High Street Crisis

[Cricko]

Nice to see some lovely stores bucking the trend.I think it tells you all you need to know about it's demise and where this country is heading.

http://news.sky.com/story/1058041/high-street-crisis-chain-closures-accelerating

"Pound shops, pawnbrokers, charity shops, cheque cashing (payday loans), betting shops, supermarkets and coffee shops bucked the trend of a dying high street and actually showed growth during the year".

 

[Mad Cyril]

Pop up fireworks shops are my favourite.

 

[Homesick Shrimper]

Internet shopping and, dare I mention it on here, out-of-town retail parks mean high streets in the form we have known them are doomed.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Betting shops are the ones I don't understand.

Surely this makes more sense as an on-line business?

 

[chapperzUK]

Betting shops are the ones I don't understand.

Surely this makes more sense as an on-line business?

Some people see going down the bookies as part of their social life, or maybe it was just the local people at where I went uni.

 

[Tinks]

Personally I blame the like of Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and the big supermarkets. The out of town shopping centres do not help either

 

[Jam_Man]

Country is heading online, simple as that and retail is changing. Theres a recession of course, but online sales have rocketed.

Cant remember last time I bought anything of substance from a shop, always order online now after going to one of these 'stores in decline' to check it out first.

Until they compete with online stores, which is hard to see how it is possible, people will shop elsewhere.

THe high street needs to change, shops need to offer something different now. Was in Bury St Edmonds last year and their "high street" had the normal WHSmith etc, but a lot of individual small shops. Much better than most high streets.

http://www.techspot.com/news/51790-new-study-explores-amazons-impact-on-brick-and-mortar-retailers.html

Personally I blame the like of Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and the big supermarkets. The out of town shopping centres do not help either

Large stores like that certainly add another aspect of why the likes of Currys suffer.

 

[Napster]

The only way high street can compete with online retail is through customer service.

 

[Firestorm]

So basically, weak companies who do not evolve are closing down because the more forward thinking companies are getting greater market share
In a time of low growth is this a bad thing?
The companies bumping along the bottom have often only survived this long by borrowing. As lending is tight surely the limited funds being lent would be better utilised in helping the stronger companies expand, than prolonging the inevitable demise of those unable to evolve.

 

[Cricko]

So basically, weak companies who do not evolve are closing down because the more forward thinking companies are getting greater market share
In a time of low growth is this a bad thing?
The companies bumping along the bottom have often only survived this long by borrowing. As lending is tight surely the limited funds being lent would be better utilised in helping the stronger companies expand, than prolonging the inevitable demise of those unable to evolve.

It is if you are cutting 2500 high street jobs for a few hundred online workers...I am not saying that online is not the way forward as obviously it is, however with a huge gap in the job market already this is hardly going to improve the already pittance of job creation in the UK.

Trimming the bottom line is all well and good for the shareholders and bosses but it is not going to help anybody but those companies in the long term and only create more job losses.

The trouble is IT IS ALL about the ever spiralling need for growth/profit each year or a company is seen as failing. I remember when Stuart Rose rescued M&S..their profits soared, as soon as they dropped he was gone..It is impossible to keep on and on making a bigger profit year on year unless the world eventually is owned by one company.

 

[Hotman]

This is an area I've invested a lot of time in attempting to understand. At the moment I'm helping a number of overseas brand establish themselves in the UK, particularly service-based retail (whether service-led or product with ancillary customer service) or food and beverage. 'Death' of the high street has previously been due to the pension funds maintaining unrealistic rents to maintain asset value at the risk of empty properties, but that's now changing fortunately. I might be crazy, but I'm focusing my business in retail now.

 

[Hotman]

It is if you are cutting 2500 high street jobs for a few hundred online workers...I am not saying that online is not the way forward as obviously it is, however with a huge gap in the job market already this is hardly going to improve the already pittance of job creation in the UK.

Trimming the bottom line is all well and good for the shareholders and bosses but it is not going to help anybody but those companies in the long term and only create more job losses.

The trouble is IT IS ALL about the ever spiralling need for growth/profit each year or a company is seen as failing. I remember when Stuart Rose rescued M&S..their profits soared, as soon as they dropped he was gone..It is impossible to keep on and on making a bigger profit year on year unless the world eventually is owned by one company.

Not at all Cricko, unless you are discounting these profits for inflation, or we enter a period of sustained negative growth x

 

[Hotman]

The only way high street can compete with online retail is through customer service.

