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?

YANBU. My DH wanted a suit for work. He's medium build, average height so not an unusual size. He couldn't get anything in Next or M&S. Ended up ordering online

It was on BBC News a while ago that M&S have stopped selling men’s suits in several smaller stores. They said it was a combination of WFH and the fact that many more offices have casual dress codes anyway.

I went into my nearest city centre today and it was profoundly depressing tbh. PPs talking about the high street of 20-30 years ago and how busy it used to be - all I could think of was the long list of shops gone from the centre compared to when I was a teen - Topshop/Topman/Burton/Dorothy Perkins, BHS, John Lewis, Miss Selfridge, Warehouse, Oasis, French Connection, Gap, Laura Ashley, various independent shops...so many empty units. I was looking for brown ankle boots with a small heel and there were basically two options in the whole shopping centre. Useless. The move online is fine for some things but I want to see stuff in the flesh a lot of the time. Especially shoes!

@BoredZelda

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.

I like to go and see the clothes and judge the quality I am perfectly capable of using technology as well

Clothes also vary in fit, and what looks great in the picture might not look great on you. I don't like online shopping because I don't want to constantly pay delivery charges to send back clothes that don't fit/work for me.

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

I’m older and have embraced technology. Unfortunately technology has not yet replicated the shopping experience where you can swatch a lipstick, test a face cream, smell a new perfume or examine the seams of a garment.

Agree with you it either needs a revamp or to be changed into other things, where I'm from the center is doing ok still shops and cafes open , but like above said the clothing and fashion is outdated and of poor quality in most shops now. However, at a once lively shopping area in my city just outside of the central area most shops have closed and gone and it is completely empty there now apart from costa, a gym and sports direct, there used to be around 20+ shops and theres now about 4, the debhenhams there closed down aswell as the toys r us a few years back and they were two massive shops that brought alot of people to the area at christmas time but now nothing

@moita

YANBU. My DH wanted a suit for work. He's medium build, average height so not an unusual size. He couldn't get anything in Next or M&S. Ended up ordering online

M&S clothing is all over the place at the minute, the only range saving it is the holly willoughby one. My little sister whos only a pre teen and size 4-6 in adult clothing ended up having to get size 10 jeans in m&s When I tried on the same range (Im a 14-16) I fit a 18-20 ridiculous.

Ridiculous! I try my best to buy in shops but they don't make it easy

I’m older and have embraced technology. Unfortunately technology has not yet replicated the shopping experience where you can swatch a lipstick, test a face cream, smell a new perfume or examine the seams of a garment.

Exactly this. I also quite enjoy shopping. I work part time (using technology all day) and can choose my shopping times to avoid busy times.

@BoredZelda

I’m 28 and definitely haven’t run my existence on a screen! I was/am used to going out shopping, our high street used to be buzzing when I was younger. I feel different to the kids I teach now who do seem to exist through their phones. I don’t know when the cut off point was but technology and media was only just getting started when I was 16 (2010), lots of things that exist now media and technology wise weren’t around in full flow when I was growing up. Not all people in their 20’s especially late 20’s exist through phones and technology.

I feel different to the kids I teach now who do seem to exist through their phones. I don’t know when the cut off point was

The cut off was when you moved to the "next" generation and it became your turn to berate the generation coming behind you and claim they are doing it all wrong / worse than you.

Not all people in their 20’s especially late 20’s exist through phones and technology.

I never said they did. And equally not all teenagers do either.

I think high street serves best now as a place where you can test and try/feel the products before you place an order online. Then nice coffee or drink somewhere, bit of lunch and back home.

I looked recently and everything seemed cheap, nasty and too big

The high street needs to reinvent itself if it wants to survive. Not the common misunderstanding of thinking if shops are repurposed into cafes and boutiques then it will attract people back, but to change the way they operate. People have no interest in walking down a shopping street that is full of cafes and coffee shops and independent stores with poor choice and high prices.

