interestrateripoff Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/08/town-shopping-malls-fuel-price Soaring petrol prices are hitting sales at out-of-town shopping centres as cash-strapped consumers think twice about making long journeys to retail destinations such as Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and the Metrocentre in Gateshead.As the price of oil breached $124 a barrel for the first time in two and a half years – and is now at a record in sterling terms, as a result of the weaker pound – John Lewis revealed big sales declines at its shops in key out-of-town malls, including Bluewater in Kent and Cribbs Causeway. Takings at the retailer's Bluewater department store are down more than 9% since the end of January, with the decline accelerating to more than 12% in the most recent week. At the John Lewis store in Cribbs Causeway mall sales have tumbled more than 11% so far this year and were down more than 14% last week. City retail analyst Freddie George, at brokers Seymour Pierce, said: "With the petrol price so high, we knew this was coming and these John Lewis figures provide the first significant evidence." The dismal sales at John Lewis's out-of-town centres are in sharp contrast to its more traditional city centre branches and internet site. Retail research group Synovate, which monitors the number of shoppers visiting retail centres nationwide, said it had also detected a move for shoppers to stay local. The number of shoppers going through the doors of out-of-town centres fell nearly 12% in March, compared with last year, and compared with a 7% decline across all shops. Looks like Osborne had better get ramping petrol higher to make up for the lost sales taxes. People staying local and I'm better buying less. Just getting what they need. It's the austerity recovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man o' the year Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) There was a report today (on BBC radio I think) saying how bad things were for tourist industry and interniewed hotelier and restauranteur from Anglesey. Hotelier spoke of laying off staff. Edited April 8, 2011 by man o' the year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travisher Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Since the price of fuel has risen so much I have started to drive with light feet. I get ~58mpg if I'm careful. However, I get overtaken by cars doing around 80-100mph every day. I have not seen anyone else driving slowly. I can only conclude that the price ain't high enough yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okaycuckoo Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Since the price of fuel has risen so much I have started to drive with light feet. I get ~58mpg if I'm careful. However, I get overtaken by cars doing around 80-100mph every day. I have not seen anyone else driving slowly. I can only conclude that the price ain't high enough yet. The speedsters may be public sector. Higher allowance per mile than ordinary Joes. They'll be driving limos when the rest of us have to revert to Ladas and other such "people's cars". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Local shops for local people? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear in mind Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Soaring petrol prices hitting sales? Modern cars do 65mpg so how far out are these centers? Bristol Cribbs causway is 5 miles from the center. The cost of fuel would be less than parking for a town center shop! I think it's the cost of everything. INFLATION. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Soaring petrol prices hitting sales? Modern cars do 65mpg so how far out are these centers? Bristol Cribbs causway is 5 miles from the center. The cost of fuel would be less than parking for a town center shop! I think it's the cost of everything. INFLATION. The catchment areas that these centres rely on to keep their overall sales volumes up though are larger than that - 20 / 30 miles (or more). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtickle Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Since the price of fuel has risen so much I have started to drive with light feet. I get ~58mpg if I'm careful. However, I get overtaken by cars doing around 80-100mph every day. I have not seen anyone else driving slowly. I can only conclude that the price ain't high enough yet. There are plenty of us out there driving carefully! Fuelly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longtermrenter Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 The catchment areas that these centres rely on to keep their overall sales volumes up though are larger than that - 20 / 30 miles (or more). In Ashford, Kent, where I grew up, there is an 'outlet' centre here in fact It has been there about 15 years now and looks well shabby. On the very few times I have gone there to look around when I have been in Ashford I have noticed that it is nearly all tat. You are supposed to believe that this is an outlet for factories, some sort of cut out the middleman idea, when in fact every shop in the land is an outlet. Just like the 'designer' goods, almost every thing sold has been designed (although there is the usual mimicry of goods and clothing but that goes on everywhere and half the stuff here is aping something else). Even the tech shops there are overpriced and mostly full of b-stock stuff with limited warranty - out of date laptops etc. I don't like the word chav as I think it is demeaning to an extent but this is definitely full of sheeple going for their Maccy D's at the end of their 'bargain' shopping trip (read as: nervous tic which demands you spend spend spend). Streetview here What really amazes me is that there is a sign at J9 on the M20 for this place, 3 miles away, which obviously means that people must travel from other towns to visit this pit of despair. I think there is another big place up near broadstairs/margate/ramsgate which has probably led to the decimation of many parts of those towns when it copmes to shops. In Kingsnorth, just down the road from Ashford's outlet centre, and about a 3 minute walk from Tesco - my parents call this the temple as they, sadly, worship there every day - there is a village shop which has been closed for about 6 years. the only shop in fact. It just had planning permission for an Indian restaurant declined because it will deprive the village of a shop. Barmy. The excuse was that people would have to travel too far to get their shopping which they can't get anyway as there is not a shop! Last time I walked around Ashford, a pretty small town, which was about a year ago, I counted about 40 empty shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Soaring petrol prices hitting sales? Modern cars do 65mpg so how far out are these centers? Bristol Cribbs causway is 5 miles from the center. The cost of fuel would be less than parking for a town center shop! I think it's the cost of everything. INFLATION. Modern cars only do 65mpg if driven carefully. My sisters Yaris does 62mpg, but only under certain conditions. If its not raining or there