Death of the High Street?

[paddyhasneeds]

Does your local high street serve any purpose any more?

Just playing with my latest toy from Amazon and it occurred to me that there's actually very little purpose to my town centre any more apart from things such as getting my hair cut, buying toiletries or the butchers/grocers.

I live in a fairly normal town I would say, and if I need clothes there is nowhere that sells anything decent unless I want Burtons or TJ Hughes.

If I want shoes that cost more than £20 there is one shop and whilst I realise that a shop costs money to run and staff if I can walk in there and try on a pair of £100 shoes and go home and buy them online within 5 minutes for £60 what am I supposed to do?

Ditto for pretty much anything electrical, anything computer related, we do have an Argos for other items but the "out of town" one that I pass every day on the way to/from work is more convenient and doesn't charge me a quid to park.

Now I guess the one thing I'm not factoring in is that I'm young and healthy and internet savvy so can do all of this, town centres will presumably always do quite well out of older people who simply don't have the choice and means that younger people do to use the internet or go out of town.

Admittedly once you get to the likes of London or Manchester the sheer size and diversity of shops makes for a lot more choice (ignoring the price factor), but for all the other hundreds of small towns/cities across the UK it makes me wonder where it's all headed.

[10 Pence Short]

You can rub TJ Hughes off your list. They've just gone into administration.

[Deva Link]

paddyhasneeds said:

Does your local high street serve any purpose any more?

Just playing with my latest toy from Amazon and it occurred to me that there's actually very little purpose to my town centre any more apart from things such as getting my hair cut, buying toiletries or the butchers/grocers.

I live in a fairly normal town I would say, and if I need clothes there is nowhere that sells anything decent unless I want Burtons or TJ Hughes.

TJ Hughes went bust last week.

I doubt many people buy toiletries or use the butchers/grocers on the high street anymore. So that leaves getting your cut.

A lot of people struggle with deliveries of internet purchases - if they're at work all day, and in a place that won't take stuff for them.

Edited by Deva Link on Saturday 2nd July 14:59

[daemon]

paddyhasneeds said:

Does your local high street serve any purpose any more?

Just playing with my latest toy from Amazon and it occurred to me that there's actually very little purpose to my town centre any more apart from things such as getting my hair cut, buying toiletries or the butchers/grocers.

I live in a fairly normal town I would say, and if I need clothes there is nowhere that sells anything decent unless I want Burtons or TJ Hughes.

If I want shoes that cost more than £20 there is one shop and whilst I realise that a shop costs money to run and staff if I can walk in there and try on a pair of £100 shoes and go home and buy them online within 5 minutes for £60 what am I supposed to do?

Ditto for pretty much anything electrical, anything computer related, we do have an Argos for other items but the "out of town" one that I pass every day on the way to/from work is more convenient and doesn't charge me a quid to park.

Now I guess the one thing I'm not factoring in is that I'm young and healthy and internet savvy so can do all of this, town centres will presumably always do quite well out of older people who simply don't have the choice and means that younger people do to use the internet or go out of town.

Admittedly once you get to the likes of London or Manchester the sheer size and diversity of shops makes for a lot more choice (ignoring the price factor), but for all the other hundreds of small towns/cities across the UK it makes me wonder where it's all headed.

Between superstores such as Tescos branching in to all areas of retail and online companies, the high streets as we know them are pretty much a goner.

Sadly, the public have flocked to the likes of Tescos and buy on line, so they've effectively killed off their own local businesses in doing so.

[chris watton]

Tescos for food, mags, toiletries and the rest of the stuff I want/need is bought online.

[soad]

Should see the amount of people in and out of the city centre - pretty much everyone is sporting shopping bags.
Weekends are made for shopping, always manage to grab something new

Dislike online shopping clothes-wise, can be hard to get the fitting right.
Much easier to pop in store

[carmonk]

Unless I happen to be in town and buy a magazine and a coffee I buy virtually nothing from the high street, just my food from the supermarket. Everthing I want I buy online with almost no exceptions. In fact, I can't recall anything non-food I've bought from the highstreet in the past few years. I was in town recently, killing a couple of hours, and I wandered into HMV. Looked at some games for the 360, just out of interest; one was £39, the other £34. On Amazon they were £29 and £17. You'd have to be mad to buy stuff like that from the highstreet. That's not to mention the almost complete lack of free parking and the crowds of diseased chavs.

