Poll. Did you stick to the high street or switch to out of town?

[IncompleteSenten]

Not a taat but inspired by. Purely because I'm curious and polls make posters honest 😁

High streets are ghost towns now. When the alternatives that led to this happening first sprung up did you

YABU - I stuck to the high street 80%-100% of the time until the shops all closed and I had absolutely no alternative.

YANBU - I switched to the big supermarkets and the retail parks and home delivery etc 80% - 100% of the time

If you are too young to have had the choice please don't vote 😁

I live in London and don't have a car so am unsure where my nearest "out of town" retail park would be - Bluewater perhaps? Either way I'm not going. I can get easily to Stratford Westfield on the train but the place is a fucking hell mouth. It's awful.

I bank online and buy large items online but most of my shopping is done in person.

For clothes shopping I tend to go to the West End or Covent Garden.

My local high st (5 mins walk) is great for very functional stuff - Superdrug, post office, hairdressers, dry cleaners, medium Sainsbury's, butchers, shoe repairers, Post Office as well as a few cafes and pubs

About 25 mins walk away (or a 10 min bus journey) there is a bigger and fancier high st where I spend more time - there are gift shops, independent clothes and household shops, bakeries, fishmonger, butcher, library, ironmongers, haberdashers, greengrocery, bookshops a weekly market, plant shop etc.. etc.. as well as restaurants, pubs and coffee shops.

I also shop in person at a larger Sainsbury's that is a little bit removed from the main high st.

@user1497207191 I find the opposite. People want to work (or volunteer) evenings. People want to be able to work around daytime caring for children etc or being at university/college in the daytime.
@KirstenBlest if a particular charity shop is doing a good trade at 9am then that makes sense but I find many "High Streets" are quiet before 10/11am.
In many places people can't use the Freedom passes on buses until after 9.30. Anyone doing a school drop off is unlikely to be in town before 10.
Obviously this will vary from town to town - but being turned away from charity shops (and cafes) at 4 in the afternoon because they are closing is just daft. So much potential trade lost.

There's also the problem that some places don't have buses that run as late as 7pm (or more likely 7.30 once cashed up, closed down and walked to the bus stop). I know some people won't be able to identify with that, but it's the reality of crap public transport in lots of places outside the big cities. Yes, often the major routes have later services, but the more rural routes don't have evening services nor any Sunday services at all! Volunteers or minimum wage shop workers aren't going to be keen to work late and then have to pay for a taxi to get home!

@Needmorelego , it wouldn't cross my mind to nip out to the charity shop at 6 p.m. The other shops would be closed other than Iceland and the 'ethnic' shops.

@user1497207191 well yes that is the other problem - no public transport in the evenings/Sundays/Bank holidays.
It's a vicious circle.... people want to shop - the shop isn't open when they can get there. Buses don't run because there's not enough users. But the user's don't use the bus because the shops aren't open......

@KirstenBlest another person up thread pointed out they are at work in the daytime so can't go to the shops then. People finish work and want to shop after work - but the shops are closed. If all the shops were open until at least 7pm (including charity shops) then it wouldn't be so much as "nipping to the charity shop" - it would be just "going to the shops".
But they are all closed so people go to the out of town supermarkets and retail parks (who seem to have no problems with employing evening staff).
That's one reason why the High Street is "dying".

Tell you what, @Needmorelego , why don't you contact the head offices of the charities and tell them. While you're at it, do the same with Boots, Superdrug....

You probably still wouldn't shop there even if they were open 24/7 because you'd not bother to check if you need to pay for parking and it would be too much hassle to park a few 100 yards away.

I always buy in person if I can, even if it's slightly more expensive (I'm lucky that I don't needn't to watch every pound). I appreciate having shops and try to help keep them going. My main exception to this is books, which I generally buy for Kindle these days - though I've now discovered a gorgeous bookshop near me...

However, it's becoming more difficult.

White goods - rarely available in shops now. I do like to see what I'm getting, even if it's a washing machine.

