Everything On The High Street Is Doomed

[geezer466]

All is not well in the World of Hi Def TV's and mega speed computers either.....

Comet is going down the toilet.........

Comet, the electrical retailer, is close to going into administration, putting about 6,000 jobs at risk, reports say. The company, bought by private equity firm OpCapita last year for just £2, has struggled from the downturn in consumer spending.

[mk1mini]

All is not well in the World of Hi Def TV's and mega speed computers either.....

Comet is going down the toilet.........

Comet, the electrical retailer, is close to going into administration, putting about 6,000 jobs at risk, reports say. The company, bought by private equity firm OpCapita last year for just £2, has struggled from the downturn in consumer spending.

Comet is mearly a showroom for Amazon and eBuyer etc. The 'high street' is changing rapidly, although is busier urban centres you will always have some sort of high street.

Where I used to live in Putney we have a small version of everything and virtually no closed shops, this is due to a large footfall of people who pass them. When I need a birthday card for a party that night, or a lightbulb it was easier to walk 5mins down the road than to log on online and order it and wait a day or two to get it delviered. However where I moved to in Balham there is less of a highstreet and it is a pain to get to from my new place so I imagine I will shop a lot more online. I guess a lot comes down to convenience.

The one thing that never seems to stop surprising me is how many estate agents there are within 100m of Putney station, from memory I can count 10!!!

On the plus side our local butcher always appears to be thriving!

[mk1mini]

Cash for gold.

Aren't most Cash for Gold and Pawn Broker businesses are just front businesses for money laundering?

[Nuggets Mahoney]

There are also:

1. Opticians (though specs can be ordered online if you have the eye test document)

2. More beauty, and tanning parlours which along with hairdressing which just can't be done online.

3. Employment/temp agencies. We have several big shop fronted agencies in town but don't know how they survive as there are no jobs! They only seem to fish for CV's from bored passing shoppers.

4. Flashy personal injury/PPI/miselling outfits.

Wal-Mart stores have been sucking the life out of main streets in the Southern US since long before Amazon was a twinkle in Jeff Bezos' eye, leaving...

1. Tanning/ Beauty/ Tattoo Parlours

2. Strip Joints

3. Lawyers Offices

edit: and the lawyers are only there because it's handy for the town hall/ courthouse

Edited November 1, 2012 by Nuggets Mahoney

[Greg Bowman]

I've thought the same about garages. They mostly only open when I need the car. An overnight garage could go down well I think.

Interesting I have a body shop that works using smart repair techniques. Don't confuse it with the chips away man with an umbrella and a spray can, it's in a fixed location using late level technology like ultra violet cured primer and filler (think white fillings at the dentist)

The gap in the market is that as people ramp their excesses to reduce their premiums you create a niche in the £200 - £600 band where using smart techniques you can do a surprisngly large amount of work at body shop quality which people are prepared to pay for direct to retain the value of their vehicle.

Anyway because this is a new way of looking at things a guy in South Africa has three on retail parks not the usual industrial estates - going a bomb.

Just an example of (if rents get realistic) you might see different types of businesses coming into the high street (we only need 2500 square foot) for a typical unit.

[nmarks]

Human life experience is becoming increasingly digitized and less and less authentic.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a worrying statistic that the vast majority of men that attend football matches are in their forties or older - the kids are at home playing soccer on their PlayStations.

I guess it's when the real life experiences that computer entities are modelled on cease to exist and the computer entities themselves become blueprints for future computer entities - The Matrix essentially comes into being. Frightening thought.

I wonder when Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is coming out on X-Box?

Edited November 1, 2012 by nmarks

[tomwatkins]

Shops could subsidise public transport and car parks to encourage more people though. At the end of the day most people make a choice based upon cost and quality of the experience . Once it becomes cost prohibitive and too much hassle to go shopping then people will stop doing it and once out of the habit it's difficult to reverse things. Shops need to think imaginatively to get people to continue to visit High Streets, it won't just happen if they have a sale every other week.

