Fall of the high street and impact for jobs

[MiddleagedManic]

Just read that Claire's Accessories is also now on verge of bankruptcy. So, there goes another one (maybe). With all the retailers that so far have reported major problems, the high street will continue to change. Just really mulling over the change in the working world. Many retail jobs seem to be done by women, often shifts to fit in with school, child care, etc. Now, retail is moving online to robots running algorithms and software engineers running them (predominantly men higher up, though women are hopefully in equal numbers in the earlier jobs).

Just really thinking about the changes that may come in the med-longer term for retail and the impact of jobs.

Am sure there are people who are experts here that can tell me what is likely to happen.

If you look at the main shopping street where I live

Since 1st Han 2017 Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank and Clydesdale have closed.

Main supermarket in the town has closed. Police station and council office closed.

Currently the street has 7 pubs, 5 of which sell food and coffee
4 chemists
7 takeaway only places (2 fish&chips, 1 kebab, 3 chinese, 1 Indian)
6 Restaurants sit-in and takeaway
4 cafes
1 Patesserie
2 butchers
1 bakery
1 Greggs
2 Funeral parlours
2 Jewelery shops
2 dress shops
3 barbers
2 hairdressers
2 bookmakers
4 charity shops
1 bicycle shop
1 antique shop
4 churches

I can get coffee in 15 different places.

Costa coffee is intending to move into one of the ex-banks

What have the planners decided to put into the closed supermarket -
a sit-in restaurant, a take-away and a cafe.

If the entire town gave up eating at home we would still have too many places.

That sounds like our high street too

The high street in my town is always busy, although it’s very different to how it was even 10 years ago. It’s a tourist town which may make a difference though. In 2000 there were two shoe shops, a Dorothy Perkins, a Burtons, a sports clothing shop, an electrical shop, a diy shop and a cd shop which have all gone. We still have a butchers and a greengrocers luckily but all the ones that have shut down have been replaced with coffee shops, fudge shops and shops that sell wooden wading birds and GWR style prints. There’s a captive audience of fudge munching, coffee drinking ornament buyers though.

Towns that don’t really draw people in from outside for non-shopping activities seem to have suffered more.

Ooh, I’d forgotten about all the banks that have fucked off too. My town was featured on a NatWest (I think) advert a few years ago saying how they weren’t shutting their branches in rural areas. Changed their mind on that. We also have two Boots shops two doors apart which is useful.

I feel the same.
I've lived here all my life and watched as little by little, the town centre has changed.
I've noticed big brand clothes shops close - Topshop and River Island - for example and being replaced by second Wenzels and second Greggs and a Pret as well all in the space of two years....
Also more £5 clothes shops.
And pawnbrokers...

Genuinely sad...

I feel sad about changes in the UK High Street, but, realistically, know that it's inevitable, with so many shoppers going online. Just think about how many threads on MN are about shopping on-line. Change is always painful, but we just have to adjust, as there is no alternative.
I'm no help, as I hate shopping, on or off line.

My town is economically on its knees. About 25% vacancy on retail premises. Even the charity shops keep closing down. Over the years a trickle of commercial premises turn into domestic residences. DH's office was a cafe, mind. We are getting a Specsavers which will kill the 2 indie opticians that had survived all the other economic storms. :(

Dentists, cafes & beauty parlours are managing, only the supermarkets (3) seem to do well.

I'm always surprised by the large number of eating places in every high street,except the one local to me! I've lived here for nearly 36 years and in that time I've seen the number of restaurants and cafés dwindle as one by one they've closed down. There is a McDonald's,2 Greggs,a charcoal chicken/kebab place,and that's it. I'm not including the coffee shops in this total (2 Costas,a Starbucks,a Cafe Nero and a Coffee Republic) as I don't really count them as cafés,i.e. you can't get a cooked meal in them,it's just snacks and sandwiches. Up until about 15 years ago there was a Woolworths restaurant,a Littlewoods restaurant,a Burger King,a Wendy's Burgers,a greasy spoon cafe,a KFC and 4 pubs that all did cooked food. Yet I look at the high streets not that many miles from here,and they have an absolute deluge of cafés and restaurants. In one,which is about 10 miles away,I counted 25 different places. What I found particularly odd about my local high street was that when the Burger King closed down,an HSBC bank opened in it's place. Isn't it usually the other way round?!

Change is always painful, but we just have to adjust, as there is no alternative.

Retail has been evolving for many decades. The "High Street" people are mourning was only a temporary blip anyway. Until around the 70's, people lived and worked in town centres where there'd be doctors' surgeries, warehouses, breweries, factories, print works, banks, etc. There'd be plenty of shops too, but they'd mostly be small independents with relatively few "chains". In areas surrounding town centres you'd have housing estates etc., each with their own parades of small independent shops, and the typical "corner shop" on virtually every street corner.

The "chains" only really took over the High Streets in the 70s'/80's by moving into the areas vacated by factories/warehouses etc and taking over the independent stores. At the same time, the parades and corner shops also started to close down due to competition from the chains in the High Street.

Then came out of town retail parks, huge supermarkets etc which started the move of the larger retailers out of the High Street. Now we have online retailing doing the same but also impacting the out of town retailers.

It's all evolution. Sooner or later, people will start living in town centres again as the empty shops will eventually have to be converted into residential when there is no other use for the land/buildings. As people move back into town centres, there'll be a need for local/convenience shops again, and maybe even small businesses will start up in town centres again.