Clothes - fewer shops, less stock, much seems aimed at teenagers. And it's so infuriating to be told there's a greater selection on the website. I tried to buy a top at John Lewis a little while ago. My size wasn't in the shop, which was listed as having 2 in stock, but staff couldn't find them. I'd have had to pay extra to do click and collect, so I didn't bother. And if I want anything particular, it's so much easier to find online, e.g. far more choice of colours. I recently bought a green fake leather jacket online - I tried several in the shops, but they weren't quite right in fit, and every single one was black.

Supermarkets - I've used supermarkets rather than small food shops for years as we don't have a great selection nearby, though I do use our corner shop. For speciality things like miso I still use small shops.

As for retail parks, if I'm out in the car and want something from Boots, say, it's easier and cheaper to stop off and pick it up at a retail park than to drive or take the bus into town. I do walk into town for a shopping expedition, but not just to get some shampoo.

DH is the opposite and probably contributes a huge percentage of Amazon's profits.

My high street is doing ok. Lots of people use it and there are no empty units or shops. No one really drives and there’s little parking, but you could park at the high street supermarket if you want to. The high street, about a minute from my front door, has cafes, several restaurants, a couple of nightclubs, a few bars, one big supermarket and a few smaller ones, like Iceland and mini Waitrose/Sainsbury’s. There are hairdresser’s and barbers, a printer’s, three optician’s, a bookie’s, main post office, WH Smith, Boots, several chemist’s, carpet shop, a few good-quality charity shops, dentist’s, doctor’s, library, butcher’s, deli, grocer’s/whole food shop, a fix-your-phone shop, health food shop, a running shop, a couple of gyms, a couple of sell-anything shops, a big DIY shop, two bike shops, one motorbike shop, a few gift-type shops, two or three fashion and furniture shops, like Oliver Bonas, shoe repairer/key cutter, dry cleaner’s, a beauty salon. I’ve probably missed some out. It doesn’t have a shoe shop or a dedicated furniture shop, but walk five minutes the other direction there’s a bed shop. No big high street chains like Next or M&S. Just off the high street is the leisure centre with pool and gym.

I have had an Amazon account for 25 years. I don't have an account for the shop. I would have bought it in the shop if they had had it there. But they didn't.

@KirstenBlest excuse me - did you mean to be so rude?
I was just giving an opinion based on 2 decades of retail work. We had customers banging on the shutters at 7 in the evening because they wanted to shop. We often would have stayed open but we were within a shopping centre that wanted to shut up for the day. My manager had many meetings with the shopping centre management about trading longer hours.
I was also just giving my opinion on experiences of being turned away from shops/cafes because they are closing what I consider early - not just me. I see other people trying the doors of places and saying "oh they are closed".
Oh by the way - I don't drive so paying for parking is irrelevant to me. I frequently WALK to many shops.
I have been involved in surveys and community groups that have tried to improve town centres.
I am slightly baffled why you decided to have a go at me.

@muddyford but did the shop have a website?
I buy lots from places like Argos, The Works, The Entertainer, Waterstones- but I just do it via their websites rather than going into a store.

I wasn't being rude. I know the shop and it wouldn't get the footfall unless the shops around it were open. It probably would be busy up to 6 p.m.

I hate having my shopping delivered as I prefer to choose what I buy in person so never get deliveries. I shop in person on the high street/city centre because I can walk/cycle/get the bus in and don't have to drive which I find quite tedious. My city is always grid locked.

I still shop in the town centre. I don't want to be bothered with posting things back if they don't fit. I like to see things before I buy them.

@KirstenBlest ok...but you were talking about 1 particular charity shop, I was talking about a different one (well probably it could be the same one - the one I am talking about is a hospice shop and I personally don't think they ever actually tidy up - it's always a mess 😂).
Obviously every town will be different to what works for them. If that shop is doing well enough to close at 4pm on a busy Saturday (which was what happened with the shop I tried to shop at) then that's up to them. Their choice.

I don't think it's just a out of town versus high street situation. A lot depends on who owns the retail space. Covent Garden is an example. The landlords put up the rents so much that all the quirky independent shops left and the big retailers like Disney and Apple are in the majority now.

i also think that a lot of councils believed people wanted pedestrianised centres when they didn't, especially in the evenings when they are empty and feel unsafe.

