The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Gemini73 wrote:Cheltenham high street is dominated by coffee shops, patisseries and fast food joints with more on the way (including a Burger King by the cinema). Gloucester has a shocking amount of empty retail units on the high street. The Quays is a tad busier, but still lots of empty units).

New 'regular' shops appearing is a rarity and those that do quickly disappear again.

The latest trend appears to be modern complexes with more upmarket fast food restaurants bunched together, all of which seem to be constantly packed...

Wagamama (what I'd give for one of these in Stoke)
Chiquito
Yo Sushi!
TGI Fridays
Coast2Coast
Shake Shack
Zizzi
Nandos
Pizza Express
Frankie & Benny's
Gourmet Burger Kitchen (though these are apparently in trouble)

Isn't that the Intu style of shopping centre? Nothing but eateries and cinemas and no actual shops? Dreadful idea.

Imagine classing TGI Fridays and Frankie & Benny's as upmarket

I don't think there's any question that the new "high street experience" is eating out, having a coffee with friends etc, not being dragged around Debenhams with an armful of shopping bags.

Frank wrote:Isn't that the Intu style of shopping centre? Nothing but eateries and cinemas and no actual shops? Dreadful idea.

Not really, Into took over our shopping centre about 8 years ago and bult a new food area which has been incredibly popular.

Corazon de Leon wrote:Physical shopping is much better than online for clothes buying, but big shops don’t seem to be adapting to the trend. If I must go online, I tend to use ASOS or a shop’s website like Next or River Island than Amazon too, because they’re shite for searching clothes.

When it comes to clothes, i only ever shop online if i can't find the item in store.

Since i mainly shop at Uniqlo, that happens pretty rarely as their stores almost always have what i need in stock.

NickSCFC wrote:

Frank wrote:Isn't that the Intu style of shopping centre? Nothing but eateries and cinemas and no actual shops? Dreadful idea.

Not really, Into took over our shopping centre about 8 years ago and bult a new food area which has been incredibly popular.

Yeah Intu at Braehead near me is very good, nice mix of shops and leisure activities.

Gemini73 wrote:I don't think there's any question that the new "high street experience" is eating out, having a coffee with friends etc, not being dragged around Debenhams with an armful of shopping bags.

When I would go to places like Meadowhall with friends every weekend we would go for a light lunch then go shopping and buy from around ten differnt shops, then go and watch a film, have dinner and then maybe go bowling, the actual shopping part was a part of it all and very enjoyable, I just can’t see why if coffee shops and restaurants are doing well the shops are not

I buy all my clothes online now, ASOS for example do free returns and are really speedy with refunds, so why would I subject myself to the hassle of driving into town and having to fight past the crowds of people coming and going from the 15 or so vape shops that have popped up? It's just not the modern way.

Gemini73 wrote:I don't think there's any question that the new "high street experience" is eating out, having a coffee with friends etc, not being dragged around Debenhams with an armful of shopping bags.

Experience is the key word these days, visiting your city centre/town should be fun, simply being a place to purchase goods doesn't cut it anymore. I've noticed GAME pulling customers by hosting small "e-Sports" competitions rather than just being row upon row of game boxes.

Preezy gets it.

I now have disposable income, but shopping IRL makes no sense. I'm going to pay public transport fares or parking charges to be in town, then I have to walk to the shop where they might have what I need, but I can't check I just have to hope they do. Or I could buy it off prime and have it same or next day delivered to my home or workplace.

It isn't rocket science why traditional retail is closing down.

Moggy wrote:Clothing stores have a better chance imo as people do like to feel the clothes and try them on.

People aren't shy about shopping for clothes online, though. NEXT makes two thirds of their clothing turnover, and about three quarters of profit, through online sales. However, about half of their online sales are for in store collection, so they still need their current physical retail estate.

Vermilion wrote:
HMV is often quite busy when i visit, also, i pre-order all my new releases from their online store.

Since the business was rescued, the shops themselves have improved, the purehmv card offers up some great rewards from time to time, and with the demise of their main high st competition (Woolworths/Zavvi etc), they are one of the only places where you can find a decent range of physical media.

Currys still have a place in the market too, especially when it comes to large goods such as fridges or washing machines.

The HMV store in Bristol recently halved in size and I wouldn’t say it looked very busy whenever I walk past it. I occasionally use it, but only when I have forgotten to buy somebody a birthday present and have to pick up a DVD quickly before a family member discovers just how unorganised I am. I would imagine lots of older people going there for gifts for the grandkids, but that is a diminishing market. Streaming and downloading will eventually kill off HMV.

Currys might have a place at the moment, but I am not sure they are going to survive based on fridges and washing machines. Both of those are items that can be purchased online and delivered to your home – much more convenient than going to the shop itself.

Knoyleo wrote:

Moggy wrote:Clothing stores have a better chance imo as people do like to feel the clothes and try them on.