[paddyhasneeds]

Good point on TJ's. I remember when they built the current precinct with a large department store unit at the end of it and there was a lot of buzz and hype around whether we would get a Debenham's, an M&S, a Rackhams, but in the end we got a northern discount store and obviously our town isn't the only one that doesn't flock to buy lots of cheap tat.

As for toiletries/groceries, the bulk of that still comes from M&S/Morrisons/Waitrose/Co-Op but it's the one thing that I will sometimes get from town.

My point is that for almost anything else that I can think of, anything at all, it's not only cheaper to get it online or out of town but they actually have stock of it.

Oh and our Dixons has closed this week too. Now whatever your thoughts on Dixons, if the sole electrical store in your local town centre can't justify its existence something's fked somewhere.

[The Moose]

The high street is a constantly evolving thing (it just seems to be evolving faster at the moment).

I've noticed that there are 3 types of highstreet near me

1. Very large towns and cities (e.g. London !) - they will look very similar for a long while I think. Slow evolver.

2. Medium sized towns (e.g. Slough) - the traditional shops seem to be being replaced with whatever the local influx of immigrants tend to be (e.g. in Slough we have loads of Polish shops). This and a bunch of Pounland/99p shops. This happens over a period of time. Medium speed evolver

3. Small towns/villages - they tend to be losing the traditional shops to be replaced with small Tesco/Sainsburys, coffee shopes (usually Costa/Starbucks along with the occasional indy), hair dressers and boutique shops (quite often clothes). This happens very quickly (my village has undergone this change in 24 months or so). Fast evolver.

Maybe not what you would find 50 years ago (or even 10), but it is the constantly evolving high street.

I guess it's what do we (the general public) want? Actually, let me rephrase that - I guess it's what do we (the general public) want and are willing to pay for?

Cheers

The Moose

[daemon]

The Moose said:

The high street is a constantly evolving thing (it just seems to be evolving faster at the moment).

I've noticed that there are 3 types of highstreet near me

1. Very large towns and cities (e.g. London !) - they will look very similar for a long while I think. Slow evolver.

2. Medium sized towns (e.g. Slough) - the traditional shops seem to be being replaced with whatever the local influx of immigrants tend to be (e.g. in Slough we have loads of Polish shops). This and a bunch of Pounland/99p shops. This happens over a period of time. Medium speed evolver

3. Small towns/villages - they tend to be losing the traditional shops to be replaced with small Tesco/Sainsburys, coffee shopes (usually Costa/Starbucks along with the occasional indy), hair dressers and boutique shops (quite often clothes). This happens very quickly (my village has undergone this change in 24 months or so). Fast evolver.

Maybe not what you would find 50 years ago (or even 10), but it is the constantly evolving high street.

I guess it's what do we (the general public) want? Actually, let me rephrase that - I guess it's what do we (the general public) want and are willing to pay for?

Cheers

The Moose

You're bang on with this - my local town, sadly, falls into category 2...

[GTIR]

The local independents have all been doing it for years, are jaded and miserable to customers. They are not rude per se just indifferent.

They have failed to diversify to meet modern demands.

Good riddance.

[paddyhasneeds]

The Moose said:

3. Small towns/villages - they tend to be losing the traditional shops to be replaced with small Tesco/Sainsburys, coffee shopes (usually Costa/Starbucks along with the occasional indy), hair dressers and boutique shops (quite often clothes). This happens very quickly (my village has undergone this change in 24 months or so). Fast evolver.

We're somewhere between 2 and 3 I guess. The physical town centre always seems small for the population. What I don't understand is how a town of around 70,000 can turn into somewhere where if you want an eye test, a cup of coffee, or to buy a house, you have more choice than if you simply need a new pair of trousers.

