Death of the High Street

Big Jeff

Winger
Has covid finally hammered the last nail into the coffin of the High Street or do you think some retailers will survive and thrive beyond this pandemic?

The recent takeovers of High Street stores where the new owners only want the brand and will trade online only Seems to point to the end of the high street as we knew it.
 


Has covid finally hammered the last nail into the coffin of the High Street or do you think some retailers will survive and thrive beyond this pandemic?

The recent takeovers of High Street stores where the new owners only want the brand and will trade online only Seems to point to the end of the high street as we knew it.
good question

i think the high street shopping experience is gonna take a massive hit. as has been the way, for years. why bother travelling into town and trying to find parking etc etc, when you can do your shopping online and get items delivered to your specified address? if the clothes don't fit, just return them. people can seek out cheaper prices and not wait, until the spring/summer/autumn/winter sales

what i've seen or about to first hand, is that newcastle city centre is going to change massively in the next couple of years - more retail units being built, as the building i work from has had its 6 months notice served. there doesn't seem to be much sense in building new units where i am, when there's a load of empty units in eldon sq
 
Out of town retail parks and more recently online shopping has certainly put the nail in the coffin for loads of things.
Thing is, the writing has been on the wall for ages. They've just not adapted and councils/town planners haven't caught up.
You want life in the town centre etc? You've got to have things people will want to go do, besides shops.
I hope business rates come down so more things are encouraged to open which people might want. Similarly I hope that there's a block on how many of certain things can be in a high street - size depending.
Bishop high street seemed to be Bookies, Charity Shops, Bakers - and repeat.
Too many bookies considering you can do that online these days too.

We have someone in Westhoughton who is convinced we need a "Cafe Society" here but it's not likely to kick off as we don't have the demographic for it. Yes during the summer there's more people about and in the evening too, but you need to have a range of things to draw people in. Foot, drink, entertainment etc.
However, you can build it but you can't make people visit
 
I'm actually contrariant to this. I think local town centres will rebuild and thrive. It's the leveraged dreary shite in out of town commercial centres that will take the hit. Rubbish, leveraged chains like pets at home and Laura Ashley. Smaller retailers will fill the gap especially if people wfh more. Nip to the local cafe and pop into the butcher or pet shop. The main barrier is high rents and parking charges. Online retail clearly an issue so the composition of towns/villages will change. White goods retailers for example will die.

Stuff like hairdressers, funeral directors, nail bars, coffee shops, grocers, Butcher's, florists, restaurants etc ought to do very well
 
good question

i think the high street shopping experience is gonna take a massive hit. as has been the way, for years. why bother travelling into town and trying to find parking etc etc, when you can do your shopping online and get items delivered to your specified address? if the clothes don't fit, just return them. people can seek out cheaper prices and not wait, until the spring/summer/autumn/winter sales
You've nailed it in that paragraph. It's just laziness of the masses... same cause of litter dropping, selfish parking and not picking up dog shit.

Those things all happen (as well as disappearing shops) because most people just can't be bothered to make any effort.
 
The high street will never die, it will just evolve as it has done for centuries. Less big box retail, more leisure uses, restaurants, bars. Most peoples high streets are still the centre of their communities.
Agree. They are likely to be smaller than we see today but provide a better offer, with more independent stores.

another reason town and cities centres have died is due to urban sprawl with properties getting bigger, including introduction of private gardens, and social mobility with people owning more cars making journeys and choice a lot simpler.

When you look around the older parts of the city you tend to find the older properties had rear yards and small front gardens. I think this forced people out of their houses and into the town / city centres and with limited public transport you would venture to your local centre. With new housing and supermarkets selling everything in a single store we have become less inclined to get out the house and use the local facilities. This isn’t so much the case in high density / larger cities where people living in apartments and the like tend to be out more socialising in bars, restaurants, cafes, parks etc.. we have simply suburbanised ourselves to much.
 
You makes that sound like a bad thing. Ultimately shops are there to serve the consumer, if there are more convenient options available the consumer isn't obliged to put themselves out for the high street. Shopping is a fuck on.
You can do anything you want out of town, it’s made going into it pretty pointless other than on the lash for me.
 
I'm actually contrariant to this. I think local town centres will rebuild and thrive. It's the leveraged dreary shite in out of town commercial centres that will take the hit. Rubbish, leveraged chains like pets at home and Laura Ashley. Smaller retailers will fill the gap especially if people wfh more. Nip to the local cafe and pop into the butcher or pet shop. The main barrier is high rents and parking charges. Online retail clearly an issue so the composition of towns/villages will change. White goods retailers for example will die.

Stuff like hairdressers, funeral directors, nail bars, coffee shops, grocers, Butcher's, florists, restaurants etc ought to do very well
A bit like micro breweries when the global market wiped out the breweries that were associated with certain areas/towns.

The High Street was dead because only people who could afford the rent were the massive chains.

Actually the big box retailers out of town might struggle because anything can be bought from the internet. I shed no tear when ToysrUs went. They killed off thousands of small independent toy shops.

Your thoughts will be backed up because I think people are ready to pay more for less but have it as part of a service.

Yes you can buy 24 cans of Stella for a tenner (or whatever it costs) but there are only so many drinks you need to drink and it will be nice to drink them in nice surroundings.

Don't get me wrong there is still a place for getting hammered on next nothing in a mate's garden.
 
Mate of mine lives in Wellingborough and they had a similar problem.

Because that area of the country is made up of several small towns it left the consumer a choice.
They could shop local or just as easily go to Kettering, Northampton, Milton Keyens etc.

What the council did was make the car parks free, now on a weekend the town centre is busy and very accessible.
It meant that people were more likely to shop in their own town centre than travel to out of town shopping malls (Milton keyens has a huge place).

Town centre shops are already at a disadvantage as they can only hold limited stock, whereas online retailers have warehouses.
I tried to buy a pair of trainers recently and went to the town to get them the same day.
After visiting every sports shop in the town I could buy them that day, either they didn't have my size or denied that it existed in my size.
I went back to the car and got them cheaper with free delivery the next day.

Sort of puts you off ever going back.
 
You makes that sound like a bad thing. Ultimately shops are there to serve the consumer, if there are more convenient options available the consumer isn't obliged to put themselves out for the high street. Shopping is a fuck on.
Well yes, it is for lazy people. I’m more than happy to do the “fuck on” and make the effort to support the shops and market in Ely. I’d be gutted if they started closing but you’re right, it’s the way things are going because it’s easier to click and the. Get stuff delivered.

I do think shops built and based in the community are a good thing. They also have the freedoms to offer variety. Otherwise every High Street will look increasingly the same. With national chains the only advantage to the community is the wages the staff are paid. Otherwise the money is siphoned out of the community and off to London or offshore.

The eventual fate of the High Street is when it degenerates into a repeating pattern of bookies, closed pub, kebab shop, pawn brokers, boarded up shop, charity shop....... much like Chested-le-Street Front Street is today.
 

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