is a head wind If it is not too cold. If you have a convenient large lorry to slipstream behind. During the day time (as lights turn the genny a bit more). The car is clean. You have the air con off. If you maintain 57mph, not 58 not 56 but exactly 57mph the FI on the dash MPG falls if you go below or above this speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longtermrenter Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 By the way, when I say Ashford is a pretty small town I mean quite small, not an attractive small town by a very long shot. Also, I have been driving at about 50mph, coasting in neutral withg hardly any brakes for about a year ago. I drive a van and slipstreaming lorries is saving me loads on motorways - I find tankers with fluted rears to be best - I got about 48 mpg on a long trip the other week on a 2.3 diesel van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Monk Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 If you have a convenient large lorry to slipstream behind. I drive an articulated lorry and I sometimes notice people slipstreaming me. At least I hope that's what they are doing rather than just following too closely. I have never tried it in my car simply because I spent all week at 56mph and couldn't handle another dose of it in my car, but I've often wondered how significant the fuel saving is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papag Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Since the price of fuel has risen so much I have started to drive with light feet. I get ~58mpg if I'm careful. However, I get overtaken by cars doing around 80-100mph every day. I have not seen anyone else driving slowly. I can only conclude that the price ain't high enough yet. or they are driving company cars and don't give a sxxt , the higher the price the better for those on gift rebate schemes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I drive an articulated lorry and I sometimes notice people slipstreaming me. At least I hope that's what they are doing rather than just following too closely. I have never tried it in my car simply because I spent all week at 56mph and couldn't handle another dose of it in my car, but I've often wondered how significant the fuel saving is. Well you don't have to follow that close for a decent effect but its a fair bit. While I was still working I often went to Leeds on the M62 normal 57mph driving would get me 49.2-51mpg Stick it behind a lorry not too close and it rises to to an average of 58-60mpg. Problem is with the M62 is that it has its own microclimate and it is both hilly and twisty. Some lorry drivers would encourage me not to slip stream them by slowing right down. Esp on the hills where other lorries would be hitting 50-60mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 My 99 VW Bora 1.9 TDI gets about 55 MPG. And that is on a trip up North, with some town driving, much motorway driving at about 85mph and lots of hilly windy mountain roads. I assume newer cars would be even more efficient ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Monk Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Some lorry drivers would encourage me not to slip stream them by slowing right down. Esp on the hills where other lorries would be hitting 50-60mph. Ah no, that has nothing to do with driver behaviour or attitude, that is simply because a lorry which is loaded to its maximum legal gross weight cannot travel uphill at full speed, going up Reigate Hill on the M25 I will struggle to maintain 30 mph if I am loaded to 44 tonnes. On Detilng Hill (A249) or Fish Hill (A44) I will be lucky to reach the summit doing 15mph. Although all articulated lorries look the same on the outside, this one might be loaded with bricks or concrete, and that one might be loaded with cornflakes or foam rubber. Incidentally, when I go up a steep hill fully freighted, my trip computer tells me I am doing 1 mpg (against a weekly average of 8mpg) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 55MPG without effort from my Fabia Tdi 80MPG with a massive effort (4 hours to Heathrow and back overnight - 50MPH all the way) That's a proper 80MPG due from full tank to full tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Theres a real scramble for secondhand superminis. Because of webuyanycrap (who reduce the supply by reselling abroad) and the closure of many second and garages, theres not a lot of stock about for a 40mile radius of my postcode. Wanted to replace the runabout for the Misses like a Micra/106/Clio, but because of high fuel prices, people are car downsizing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Since the price of fuel has risen so much I have started to drive with light feet. I get ~58mpg if I'm careful. However, I get overtaken by cars doing around 80-100mph every day. I have not seen anyone else driving slowly. I can only conclude that the price ain't high enough yet. I drive a 2005 Merc C270 and I get better MPG at 90mph than at 55mph. I can get 54mpg cruising at 90. And that's why I was speeding officer...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Ah no, that has nothing to do with driver behaviour or attitude, It is sometimes.... you can look at the wheels if a pair have been jacked up into the arches then its safe to assume they aren't at 100% load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauly_Boy Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 My car is a 12yr old 2.0 petrol turbo and does between 23-32 mpg. I used to travel 20 miles to a shopping centre in a big town near me, now I tend to stay closer to home to save me a tenner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Local shops for local people? OT but still makes me chuckle when I drive past it - in South Warnborough [Hampshire], at a mini-roundabout, there's a road sign that says "Local shops". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miko Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 My car is a 7 year old 2.0 petrol , have not got a clue how much is does to the gallon but have noticed how much more it now cost's to fill up the tank. So do think about where and how I drive , my job pays some millage apart from that I do very little driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation jones Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 this is a slightly out of town mall that I won't be going to again - far too confusing - what if there's nothing there you want to buy! http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2011/04/07/chester-retail-park-fines-shoppers-for-not-spending-enough-59067-28473879/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation jones Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 In the same vein - another story from the same paper on petrol prices - sort of.. http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/featured-stories/2011/04/07/bartering-trend-sweeping-through-petrol-stations-round-chester-with-motorists-leaving-valuables-in-exchange-for-petrol-59067-28476912/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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