congestion (like Christmas) at checkouts. Over the past couple of weeks, since the supermarkets got their act together and provided more slots of click n collect and deliveries, the Spar has been quieter than normal. I was talking to the owner over the weekend and they are now loss making due to lack of customers - lost because the schools, churches and other local businesses are closed so they don't have the usual pre/post school and lunchtime trade. He is seriously thinking about closing as he can't keep it open making a loss.

The loss of BHS to the high Street is huge. Where else can people go for wedding outfits that don't cost the earth?

Online. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Our local FB page is always full of people bemoaning that our high street no longer has a decent restaurant, a bookshop, a toy shop, a cinema and a reasonable priced clothes shop. My answer is always the same

Yep, same with pubs. Huge amount of whingeing on SM when another closes, but if all the people whingeing about it actually went and used them, they wouldn't have closed.

Same with small/convenience stores. People are using them at the moment, but as soon as lockdown eases, people will forget how valuable their local shop was and return to the big supermarkets to save the 5p on a tin of beans!

Generally I find it sad, except when the owners/staff are really horrible.

When we end up with nothing but huge global behemoths, we will regret it.

Yes, but at least where I live, people increasingly want to support local, ethical, well-run shops and businesses that give them things the big companies can’t - not least, real quality. So I think there is a future for small independents but perhaps not for the types of place that don’t ‘add value’ - they can’t compete either with online sales or with genuinely local places. I can’t remember the last time I went to Debenhams, for example. What do they do that I can’t get either cheaper or more easily or better quality or more ethical/sustainable elsewhere?

I agree with expensive parking being an issue. After the Novichok (spelt incorrectly I’m sure) incident in Salisbury the shops were dead - so they made parking free for months. It was a no brainer. Towns and councils can’t impose ridiculous parking fees and then bemoan shops shutting down - affordable parking makes all the difference.

It is obviously sad when something closes because there are people who lose their jobs.

However, what makes me always eye roll are that thousands of people coming up on facebook about how it's such a shame and how it should be saved etc. Now these split into 3 groups.

• Grief thieves, just there for attention. Probably never even visited the business.
• The "Omg. No! I am crying. Such shame! Haven't been there for ages tho"
• The "Such a shame! I didn't even know about it!"business was there for 20 years...

Real fans rarely comment. And let's face it. If all that thousand people actually shopped/drunk/eat in there, the business wouldn't fold, innit🤷🏻