I'm thinking the high street deserves to die?

[highstreetdiestreet]

Urgently need a black dress for a funeral, looked around the whole of York, nothing.

Utter dross.

Is it covid/brexit/mid-season/my being pregnant's fault?

People are BU as they expect physical shops to be the same as online shopping.

It's not possible to have dozens of each item in every single size plus extra long, petite and sizes 18-22, and 6-8 all in one stockroom.

Clothes sell out, they don't get deliveries that reflect this, new styles come in and replace older ones. You can't keep restocking the same dress from September to March.

The High Street is different to online, of course it is. People will be very sorry when we don't have any shops left to go to. Most posters here have a very dismissive view of retail staff. Not exactly a great career? Most retail staff are useless anyway? Serves them right if they lose their jobs?

Imagine saying that about another profession.

@simitra

No one expects an all black outfit for a funeral nowadays. Any dark or subdued colour is considered acceptable. I loved my grandmother but I wore dark blue to her funeral. She was an immensely practical woman and would not have wished me to go out and buy something specially.

Mourning is done in the heart. A funeral is just a vulgar show for the world.

How incredibly rude of you.

OP, I am sorry for your loss.

I'm kind of sad that those in their teens and twenties are so used to running their entire existence on a screen the size of their hand. The joy of exploring for music, books or clothes is a mystery to them.

Teenagers still do it but if the high street dies, I’m sure they’ll survive. What you describe as joy is my idea of hell and always was.

I’m kind of sad the older generations are too afraid to embrace technology and live in the world of today.

It's not possible to have dozens of each item in every single size plus extra long, petite and sizes 18-22, and 6-8 all in one stockroom

And yet the issue of low stock is a relatively new problem. It’s not something that used to happen as much as it does now. Retailers have shrunk their stockrooms primarily because of the extortionate retail rents and business rates.

I kind of agree. If people liked what the bricks and mortar shops were offering, and liked the sevice they provided enough, then the high street wouldn't be dying.

Wrt clothes shops though... I hate clothes shopping, but like to be able to try stuff on and hate the hassle of sending things back. I spent a fruitless few hours with money to spend on clothes in a city centre recently. Finally found Hobbs and The White Company on a little road a bit further away. Lovely clothes, plenty of sizes, charming shop assistants. I could have spent a fortune, having found zilch I liked anywhere else. More expensive than I usually go for, but so much nicer quality and shopping experience. Cheap fast fashion sucks.

No, I know they are shipping from a network of incredibly efficient fulfilment centres around the UK which multiple journalists have exposed for their inhumane conditions.

Amazon has a higher than average Glassdoor rating from staff reviews.

A couple of journalists have picked up on a few stories, but if they were as inhumane as you suggest, HSE would be down on them like a ton of bricks.

The high street is either cheap old lady shops or cheap teen shops. The decent brands with proper designers, quality control, good customer service and non-plastic fabrics are all online.

High st died years ago.

I'm kind of sad that those in their teens and twenties are so used to running their entire existence on a screen the size of their hand. The joy of exploring for music, books or clothes is a mystery to them.

To be fair, my older teens don’t have that sort of experience. But they don’t because I have never taken them to do any shopping in the high street. Since they were babies, that’s about 20 years ago, I’ve been buying stuff on the Internet instead for all the reason that have been mentioned.

However, when I do to other countries where you can find independent shops etc… I, and my dcs in tow, spend time looking at shops etc…

Thé issue isn’t young people being attached to their phone. It’s the offer that is actually available from the shops.

YABU OP

As consumers, we need options.

Nowadays many items are much more expensive online (Amazon/eBay) than on the high street

I’m kind of sad the older generations are too afraid to embrace technology and live in the world of today.

I use technology every day, but I prefer to go shopping in real shops rather than just sit at home pressing buttons. I find online ordering rather soulless TBH.

I use technology every day, but I prefer to go shopping in real shops rather than just sit at home pressing buttons. I find online ordering rather soulless TBH.

Much better to to go a High street full of identikit chain stores selling the same identikit clothing, where you could be in any place in any town. That’s not soulless at all.

Online shopping gives access to smaller independent retailers who are priced out of the high street by big chains.

I agree @BoredZelda.
That’s why I shop online. It allows me to use what is really the equivalent of independent shops which are non existent nowadays.

My big issue with Internet though is that it can be quite hard to find those small retailers, harder than walking down the street iyswim

Most posters here have a very dismissive view of retail staff. Not exactly a great career? Most retail staff are useless anyway? Serves them right if they lose their jobs? Imagine saying that about another profession

Erm GPs? Teachers? University lecturers?

@TurnUpTurnip

My local high street is dead, all the decent shops have shut and now it’s just weird tacky £5 clothes shops called “diva” and such like 🤢

We've got Expose and Lime

Everyone should have a black dress, a black top and a black skirt, or a black trouser suit, precisely for this occasion

Not actually the point of the thread as the OP has pointed out, but I never wear black (except for trousers) so I wouldn't wear black for a funeral, either. Sober colours such as grey, plum or navy are fine.

My big issue with Internet though is that it can be quite hard to find those small retailers, harder than walking down the street iyswim

The smaller retailers have been gone from the high street for a long time.

Everyone should have a black dress, a black top and a black skirt, or a black trouser suit, precisely for this occasion

The last funeral I went to was over a decade ago. Fair to say anything I bought then wouldn’t fit me now.

I leave for Cyprus tomorrow.

I'm hoping the dress that's being delivered today fits. Feeling quite stressed.

I've never left my son for this amount of time before either.

Thank god my sinus infection seems to have turned a corner.

I've even had to order a coral nail varnish online because I couldn't find one in boots. My fault for not checking Superdrug though.

@highstreetdiestreet, if you have some issues with sinuses, I'd take some decongestant with you and take some about one hour before take off.
Blocked sinuses/ear when flying are atrocious.

[quote Energy4You]@highstreetdiestreet, if you have some issues with sinuses, I'd take some decongestant with you and take some about one hour before take off.
Blocked sinuses/ear when flying are atrocious.[/quote]
Can't take anything because I'm pregnant, unfortunately.

Fair to say I'm dreading the flight but that's a minor issue dealt.

*minor issue really

I'm kind of sad that those in their teens and twenties are so used to running their entire existence on a screen the size of their hand. The joy of exploring for music, books or clothes is a mystery to them.

You can explore so much more music, books and culture in that screen than you ever could IRL when I was a teenager.

Every so often when I think about it, and when I remember how much effort I had to go to to discover scraps of non-mainstream culture in the '90s, I am blown away by how much global culture is at the touch of a finger for teenagers. It's absolutely incredible and so enriching.

I generally always order online.

And that's WHY the high street is dying on its arse. I hate online shopping - I want to see and feel the clothes before I buy and try them on to make sure they fit. I don't want to order 6 items, only to have to send 5 back.

I think we are a dying breed @WhatATimeToBeAlive.