14 UK High Street shops closing every day

[Eldorado]

The crisis facing the high street is set to "intensify" after shops closed at a rate of almost 14 a day in the first half of the year, a report says.

It found store openings continued to lag the pace of closures in a period that saw several household names disappear and others seek emergency rescue deals to stay afloat.

According to the analysis of 500 high streets by accountancy specialist PwC and the Local Data Company, 2,692 stores were shut between January and June.

Just 1,569 started up - a record low, the report said, because of plunging confidence.

Full report: https://news.sky.com/story/high-street-crisis-shops-closing-at-a-rate-of-14-per-day-11548807

[RAyMO]

9 minutes ago, seanjo said:

And that is our fault for using online shopping.

Yes - but I am not sure fault is the right word. Consumers will spend where most convenient and with best value for money, imo that is reasonable. At the minute consumers judge that online provides that. 

what worries me is the impact on local jobs, and indeed local money. By that I mean shopping online takes money out of the local area both directly and via a reduction in local tax receipts. this could be even worse if, due to the nature of the online companies, the money is also being siphoned out of the country.

The government need to look long and hard at this.

 

[freetoroam]

1 hour ago, seanjo said:

And that is our fault for using online shopping.

I used to work in a couple of large department store, the companies began lowering the stock levels on our best selling products because they wanted us to order the products on their online systems for the customer, this was a disaster for us and we could all see it. 

The customers came to the store because that was part of their shopping experience and day out, they could not get what they wanted because we did not have the stock in store, we lost many regular customers who from then started to order the products themselves on line.

Promotions which were once exclusive to the store counters, then became available on line.

The companies forced the online shopping on us and forced the customers to shop elsewhere.

House of Frazers, you had it coming. 

 

[DodgyDaoist]

21 hours ago, seanjo said:

And that is our fault for using online shopping.

Peoples wallets dictate where they shop. If online is cheaper , more convenient and better priced, people will shop there, it is simple economics.

If your brick and mortar shops cannot keep up or cannot compete price wise, stock wise etc , then they will fall behind.

We also live in a world of instant gratification so people are no longer willing to wait for a shop to re-stock on sold out items, or put up with shoddy service or rude and incompetent staff and often a general lack of service, while on the other hand a few clicks of a mouse button and you have what you want and you know its on the way to your door.

[RAyMO]

In some ways the change is more drastic than simply bricks and mortar v online.

In the past if I wanted:

• A book or pens I went to Easons or the like;
• pharmaceutical items to Boots or...;
• toys to Toys R Us or ....;
• vaper stuff to local vape shop;
• videos to local video shop;
• A clarinet to local music shop;
• etc, etc;

Now I go to Amazon, for everything. Yes convenient, and all the other tick boxes. But what happens when Amazon has no competition?

What lies ahead?

 

[+susieice]

Have you had any difficulty getting something from Amazon shipped to Britain? I tried to order online from a company based in London. I went into their website and was told they can't ship to the US.

[Duke Wellington]

On ‎09‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:16 AM, seanjo said:

And that is our fault for using online shopping.

Its their fault for not adapting to new technology.

They can keep a handful of superstores for people who want to go have a look at expensive things before buying. But the rest needs shifting online.

I guess it kind of sorts out those businesses whose university educated management team dont practice what they were taught.

Edited November 10, 2018 by RabidMongoose

[Eldorado]

It's a shame when there are still so many people who enjoy shopping and people who'd rather feel and try on clothes before buying them.  Buying yourself stuff can be a good day out if planned and executed properly.

[stevewinn]

The retail parks are booming. Just been to the local one, these edge of town developments where ground rent is cheaper, with ample free parking are a natural response to the inner city centres. Where council and councillors have sucked life out of them charging extortionate council tax rates for the prime location, then they've added all sorts of anti car measures, bus lanes only monitored by cctv which then fine motorist who accidently go in the lane, then we have one way systems which end up as choke points. Then we have the parking, free parking at the retail parks, in the city centre 10 minute walk from the main highstreet £1 for 30 mins. Go closer in and its £5 or more. If you want to make a day of it £8 plus easy. Then the traffic jam on the way home. Could always get the bus I guess, £2.50, or £5 round trip. but don't know what day you'll get home. 

Internet shopping brilliant. Retail parks. Great. 

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by stevewinn

[Still Waters]

3 hours ago, susieice said:

Have you had any difficulty getting something from Amazon shipped to Britain? I tried to order online from a company based in London. I went into their website and was told they can't ship to the US.

I've used Amazon several times for shipping from Britain to the US with no problems at all. I ordered from their US site. It should work fine for you the other way around.

[DodgyDaoist]

5 hours ago, susieice said:

Have you had any difficulty getting something from Amazon shipped to Britain? I tried to order online from a company based in London. I went into their website and was told they can't ship to the US.

There is a setting on the Amazon site for International shipping, also due to trade restrictions some things may not be shipped to certain countries

Maybe the item in question fell into that range.

[Still Waters]

1 hour ago, DodgyDaoist said:

There is a setting on the Amazon site for International shipping, also due to trade restrictions some things may not be shipped to certain countries

Maybe the item in question fell into that range.

That's why I ordered from the US Amazon site instead of the British one. Ordering something from the US to be shipped to an address in the US is much easier, and log in information is the same on both sites.

[+susieice]

Thanks Still Waters and Dodgy. I'll try and see if that works.