Our town centres will be ghost towns at this rate!
Jane Norman chain goes pop
Now Thorntons Chocolates are closing 180 stores
BBC News - Thorntons set to close up to 180 shops
Mind you, as you can buy Thorntons from the supermarkets, or order online, it's chain did seem an expensive overhead. We live in a tourist town, yet you only really see them selling icecream (which is great) but highly competitive.
Soon our town centre will be dominated with
..and don't forget T J Hughes department store chain, looks like they were going online a bit too late! ..and Carpetright are reducing their stores too 
Well don't worry McDonalds will take them all over! They are always looking for more store space highlandspring
But its not all bad for the Highstreet. Stratford Council reduced the parking fees in the town centre recently, so for only 50p, you can park for 30 minutes and window shop at all the whitewashed and boarded up shops  Or of course drive to the new retail park, and park for free...
“But its not all bad for the Highstreet. Stratford Council reduced the parking fees in the town centre recently, so for only 50p, you can park for 30 minutes and window shop at all the whitewashed and boarded up shops Or of course drive to the new retail park, and park for free...” Well think again! Most retail parks now have a parking limit, 2 - 4 hours depending on how many shops the park has - normally a tiny little board advises you of this as you drive in -even our local McD's has a time limit to eat in with a restriction of no return within a set time frame! Be aware you don't get caught out! Clive
I take the train, oxford street is still very busy Mark Pitts
There's a disconnect in the thinking isn't there? If you make it cheaper and easier for the richer part of the population (those able to afford cars) to shop in a retail park rather than the High St, that's where they'll go (all things being equal). Then you leave the High St to the leisure visitors (people going to the theatre, cinemas etc) and to the less mobile and less well off ... and surprisingly, they spend less money in the shops. Linda CareersPartnershipUK
“Then you leave the High St to the leisure visitors (people going to the theatre, cinemas etc) and to the less mobile and less well off ... and surprisingly, they spend less money in the shops.” Sad thing is you could see this coming years ago. Car parking got worse and worse, with charges rising, so you no longer just "pop" into town. Shop rents rise and rise so the independents let alone the chains struggle to keep themselves viable. Then the big out of town retail park opens, and we all head over there. So what becomes of the high street, maybe it is now aimed at leisure visitors, although pubs are folding and a lot (although not all) restaurants seem to be struggling. So there we go, Highstreet of the future,
Meanwhile the council stuff their bloated administrations full of unnecessary staff and have no money free for regeneration. I am even thinking of emigrating to Australia things seem to be that bad! highlandspring |
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