People aren't shy about shopping for clothes online, though. NEXT makes two thirds of their clothing turnover, and about three quarters of profit, through online sales. However, about half of their online sales are for in store collection, so they still need their current physical retail estate.

Yeah that’s why I said a better chance, rather than they are going to be a massive success.

I think there will always be a section of society that want to feel and try on clothes before buying them. There are far more of those people than the type of person that wants to own a DVD rather than a download/stream. But that part of the clothing market is going to get smaller and a lot of clothing retailers will go bust.

Moggy wrote:Currys might have a place at the moment, but I am not sure they are going to survive based on fridges and washing machines. Both of those are items that can be purchased online and delivered to your home – much more convenient than going to the shop itself.

We recently bought a TV from Currys rather than Amazon.

We were able to collar one of the assistants (obviously working for Sony and not Currys) who was able to demonstrate the Android TV system and other features, something we wouldn't have gotten had we just clicked some buttons on Amazon.

They were successful because they put more effort in than merely placing it on a shelf and just expecting me to buy it.

NickSCFC wrote:

Moggy wrote:Currys might have a place at the moment, but I am not sure they are going to survive based on fridges and washing machines. Both of those are items that can be purchased online and delivered to your home – much more convenient than going to the shop itself.

We recently bought a TV from Currys rather than Amazon.

We were able to collar one of the assistants (obviously working for Sony and not Currys) who was able to demonstrate the Android TV system and other features, something we wouldn't have gotten had we just clicked some buttons on Amazon.

They were successful because they put more effort in than merely placing it on a shelf and just expecting me to buy it.

Again that’s true now, but it is a diminishing market. The numbers of people unable to work a TV by themselves is getting smaller every year.

Garth wrote:It's been pretty grim for Belfast city centre retailers since the big Primark fire:

Footfall in Belfast city centre drops by third after Primark blaze

A total of 14 shops have been shut since the fire as they remain within a safety cordon around the store. But stores just outside the cordon in locations like Castle Street have reported a fall in trade of 90%.

And Springboard's research found that even shopping areas far removed from the cordon were reporting a fall of around 10% or 15%.

The Springboard report said footfall was down 4.6% across Northern Ireland - worse than an average 1.7% decline over the last three months and the 12-month average of 1.9%. Retail park and high street footfall was down 6%, although the drop in shopping centre footfall slowed to 0.2% from 2.4% in August.

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/busine ... 18324.html

Ashers is shutting down near it, sucks for the staff. There was a few big stores that were already closed before the big fire.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:

Frank wrote:Isn't that the Intu style of shopping centre? Nothing but eateries and cinemas and no actual shops? Dreadful idea.

Not really, Into took over our shopping centre about 8 years ago and bult a new food area which has been incredibly popular.

Yeah Intu at Braehead near me is very good, nice mix of shops and leisure activities.

You walk into Merry Hill past row after row after row of empty stores. It's a total ghost town, yet they're planning on building *more* stores (well, more restaurants, despite the place already having a massive food hall) and another cinema, not filling the ones that stand empty or redeveloping what's already there. They've done nothing good with Merry Hill so far, just empty promises of millions of pounds of investment with nothing to show for it.

Moggy wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:

Moggy wrote:Currys might have a place at the moment, but I am not sure they are going to survive based on fridges and washing machines. Both of those are items that can be purchased online and delivered to your home – much more convenient than going to the shop itself.

We recently bought a TV from Currys rather than Amazon.

We were able to collar one of the assistants (obviously working for Sony and not Currys) who was able to demonstrate the Android TV system and other features, something we wouldn't have gotten had we just clicked some buttons on Amazon.

They were successful because they put more effort in than merely placing it on a shelf and just expecting me to buy it.

Again that’s true now, but it is a diminishing market. The numbers of people unable to work a TV by themselves is getting smaller every year.

I'd have been just as happy being handed the remote as I was being given a demonstration.

Frank wrote:You walk into Merry Hill past row after row after row of empty stores. It's a total ghost town, yet they're planning on building *more* stores (well, more restaurants, despite the place already having a massive food hall) and another cinema, not filling the ones that stand empty or redeveloping what's already there. They've done nothing good with Merry Hill so far, just empty promises of millions of pounds of investment with nothing to show for it.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with our recent visit to Merry Hill.

The last time I visited was around 2010, loads of closed shops and drab interior. Now most of the units are filled and the ones that aren't actually had active work going on rather than just a facade, the food court appears to have been completely upheaved, there's a new Next just outside along with an improved retail park, and the whole place appears to have had a refurb.

It reflects my recent visit to Intu Derby which, along with Merry Hill, is drastically better than it was during the recession.

The main issue is the high street really, in Stoke we're fairly happy with the Intu Potteries mall and the Festival Park retail park, but the surrounding towns and the high street are either half empty or occupied with tat like Gregg, Primark, B&M, vape shops and betting shops.

It's almost like they serve a purpose to people too poor/dumb to shop online.