Worrying news for the High Street

[Kendhni]

One in five shops could close by 2018, warns study
Personally I think even the headline is a bit optimistic and that the High Street has already taken a 1-in-5 battering but there will be a lot more to come.
My own town centre has been decimated with the main winners being mobile phone, pound shops and coffee shops.

On the plus side it frees up more land for housing/apartments ... on the negative side it is going to cost a lot of low-skilled jobs.

[Dancing Queen]

I agree Ken I'm sure there is a lot more to come.

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to buy a new CD which has just been released, HMV has gone, I tried our local WH Smith which had an abysmal selection, Tesco then seemed the best option, they had either sold out or hadn't got it in yet so being impatient I eventually ordered from Amazon + free postage.

I would have been more than happy to buy locally, support our town and help to retain jobs sadly the internet is just so much easier, my other alternative would have been a 30 mile round trip to Sheffield which add the cost of petrol to the equation and that is a no no

[Gill W]

I don't mind shopping for pleasure, by which I mean a trip to Bluewater or Westfields, or browsing vintage shops and fairs, but for things I really need, I nearly always turn to the internet.

You just tap in your most obscure requirements, and in seconds you get a selection to choose from.

I often use eBay, and sometimes, out of curiosity, I look up the seller on Google earth. Many times I have found that the seller is a small shop, who also sells on eBay.

Even the smallest places need to be online these days, and the ones that can adapt are the ones more likely to survive. Of course, if they gave up their shop premises completely and just sold online they'd save a lot of money. So maybe shops will close, but the business itself may keep on trading.

[Quizzical Bob]

Parking charges innit.

[Dark Knight]

sky high rental costs and too much competition from the big supermarkets ,couple that with the boom in online shopping and there you have the demise of the high street
more cafe's ,more food outlets to come

[Manoverboard]

If I can avoid a shop, bar food, then I do ... can't see the point of looking at piles of stuff that I neither want nor need when I can concentrate on buying the stuff I do need without going out in the snow, ice, sleet or the rain ... on sunny days the last place we wish to be is in a shop.

[Mr-big-bits-mk2]

It has to be expected.

Who wants to wade through traffic moving at 15mph for 30 minutes, spend another 30 minutes trying to find a parking space, pay a rensome to park the car, walk around for hours finding out who is the cheapest (it will always be the first shop you went in) and then reverse the whole proces when you can turn the PC on and have it all done in a few minutes at probably save money on the high street price.

The daft part is that the cost of rents and parking etc will end up hitting the council and landlords the hardest when the only takers for the high street will be charity shops. The sky high costs will result in both taking a hit in the long run.

[david63]

The daft part is that the cost of rents and parking etc will end up hitting the council and landlords the hardest when the only takers for the high street will be charity shops. The sky high costs will result in both taking a hit in the long run.

Not only that but it will affect the likes of pension funds who have, in the past, been known to use property funds for large chunks of their investment portfolio.

[Jacknian]

It is sad that lots of the shops in my nearest town -- Cambridge, have closed, but I don't think that everyone shops on line. I do buy books CDs etc from amazon but when it comes to clothes shopping nothing compares with browsing the rails trying on items and feeling the fabric, or seeing if shoes are comfortable and you can walk in them ! It's a pain to order clothes on line and then finding nothing fits properly and having to send them back.

[towny44]

IMO the only way to save the high street is to follow the lead of the out of town malls, they must provide free parking, and they need to build a roof over the entire shopping area.

[Silver_Shiney]

The daft part is that the cost of rents and parking etc will end up hitting the council and landlords the hardest when the only takers for the high street will be charity shops. The sky high costs will result in both taking a hit in the long run.

Not only that but it will affect the likes of pension funds who have, in the past, been known to use property funds for large chunks of their investment portfolio.

Not necessarily - many retailers have signed long contracts, which they must still honour even though they have closed that particular shop. I was reading yesterday of a small trader who is barely making ends meet, but wants to expand. The property he'd like to move into has been empty a while, but the previous tenant is still locked into the agreement and the landlord won't cancel it.

The centre of Bristol has a great number of closed shops and looks a right dump. However, the Gloucester/Cheltenham Road (A38), leading north out of the centre, is a thriving street of small independents.

[david63]

The daft part is that the cost of rents and parking etc will end up hitting the council and landlords the hardest when the only takers for the high street will be charity shops. The sky high costs will result in both taking a hit in the long run.

Not only that but it will affect the likes of pension funds who have, in the past, been known to use property funds for large chunks of their investment portfolio.

Not necessarily - many retailers have signed long contracts, which they must still honour even though they have closed that particular shop. I was reading yesterday of a small trader who is barely making ends meet, but wants to expand. The property he'd like to move into has been empty a while, but the previous tenant is still locked into the agreement and the landlord won't cancel it.

The centre of Bristol has a great number of closed shops and looks a right dump. However, the Gloucester/Cheltenham Road (A38), leading north out of the centre, is a thriving street of small independents.

True SS - but only if the trader has not gone into administration. No matter what the terms/length of the contract are - if there is no money then the rent will not get paid.

[Silver_Shiney]

The centre of Bristol has a great number of closed shops and looks a right dump. However, the Gloucester/Cheltenham Road (A38), leading north out of the centre, is a thriving street of small independents.

True SS - but only if the trader has not gone into administration. No matter what the terms/length of the contract are - if there is no money then the rent will not get paid.[/quote]


Absolutely, which is why I said "not necessarily"

[mavismumakrill]

The main problems for the small retailer in a town centre are: parking charges, business rates and VAT.

Since the VAT went up to 20% a lot of shops have closed because of the fact that they have to charge the extra so sell less and then have to pay that to the VAT office.

My son, David, has coped by 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' as they say but business has been picking up the last week, especially today when Bridlington was heaving. Although he is a newsagent (non- delivery) he makes most of his profits by having gradually changing more into a discounted priced toy shop. He can beat Argos and Tesco for prices on exact toys and still make a small profit, which he says is better than having goods on the shelves waiting to be sold because of the price being similar to such as Argos. He sells a lot of sweets - from jars, weighed out and a lot of the old fashioned sweets, plus he can't keep stocked up enough with cigarettes and tobacco. He tends to find his main expenses are such as the extra VAT, business rates and building rent. He is buying the lease and shop good-will and contents when he took it over and that means paying a lot out in loan repayments but he is coping. Lots of other shops in Bridlington have closed down, especially some of the newsagents, but they have to learn to diversify to stay afloat as my son has. Each year he tries to introduce something completely different to the shop and caters to the caravan community in the Summer with living essentials now.

Sometimes, people give up too easily without trying to introduce different type of goods in their shops.

Mavis x