[The Moose]

paddyhasneeds said:

The Moose said:

3. Small towns/villages - they tend to be losing the traditional shops to be replaced with small Tesco/Sainsburys, coffee shopes (usually Costa/Starbucks along with the occasional indy), hair dressers and boutique shops (quite often clothes). This happens very quickly (my village has undergone this change in 24 months or so). Fast evolver.

We're somewhere between 2 and 3 I guess. The physical town centre always seems small for the population. What I don't understand is how a town of around 70,000 can turn into somewhere where if you want an eye test, a cup of coffee, or to buy a house, you have more choice than if you simply need a new pair of trousers.

Because people won't pay to have those trousers there.

That's the problem is that people won't pay - hence why the butchers/greengrocers etc have long gone.

Our local greengrocer noticed that business was st. He took a couple of weeks off, went on a course of how to cook fish and chips (fast food) and now is looking to open his third shop in the area. Fantastic diversification...and great fish and chips!!

Cheers

The Moose

[Y282]

i bloody hate town centre shopping, it's nothing but ballache. i won't go into town unless i have absolutely no choice.

online is cheaper, uses less of my time up and doesn't dent my doors. even do the big shop for online/delivery now.

[soad]

The Moose said:

Our local greengrocer noticed that business was st. He took a couple of weeks off, went on a course of how to cook fish and chips (fast food) and now is looking to open his third shop in the area. Fantastic diversification...and great fish and chips!!

Clever boy. Adapt and evolve

[The Moose]

soad said:

The Moose said:

Our local greengrocer noticed that business was st. He took a couple of weeks off, went on a course of how to cook fish and chips (fast food) and now is looking to open his third shop in the area. Fantastic diversification...and great fish and chips!!

Clever boy. Adapt and evolve

Most Friday and Saturday nights he has queues out the door and there isn't a time I drive past between 6 and 8 most nights that there are customers in there.

I think it's commendable and I'm impressed (with the business nouce and this fish and chips)!

Cheers

The Moose

[paddyhasneeds]

The Moose said:

Because people won't pay to have those trousers there.

I don't mean designer/expensive stuff. I mean any stuff. Actually that's not true, there are a couple of "older gents" shops, but if you're not one of those, you've got Burton and that's it, literally.

It's just so weird to have a Boots, a Superdrug, some other chain who seem to get by with bottles of toiletries piled 17 high to make the place look full, an O2 shop, a Vodaphone shop, an Orange shop, and a Carphone Warehouse all within 2 minutes of each other, Cafe Nero, Subway, 2 of the that place who's name has just gone out of my mind (Ily?), you get the point, there's obviously footfall enough for mobile phones and cups of coffee, but nowhere to buy a TV, some trainers, my ubiquitous trousers, some nice shoes.

I know that the bottom line of it is exactly as you say and if there was a market for it someone would have taken the opportunity, but I still wonder just how we got to this.

[Jasandjules]

paddyhasneeds said:

If I want shoes that cost more than £20 there is one shop and whilst I realise that a shop costs money to run and staff if I can walk in there and try on a pair of £100 shoes and go home and buy them online within 5 minutes for £60 what am I supposed to do?

Well if you keep doing that then soon there won't be a shop to go and try the shoes on in......

[okgo]

I live in a small place in sw London area, has no shops of use really, just pubs, eateries, cafes and two big supermarkets in Sainsburys and Waitrose. So I guess lots of the shops have buffered off already. Luckily for me I live next to a shopping hub, and as such it has everyshop/brand you ever could need and it's rammed every weekend. But it's a 15 min walk so for most stuff I'll buy it on the day, clothes etc.

I personally don't care what happens to the local highstreet as long as there is the essentials and I live near a main town.

[MercuryRises]

My home town is Dead. We have a chippy, 2 Chinese Takeaways, 2 Indians, a pizza express, more estate agents and hairdressers/barbers than you can shake a stick at, Morrisons, Sainsbury and Waitrose, Oxfam, Banardos, Marie Curie, help the aged and another charity shop. Thats about it, and this is a tiny little place, two main streets. Mind, we do have have 6 pubs