I buy online mostly now. I still love a little wander down a busy high street full of independents when I can but that doesn't happen very often.

@KirstenBlest and obviously for later trading hours to work all the local shops need to get together and do it, public transport needs to run etc.
But as I said it's a vicious circle of why it doesn't happen.

You are over-invested in my shopping habits. And very patronising. I note other posters are saying similar things. You shop where you want to and allow the rest of us to do the same.

It's probably that the employees are paid 9 to 5 or something.

It's not you, but where I live, the Retail Park is on a busy road and the traffic can be horrendous, and it's about 2.5 miles away. You can park cheaply in the town centre, but a lot of people walk. I don't think 'Yippee I'll go to the big New Look, Next, M&S Food and The Range' in the car, but i might think 'I'll go to that town with the nice boutiques'

As far as I'm concerned, it's a PITA if the charity shop is closed, especially if I have donations, but they probably have reasons.

I find the retail parks depressing, in general. I don't feel any compulsion to go and browse.

There's a town near me that had lovely little shops, like butchers and bakers, then a Tesco opened and the little shops closed. Such a shame.

I hate shopping so I get whatever I need online and have done for years.

I've no idea what state my local town centre is in, I haven't visited for about 10 years. I do occasionally go to retail parks but only if I really have to.

Maybe I read it wrong but you got all these comments saying the high street shops are useless and then you said you didn't want to hear about the high street now, you want to hear from people who are "old enough to remember" the real high street and to justify whether they "contributed to its survival". Perhaps patronising was the wrong word but I came to this thread with contributions not initially realising your beef.

In our capitalist society, if you offer want people want, in a convenient way and at a price they're willing to pay, you will make money and thrive.

Consumers are predictable. To use my example, when women get pregnant they need maternity clothes and they need to try them on because they are a new size and shape.

To use an example that I and others have given: most people are of medium-ish sizes with some larger and some smaller in a predictable distribution. Stock accordingly.

It's no use berating the consumer for not wanting what is available. You need to moan at the shops for not providing what the consumer wants and needs.

@muddyford just curious. No biggie but it's part of the "why don't people use the high street" question.
It's a common thing people say "the high street didn't have it so I ordered from Amazon" but 9 times out of 10 the "high street" physical shop might not have a product on their shelf but the company has it and can be ordered via their website so keeping their trade figures up.
@KirstenBlest retailers can employ their staff for whatever hours they want. Very few retail staff do 9 - 5.
My favourite shift was 6am - 2pm. I was in early to do the delivery. The shop opened at 8 or 8.30 so other staff members started at 8. Others arrived later when trade got busier and they also coved the after-school hours which were often busier. You then had the evening shift. Usually 5pm - 9 or 10. This was mostly mums who were home with the kids in the daytime and swopped over taking care of the kids with their husband in the evening and students who were studying in the daytime mostly the shop would stay open to customers until 7 - often customers had to be asked several times to leave and would attempt to sneak in under the shutters as they were being bought down. Customers WANTED to be in there spending money.
I don't think anyone worked 9-5 ever.

Here's an idea for the high street clothing shops.

Why not set up shops that are for trying clothes on, only. You go in there and try them on, then they order it to be delivered to you next-day. You can see the colours in person and feel the fabrics.

They'll never run out of stock in-store because no one can take anything out, they just try it on and that's it. They won't need much storage space as they'll just need a couple of each size for people to try on.

People rarely buy clothes they need the same day, so they won't mind it being delivered the following day. They'll also not have to carry any bags home. Win-win.

This is the kind of thing I mean about the high street not offering what people need. It's simple and obvious what we need, so just jolly well provide it, shops!

@Mummy08m that's sort of how the old department stores like Selfridges were in ye olden days.
In department stores the clothes were made to measure for an individual customer. A model would pose wearing the outfit and then the customer would be measured up and it would be made for them and then delivered home.
Only from about the 1920s or so was stock made in bulk and sold ready to wear (this was because people like Gordon Selfridge realised that many women liked the idea of impulse buys and getting the latest fashions quickly).