Death of the department store

KK wrote:I swear there used to be a Pizza Hut and HMV as well but they have vanished.

HMV vanished a few years ago, around the same time Croydon regained one (after it moved) which never seemed fishy at all

Leeds centre seems to be doing ok, always heaving on a Saturday and a massive John Lewis opened up the other year, certainly in better nick than Croydon

Ironhide wrote:I think one of the contributing factors behind the decline of the high street is the increasing number of retail parks outside of towns and cities. There's at least three within reasonable driving distance of Chesterfield and they're nearly always rammed full of people even during the week - it's great for large chains like PC World, Tesco and the like but smaller local shops are simply vanishing as a result.

Retail parks took business from the high street, but now the internet takes business from both. Look at what happened to Toys R Us.

OrangeRKN wrote:

Ironhide wrote:I think one of the contributing factors behind the decline of the high street is the increasing number of retail parks outside of towns and cities. There's at least three within reasonable driving distance of Chesterfield and they're nearly always rammed full of people even during the week - it's great for large chains like PC World, Tesco and the like but smaller local shops are simply vanishing as a result.

Retail parks took business from the high street, but now the internet takes business from both. Look at what happened to Toys R Us.

The retail park here is doing great, the newest store to open is yet another charity shop!

That means this little town will soon have 11 of them (or maybe 12, i lose count sometimes).

My nearest "big" shopping centre is Bluewater in Kent. It's nice but pretty expensive to shop there. All of the high streets in the surrounding towns are suffering; generally they have a supermarket or two and the rest of the shops are cafes, takeaways, nail bars, hairdressers and charity shops.

I reckon that WH Smith could be the next big store to disappear. I used to really like them but, with the on-going fall of magazines, I rarely visit now and, when I do, things seem to be highly priced.

jawafour wrote:I reckon that WH Smith could be the next big store to disappear. I used to really like them but, with the on-going fall of magazines, I rarely visit now and, when I do, things seem to be highly priced.

They have a large presence in railway stations and motorway services though, plus a lot of them also contain post offices (like the one here), and the last i heard they were actually doing pretty well as a result.

WHSmith do very well in airports and hospitals too, a bit like M&S Food. They always to get something out of me at the train station. It's the same with Greggs. I can never just walk past a Greggs, I always have to pop in.

Vermilion wrote:

jawafour wrote:I reckon that WH Smith could be the next big store to disappear. I used to really like them but, with the on-going fall of magazines, I rarely visit now and, when I do, things seem to be highly priced.

They have a large presence in railway stations and motorway services though, plus a lot of them also contain post offices (like the one here), and the last i heard they were actually doing pretty well as a result.

The (big) railway station and airport outlets continue to do well; but the bulk of the high street stores are struggling.

WH Smith group chief executive Stephen Clarke wrote:Our travel business now accounts for almost two-thirds of the group's annual profit...

Source

I can see them focusing more on those outlets rather than maintaining a high street presence.

KK wrote:a bit like M&S Food.

Love M&S Food, my sparks card has around 6000 points on it now, and pretty much all of that is from buying tea & biscuits.

M&S Food have started delivering now too: https://www.marksandspencerfoodhall.co.uk/foodhall. An easy way to blow 50 quid on about 20 items...

(I fancy a curry now)

Vermilion wrote:As far as my town is concerned though, all we get new these days is charity shops and barbers, even some of the banks have closed.

Yeah pretty much the same with Stoke-on-Trent city centre (Hanley)

The main city centre (Hanley) is going downhill with charity shops, vape shops and tacky Greggs style takeaways.

The shopping centre (Potteries) has increasing amounts of empty units following the loss of Currys and the Disney Store

The retail park (Festival Park) is where all the investment and footfall is now

What's everyone got against charity shops anyway

Nothing at all, but 7 or 8 in close proximity (like in Paisley) usually signals that a high street is nearing its death throes.

OrangeRKN wrote:What's everyone got against charity shops anyway

They're not ToysRUS/Woolworths/BlockBuster

They're good for getting rid of things you can't sell but don't want to incinerate either, and I guess most items in them are distinct to that particular store.

lex-man wrote:Southend has been a hole since I've lived here. There is a massive empty BHS and a Blockbusters. It seems to be getting worse as a home bargains store, KFC and pound shop have all recently closed down.

There is a shopping centre near my work but there is nothing it. They had a Argos but that just moved into Sainsbury's. The whole high street is also full of homeless people hanging around in shop doorways. It's really depressing.

A lot of local people think the council is planning on converting the whole high street into blocks of flats.

You live quite near lakeside and Bluewater (I know since I lived in Grays) so most of the shops ended up going there sadly. It's all clothes shops now too. It's gooseberry fool.

Qikz wrote:

lex-man wrote:Southend has been a hole since I've lived here. There is a massive empty BHS and a Blockbusters. It seems to be getting worse as a home bargains store, KFC and pound shop have all recently closed down.

There is a shopping centre near my work but there is nothing it. They had a Argos but that just moved into Sainsbury's. The whole high street is also full of homeless people hanging around in shop doorways. It's really depressing.

A lot of local people think the council is planning on converting the whole high street into blocks of flats.

You live quite near lakeside and Bluewater (I know since I lived in Grays) so most of the shops ended up going there sadly. It's all clothes shops now too. It's gooseberry fool.

I think I went to Lakeside at Christmas it was hell on earth.

OrangeRKN wrote:What's everyone got against charity shops anyway

They attract the unsavoury blue rinse element of society. My town centre is clogged with elderly zombies zigzagging across the high street between the various charity shops.

Norwich's is a bit hit and miss and considering its size, it has quite a large shopping district. One of the high streets has gone a bit down hill, the BHS has turned into a temporary Primark whilst they renovate their previous store about 300 metres away, but it sat empty before that and don't know what will happen once Primark moves back. The same street also has one of those awful slot places, i.e. not a bookies but just a place for slots, and an equally awful Brighthouse. There seems to be an abundance of low to mid chain restaurants particularity Italian.

All the restaurants are backed by Private Equity and are usually part of bigger groups (I.e. the guys who own Bella Italia also own Cafe Rouge and others). I was going to say Bella Italia could be the next to go.

In terms of department stores, Debenhams seems to be struggling, I've never really said to myself, "the best place to get that would be Debenhams".

OrangeRKN wrote:What's everyone got against charity shops anyway

1 or 2 in amongst a general range of stores is fine (the second hand bookshop here is actually pretty decent), but when your town has more of them than any other type of business, it gets a bit much.

I think the surge in charity shops also signals how disposable we’ve become. It’s too easy to buy stuff online or stores and it bother taking it back, and the likes of primark and constant sales to generate business means we acquire lots more than we need and end up donating quicker and more often than we would had we invested in quality items in the first place.

My understanding is that charity shops don't pay business rates hence their prevalence on high streets.