I don't quite understand all this. Why are they asking for views directed to a private magazine ? Wouldn't they be better going to the council etc ?
Must admit I also find it a little strange that this debate came about by the leader of the Council asking for views in a magazine which is only distributed to a small, supposedly select, number of households in the town. Until this thread came up I must admit that I'd never heard of Oracle, I don't live in the right road, don'tcha know, old boy.
Find it interesting that this magazine, which is supposedly aimed at 'the opinion formers' in the town, has published almost exclusively positive letters. I wonder if that is truly representative of their postbag?
Conversely, the Echo seems to be printing very little but negative letters in their letters pages, mainly from people seeming to be under the delusion that FF will kill Southend High Street; I've got news for them, Southend High Street is getting very close to drawing its final breaths without any potential assistance from FF, it has achieved that all on its own. Basically, the traditional High Street is a dead business model for anything but small niche shops. Realistically any large retailer will struggle and continue to struggle in a high rent, high rate environment in an area which makes the majority of shoppers who come by anything other than public transport unwelcome. These visitors are then subjected to an experience which can be cold, wet and windy, especially in the peak retail season just before and after Xmas, and can also be threatening and scary after dark.
Most of the large chain retailers, even at somewhere like Lakeside, which is welcoming, warm and conducive to a more pleasant shopping experience are rapidly becoming little more than showrooms for their goods to be purchased online; Debenhams, for instance, actually didn't have something in the right size that we wanted to purchase this year and we were advised that they almost certainly would have it online by an assistant who also pointed to a sign that said that if we ordered online before 8pm they would guarantee delivery before 12 midday the following morning....
In the not too distant future the only retail premises that will exist will be very niche shops, others, which will basically be showrooms for goods which you would like to see in the flesh before purchase, and anything which actually requires your physical presence, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, hairdressers and the like. This is what will make FF attractive to many retailers who will address the physical needs of a customer whose physical presence is in their vicinity. The football stadium, and also the multi-screen cinema, will attract a guaranteed footfall passing the front door of those types of business, even more so if the stadium can hold concerts, exhibitions, conferences and the like.
It is the direction in which retail, both in this country, and abroad, is moving, almost inexorably and, as a supporter of SUFC, I feel it can only be a good thing to be involved in the future evolution of the coming retail model.