Still love going in to Chester though. can't get that online.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Comet is mearly a showroom for Amazon and eBuyer etc

That cuts both ways.

Even if the Comet were cheaper, I'd still want to check back with Amazon to read customer reviews and check if the item in question is a lemon.

The big name high street stores have never had any qualms about selling lemons, or over or mis selling items.

**** 'em.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Nuggets Mahoney

[thecrashingisles]

The big name high street stores have never had any qualms about selling lemons, or over or mis selling items.

**** 'em.

And selling out of date models as if they're the latest and greatest. The last time I went into one of those stores I checked on the internet only to find that there was a newer model available at the same price as the older one in store.

[mk1mini]

Human life experience is becoming increasingly digitized and less and less authentic.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a worrying statistic that the vast majority of men that attend football matches are in their forties or older - the kids are at home playing soccer on their PlayStations.

I guess it's when the real life experiences that computer entities are modelled on cease to exist and the computer entities themselves become blueprints for future computer entities - The Matrix essentially comes into being. Frightening thought.

I wonder when Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is coming out on X-Box?

Have you seen the price of football tickets these days? I'm an Arsenal fan (for my sins) and the last time I went it was £50 for tickets ('cheap' seats up in the gods), £5 for travel, and £10 for some food in the stadium. That doesn't even include my beer money - hardly pocket money. When I first went in 1995 it was £12.50 (North Bank lower) for a ticket and less than £5 for a hot dog and chips!

[crashmonitor]

Have you seen the price of football tickets these days? I'm an Arsenal fan (for my sins) and the last time I went it was £50 for tickets ('cheap' seats up in the gods), £5 for travel, and £10 for some food in the stadium. That doesn't even include my beer money - hardly pocket money. When I first went in 1995 it was £12.50 (North Bank lower) for a ticket and less than £5 for a hot dog and chips!

Charging for success, when it has been absent these last few years. There was a time when the Boring, boring Arsenal chant was a bit ironic as you were being beaten 5-0 at Highbury. These days the home fans are singing it with irony.

[jaspers]

we have three excellent farm shops within a mile or two.

Some of these types of places trade on the "chicken in the car park" novelty and strange named beers and charge way too much....avoid these sham shops...go to genuine ones where the prices are very competitive and carry the produce they produce.

There is a specialist "foody" shop here in Colchester....prices are very high indeed, and the car park is usually full of large 4x4s...the quality is no better than the good farm shops, but, it does have a very nice shopping bag and being "seen" in there is great for the school run snobs.I mean, IF you can afford to even buy there, you really are worth something more than the riff raff in Waitrose.

The Market nr me at the moment is in a North Nottinghamshire ex-mining town. Stalls are your basic fruit, veg, meat and fish. No 'Artisan' bread malarkey! Market runs down pedestrianised high st. Could it be a model that works? With young family's often needing two wage earners to pay high living costs, makes it more difficult to do a food shop during the day I suppose. That and the appeal of a warm supermarket on a cold wet day. Factors which may not apply to our southern European cousins?

[pjw]

I suppose I'd be possible to increase income tax. Except 40+ percent already seems high, and it is not paid by everyone who pays VAT and helps generate retailer's profits. I wonder if there might be some asset class that could be easily taxed ....

Well, with the state spending half of GDP, we shouldn't be looking for new areas to tax - but should be scaling the whole thing down.

[winkie]

Indoor markets.

Good plant stalls selling very cheap healthy plants.

Home brewing stall, selling beer and wine kits, yeasts and all the paraphernalia to do-it-yourself.

Pet stall, bird food, fat balls seed and large bags of dog biscuits at prices you won't get elsewhere.

Butchers van selling meat at good prices, locally made sausages, duck, bacon joints, belly pork and beef mince in for the freezer quantities.

Eggs large free range £1.80 doz. Mushroom stall selling tasty varieties with the recipes to go with them.

