The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

I think there's a genuinely concerning question on the horizon - how are young people going to enter the job market in the future when all of those initial entry-level retail/service jobs are gone? There'll be fewer till jobs in supermarkets as it's all scan-as-you-go and self-service, there'll be fewer sales roles in clothes shops as they'll all be crushed under the boot of Amazon. You can't have people leaving secondary school going straight into jobs that require experience, it just won't work.

I worry for my children, in 15 years when they reach employment age, what are they going to do? Think how much the retail landscape will have changed in that time. 15 years! Christ I'll be old

RichardUK wrote:

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 just don't think people want to trundle around with armful of shopping bags when the convenience of online buying exists. When I was out at the weekend shopping (which is a rarity for myself) they're were lots of families, couples and groups of friends out and about, but few with any shopping bags. It just seemed like a day out to kill time rather than there being any kind of shopping agenda to speak of.

In fact I would notice the same when I used worked in a menswear store in town just over 4 years ago. Every Saturday there would be lots of people bumbling about, but hardly any shopping bags to be seen. Even my boss would comment on how people just come to town for something to do as opposed to the purpose of making any kind of purchase.

NickSCFC wrote:Now most of the units are filled and the ones that aren't actually had active work going on rather than just a facade

Next time I'm down there I'll count how many shops are closed. Did you go to any of the banks there? That entire end is closed shop after closed shop after closed shop. And Next isn't new, it's just moved from one store to another after Sainsbury's decided they were leaving, so now there's only Asda there for food shopping, which is scruffy as chuff. There were so many empty stores a few months ago about seven shops decided to move store. Hotel Chocolate, Next, Lush are just a few I can remember.

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

Online is normally cheaper and there are very few people too dumb to shop online.

Moggy wrote:

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

Online is normally cheaper and there are very few people too dumb to shop online.

Old people. Not dumb, but too fearful to approach the computer lest a Chinese hacker steal their wallet.

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

I am perpetually stunned at Frankie & Benny's popularity. I have been into a few of their establishments and it is comfortably the worst chain restaurant I have ever been into.

Preezy wrote:

Moggy wrote:

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

Online is normally cheaper and there are very few people too dumb to shop online.

Old people. Not dumb, but too fearful to approach the computer lest a Chinese hacker steal their wallet.

Have you ever seen Facebook? It's nothing but old people sharing photos of grandkids and racist memes.

Preezy wrote:I think there's a genuinely concerning question on the horizon - how are young people going to enter the job market in the future when all of those initial entry-level retail/service jobs are gone? There'll be fewer till jobs in supermarkets as it's all scan-as-you-go and self-service, there'll be fewer sales roles in clothes shops as they'll all be crushed under the boot of Amazon. You can't have people leaving secondary school going straight into jobs that require experience, it just won't work.

I worry for my children, in 15 years when they reach employment age, what are they going to do? Think how much the retail landscape will have changed in that time. 15 years! Christ I'll be old

That's a really good point. Low entry retail work is how I managed to secure a future here in Cheltenham. With no qualifications beyond my GCSEs I would have found it difficult getting work elsewhere.

The children of rich parents rarely have to work entry level jobs before going on to professional work, so we'll just have to find out how they manage it.

Nepotism for all! Err... hang on

Preezy wrote:I worry for my children, in 15 years when they reach employment age, what are they going to do?

Send them out to pick fruit and sweep chimneys once we kick out Johnny Foreigner.

Gemini73 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

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.

We're getting a Burger King!?!!?!?

(But I go to the nice Burrito place if eating pre-film)

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.

Yep. I broke our last freezer 3 days before Christmas a couple of years back when I was engaged in a spot of over-aggressive defrosting to make room for all the XMAS goodness ( I was not popular with the wife on that day! )

Currys et al. were not even open at that point and their phone line said they couldn't get anything to me until the second week of January. So I went to Appliances Online and they got me the frige-freezer I wanted for a cheaper price than Currys, delivered it the next day and even installed it and took away the old one for free which they were not supposed to be doing!

Too many high street stores have just been sleeping giants whilst the world changed around them, and now they are waking up to it all too late and paying the price.

As others have said some physical retail will always exist, sometimes you need to try something, see it in person, or simply get something right now and can't wait for an online delivery. But this will be an increasingly small part of the market. I sometimes wonder whether shops with a high street presence should have done deals with online retailers to effectively offer their services as "try before you buy" locations - everyone already uses the high street to look at stuff they then want to buy online, why not strike a deal so that you get some kick-back from that?

Jenuall wrote:As others have said some physical retail will always exist, sometimes you need to try something, see it in person, or simply get something right now and can't wait for an online delivery. But this will be an increasingly small part of the market. I sometimes wonder whether shops with a high street presence should have done deals with online retailers to effectively offer their services as "try before you buy" locations - everyone already uses the high street to look at stuff they then want to buy online, why not strike a deal so that you get some kick-back from that?

Turning high street stores into "show rooms" is a possibility, not sure they'd be valuable enough considering the increasing rental costs though.

Preezy wrote:I think there's a genuinely concerning question on the horizon - how are young people going to enter the job market in the future when all of those initial entry-level retail/service jobs are gone? There'll be fewer till jobs in supermarkets as it's all scan-as-you-go and self-service, there'll be fewer sales roles in clothes shops as they'll all be crushed under the boot of Amazon. You can't have people leaving secondary school going straight into jobs that require experience, it just won't work.

I worry for my children, in 15 years when they reach employment age, what are they going to do? Think how much the retail landscape will have changed in that time. 15 years! Christ I'll be old

That's a really good point. Low entry retail work is how I managed to secure a future here in Cheltenham. With no qualifications beyond my GCSEs I would have found it difficult getting work elsewhere.

Hexx wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

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.

We're getting a Burger King!?!!?!?

(But I go to the nice Burrito place if eating pre-film)

Yep apparently so. Quite a big one as well.

Gemini73 wrote:

Hexx wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

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.

We're getting a Burger King!?!!?!?

(But I go to the nice Burrito place if eating pre-film)

Yep apparently so. Quite a big one as well.

Love me some BK, clearly the superior choice to the filth that Ronald peddles!

I go to the high street so infrequently that I hadn't even realised the old one had closed down.

Jenuall wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

Hexx wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

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.

We're getting a Burger King!?!!?!?

(But I go to the nice Burrito place if eating pre-film)

Yep apparently so. Quite a big one as well.

Love me some BK, clearly the superior choice to the filth that Ronald peddles!

I go to the high street so infrequently that I hadn't even realised the old one had closed down.

Where was the old one?

I need to go the fancy new John Lewis soon to spend stupid about of money on things I don't need.

Hexx wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

Hexx wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

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.

We're getting a Burger King!?!!?!?

(But I go to the nice Burrito place if eating pre-film)

Yep apparently so. Quite a big one as well.

Love me some BK, clearly the superior choice to the filth that Ronald peddles!

I go to the high street so infrequently that I hadn't even realised the old one had closed down.

Where was the old one?

I need to go the fancy new John Lewis soon to spend stupid about of money on things I don't need.

It was on the high street if I recall correct - next to where Vodafone is now?

EDIT: I checked out the new JL last weekend, it was crazy busy and yes there is plenty to throw your money away on. Some truly impressive TVs in there, if you've got thousands to spend!

The old one was across from M&S.

Jenuall wrote:Some truly impressive TVs in there, if you've got thousands to spend!

I have a Credit Card