Spot on - although there will always be commodities vs service-led products. You'd buy a t-shirt online, but not a £450 pair of Church's unless you were absolutely certain of your size and what last suits your feet.

 

[Hotman]

Personally I blame the like of Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and the big supermarkets. The out of town shopping centres do not help either

I blame the Tories and Tony Blair

 

[Hotman]

Betting shops are the ones I don't understand.

Surely this makes more sense as an on-line business?

I think that the listed shops sum up the current demographic of the typical consumer - which will almost certainly turn again once areas are regenerated (which seems to be resuming).

 

[Jam_Man]

Thomas Cook cutting 2,500 jobs, about 60% of its workforce if I heard right. Apparently a lot of these will be stores acquired from Co-op 3 years ago.

Again, competing with online, however travel agents I can see having a reason to have a face to face service as some people will like to discuss the holiday with them. I personally booked everything for this years holiday online in seperate parts (accomodation/car/flight etc) and saved a fortune even over Virgin Holidays online. I do understand why some would like to actually go in and talk to one of the advisers though.

 

[Neil_F]

however with a huge gap in the job market already this is hardly going to improve the already pittance of job creation in the UK.

There have never been more people employed in the UK. Since 2008 there have been 800,000 net jobs created. Public sector jobs are down 400,000 so there have been 1.2m net private sector jobs created in the last 5 years.

Unemployment is low by global comparison. I'm not saying all is well because it clearly isn't. A lot of those jobs are part-time and unemployment is largely structural i.e. those people would still be unemployed if the economy was booming for various reasons.

Trimming the bottom line is all well and good for the shareholders and bosses but it is not going to help anybody but those companies in the long term and only create more job losses.

This is nonsense. Companies fail every day regardless of the economic conditions. Thomas Cook, HMV, Jessops, Woolworths and the rest failed because their business model was no longer relevant in the model economy. It is to the benefit of the wider economy that those businesses fail so that capital can be allocated to more productive businesses.

That I'm afraid is how a capitalist economy works. Yes, it is a traumatic experience for those involved but insulating weak and poor companies (for example the banks) has a wider impact as it acts as a drag on the economy.

No doubt you'll say I'm talking rubbish, Cricko, but what is your alternative? You and I agree that the banks should not have been bailed out but you cannot simultaneously suggest that Thomas Cook should be saved.

 

[Hotman]

Thomas Cook cutting 2,500 jobs, about 60% of its workforce if I heard right. Apparently a lot of these will be stores acquired from Co-op 3 years ago.

Again, competing with online, however travel agents I can see having a reason to have a face to face service as some people will like to discuss the holiday with them. I personally booked everything for this years holiday online in seperate parts (accomodation/car/flight etc) and saved a fortune even over Virgin Holidays online. I do understand why some would like to actually go in and talk to one of the advisers though.

I can see these, together with shops such as Carphone Warehouse, moving towards a self-serve environment within a shop, minimising advisor time - and the motivation of employees shifting to customer service vs current sales-led process (which can be replicated and enhanced via a POS terminal)

 

[Hotman]

There have never been more people employed in the UK. Since 2008 there have been 800,000 net jobs created. Public sector jobs are down 400,000 so there have been 1.2m net private sector jobs created in the last 5 years.

Unemployment is low by global comparison. I'm not saying all is well because it clearly isn't. A lot of those jobs are part-time and unemployment is largely structural i.e. those people would still be unemployed if the economy was booming for various reasons.



This is nonsense. Companies fail every day regardless of the economic conditions. Thomas Cook, HMV, Jessops, Woolworths and the rest failed because their business model was no longer relevant in the model economy. It is to the benefit of the wider economy that those businesses fail so that capital can be allocated to more productive businesses.

That I'm afraid is how a capitalist economy works. Yes, it is a traumatic experience for those involved but insulating weak and poor companies (for example the banks) has a wider impact as it acts as a drag on the economy.

No doubt you'll say I'm talking rubbish, Cricko, but what is your alternative? You and I agree that the banks should not have been bailed out but you cannot simultaneously suggest that Thomas Cook should be saved.

Indeed - take Thorntons. A shop that still requires a high st presence - adapted it's model by introducing catering, franchising lower performing stores (resulting in a huge turnover increase in those stores from what I hear) and hence saving many jobs. The blame has to be placed at the doors of the strategic directors of the above companies for not recognising the shift in consumer behaviour.

 

[steveo]

Personally I blame the like of Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and the big supermarkets. The out of town shopping centres do not help either

But do you use them?