Greengrocer stall always busy with queues, many good weekly offers depending on crop and season. Family fruit and veg easily purchase for £10.

Hairdressers/barbers.

Carpet and mat shop that provides A1 service, better products and price than the large retail style stores.

Bits and bobs shop, not everything is a pound but many things cheaper and just as good as other well known stores, stationers, cleaning products, gift wrap and cards, gardening and household.

Free trade shop for quality gifts from around the world.

Local cafe, good tea and coffee, snacks, scones jam with clotted cream and fresh sandwiches and rolls.

Bakery that makes artisan bread as well as the usual bloomer or tiger bread, sausage rolls, pasties, fresh croissants filled or plain......also handmade chocolates in gift boxes to choose yourself.

Local library with computers and internet connection...a quiet area to read the books and daily papers.

Gym and swimming pool.

Pub with garden free house that has an appetising menu to enjoy.

Small cinema on screen that shows a section of films different from the rest.

Art centre....etc etc

[Gone baby gone]

Even if the Comet were cheaper, I'd still want to check back with Amazon to read customer reviews and check if the item in question is a lemon.

Yep, I agree. I've saved plenty of dough and avoided big purchasing mistakes by reading product reviews - amazon, argos and a few of the online white goods retailers have well populated review sections with plenty of positive and negative comments.

[monkeyman1974]

we have three excellent farm shops within a mile or two.

Some of these types of places trade on the "chicken in the car park" novelty and strange named beers and charge way too much....avoid these sham shops...go to genuine ones where the prices are very competitive and carry the produce they produce.

There is a specialist "foody" shop here in Colchester....prices are very high indeed, and the car park is usually full of large 4x4s...the quality is no better than the good farm shops, but, it does have a very nice shopping bag and being "seen" in there is great for the school run snobs.I mean, IF you can afford to even buy there, you really are worth something more than the riff raff in Waitrose.

Marks Tey? Eye watering expensive experience. Once paid £6 for a mackerel - never returned (and I worked in banking then!).

[Guest TheBlueCat]

I think this is just the end of a long process with the scales being tipped against town centre shops bit at a time both by technology (unavoidable) and by government policy (totally fixable). For all that people complain about the death of the high street, they don't seem to care enough about it for politicians to take note so I don't expect much to change.

[Jail Them All]

The first time I noticed this was in the early nineties, when a new supermarket wiped out our entire shops inc florist, 2 x butchers, 2 x green grocers, chandlers etc. They promised the locals jobs, all low paid, but still the biggest employer in this area today.

There's still a launderette, fast food, library / council building (merged to save costs) all but 2 pubs have gone too.

The Council no longer need to do inspections on the small guys to ensure their produce is up to scratch. ????

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

I think this is just the end of a long process with the scales being tipped against town centre shops bit at a time both by technology (unavoidable) and by government policy (totally fixable). For all that people complain about the death of the high street, they don't seem to care enough about it for politicians to take note so I don't expect much to change.

Pfft Bahnhofstrasse is booming, Rolex are opening up a new shop in November

The big problem here is we dont have any high street Estate Agents which is a massive disadvantage when trying to create an entrepreneurial and philanphropic environment

Edited November 1, 2012 by Georgia O'Keeffe

[Bootsox]

Another odd one for a "mandatory" shop is gun sales which must, by law, be sold face to face (including air weapons).

[Big Orange]

Book shops are another dying breed. A huge amount of people now have Kindles and even oldies are using them en masse. I know someone who is 50+, said to me they would never, ever buy a Kindle, they got bought one last Christmas, and haven't put it down since.

The bookstores in Bristol and Bath still seem pretty busy (but bear in mind they're full of students). E-books have exploded onto the scene and have their niche but I doubt physical books will truly die out (I have a feeling that e-book pads and paper books will merge into a new kind of digital book the next decade).

The high street is stagnant and there's been too many shops for declining demand, with old business models becoming rapidly obsolete, but what's not to say there may be a huge public backlash against the Internet?