Shops need to work out what online stores do well - price, convenience and range - and transfer this into bricks and mortar stores. People like the convenience of getting what they want there and then, not having to wait until the next day for Amazon to deliver. But they need to price match Amazon and the other big retailers, I'd like what I want right now but will wait 24 hours if it's much cheaper online.

@BoredZelda I’m not berating anyone, just responding to your comment and sharing an observation…blimey! I agree that people make their own choices, phone/no phone/whatever their preference is.

@HarrietsChariot, but the small high street shop cannot possibly match Amazon on price or delivery, because they can't afford the stock, so they have to be faster to spot the trend. There are plenty of people here on MN who like to be quick to see it, and thousands more still buying skinny jeans. As one example.

A huge part of the problem is that 'The High Street' isn't one sentient entity.

Different freeholders, agents and landlords own seperate 'units' and have different criteria for tenants.

Every landlord needs to decide what to do with their properties independently of one another - even if they only own a portion of a building.

That's why we've got such a tatty patchwork of shitty phone shops and nail bars.

Given high streets cannot price match online or have as much choice they surely need to focus on the shopping experience. Rather than making the expensive to run high street store into a "showroom" for some of their online stock, make it more of a high end experience with good quality staples - the stuff people are most likely to need in a hurry but would be willing to pay more for.

If M&S had slightly smaller stores selling bras (if they can sort their sizing) pants and sensible classic staples (black dress, black trousers, classic blazer, jeans, classic cotton tops) I'd be in there regularly. Currently it's all mostly random fashionable (ish) stuff that appeals to no-one - a nice looking top ruined by a pointless frill or cut out.

Fast fashion makes sense online, classics not so much...

I need to revive this thread.

I tried to buy period underwear today in a shop. Several shops. Primark - couldn't find it. Marks - only sell it online. Boots only huge sizes. Ffs I live in a city in which all of those stores are flagship stores for the brand. Ffs. So I ordered it off Amazon. I didn't have a choice!!

I have ordered boots online recently. None of them fit, took a few days to arrive and much longer to send them back and then get refund. Utter bollocks. So 20 days on after ordering boots online I don't have any.

Long live the high street!

@Burnerphone21

I need to revive this thread.

I tried to buy period underwear today in a shop. Several shops. Primark - couldn't find it. Marks - only sell it online. Boots only huge sizes. Ffs I live in a city in which all of those stores are flagship stores for the brand. Ffs. So I ordered it off Amazon. I didn't have a choice!!

This was my issue both online and on the high street, Pull in pants I searched everywhere on the high street yet couldn't find and fashion in general seems bloody terrible for anything over a size 12 for anyone under 30 at the moment. Poor quality and style. As for Bra's before it closed, since I began buying bra's 12 years ago from Debenhams it has been my go to and the only one to fit correctly and be reliable and comfortable ( also more recently having gained weight fitting my larger chest) I have been online on Debenhams for the last few weeks searching for a bra in my size which isn't a completely insane size (38G) which I could easily get instore before, now nowhere to be found online.

I think fashion is weird at the moment. Have been round the shops looking for "normal" clothes for work, and everything has weird patterns or things stiched on... Just blehhhh. Maybe I'm an old-fashioned frump.

@Jourdain11

I think fashion is weird at the moment. Have been round the shops looking for "normal" clothes for work, and everything has weird patterns or things stiched on... Just blehhhh. Maybe I'm an old-fashioned frump.

I'm only 30 and I feel exactly the same way, so I don't think it's you being old fashioned!

@GoodnightGrandma

This is why I just order from Next. I pay annually for delivery, can order as many as I like to try on, don’t have to share a changing room with males, and easy to take back.

OMG where do you live?? Every Next I’ve been to has individual changing rooms with thick privacy curtains and mirrors inside so you don’t have to go out in any state of undress. I don’t blame you for avoiding it, if I had to share with men I wouldn’t shop there either!