Uk High Streets Running Out Of Time As More Shops Close Than New Ones Open

[SNACR]

Large shopping centres and city centres maybe, where the shops are likely to be occupied by large well known retailers.

I'd guess that the high street we're talking about here is suburban town centres, mostly one man bands that would be interested in the secondary/tertiary premises that you're talking about.

True, but selling on an empty unit isn't going to be any more profitable than selling one on with a realistically priced lease.

Most shops actually on or near the locus of the High St of any 20k+ pop town will in the main will be some sort of property investment co of varying sizes as the landlord.

There are other alternatives to granting a new lease if you have voids. If there's bank financing involved a new long-term lease, certainly if inside the act, on a lower rent than previously achieved will be a rare event.

Most small-time operations fail to get a decent deal on, certainly retail, commercial property by making the mistake of trying to do the negotiating themselves.

[200p]

Along with my partner I've started a 2nd hand bookshop in Kilburn. It's on what is called a secondary high street, so the rent isn't as prohibitive as it would be elsewhere. Our prices are cheaper than amazon when you take into account the £2.80 delivery charge - we sell at 1.90 each book, 3 books for £4. Even so I imagine many people prefer the ease of ordering from a tablet or smartphone online. We are also stocking mugs, posters, gifts etc which all helps. But it's surprising how many people struggle to find money for low cost items. What helps pay the rent is we get buyers who want 20 to 100 books at one go, as they want decoration for their new home or bar. We 're told that we're better than the charity shops as we have a bigger range and are amenable to giving discounts for large orders. Apparently the staff in charity shops are not authorised to negotiate prices.

I can see a time when all shops on the high street that sell goods will have to operate in a Poundshop way. Otherwise consumers will just order off the net.

Good luck - I was thinking the same idea, in my retirement decades from now - buy a lot like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Massive-Job-Lot-of-30-000-Books-EXCELLENT-OPPORTUNITY-NOTTINGHAM-AREA-/281630423968?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item41927b3ba030,000 books for £1000, and sit on it and wait for rents to crash!

Edited March 18, 2015 by 200p

[pipllman]

meanwhile York is getting new 2 new Primark stores - something like 100,000 sq ft of space

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11863058.Work_starts_on_new_Primark_store/

[Self Employed Youth]

Life insurers, as I said earlier.

Its not that rents don;t down, its rents cannot go down. If they do the Life Insurers go kaputt!

LI would rather have an empty building and pretend solvency than rented building and low income.

This - they cannot afford to lower the rents - lower rents would result in bankruptcy. High rents and no tenants perversely keeps them afloat.

[Trampa501]

Good luck - I was thinking the same idea, in my retirement decades from now - buy a lot like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Massive-Job-Lot-of-30-000-Books-EXCELLENT-OPPORTUNITY-NOTTINGHAM-AREA-/281630423968?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item41927b3ba030,000 books for £1000, and sit on it and wait for rents to crash!

You'll need a decent amount of space to store 30,000 books and here in London space is at a premium. I noticed that advert myself - the problem is we don't know what's in that lot. Could be a lot of guinness book of records 2009! (amazingly enough we've sold a couple of copies of the Guinness BoR in the last couple of weeks but I'd hate to get lumbered with a large number of them).

[Renewed Investor]

Look at the top 5 performing types of store. That spells it all out.

If you were asked to guess which country those stats came from without any further knowledge from the article I bet most people would be listing Eastern European nations.

[billybong]

You can still pay £100 and more for a shirt if you pop down to your local John Lewis and suchlike.

When it's gone it's gone.

Edited March 18, 2015 by billybong

[onlyme2]

Notice how the cracks are appearing in retail sector as soon as the supermarkets have been forced to stop expanding. They alone (well maybe with the poundshops) have kept the fantasy rental pricing scheme rolliing.

How long before those interested in keeping the pricing high start calling for subsidies?

[Habeas Domus]

Don't underestimate the councils involvement in owning/renting commercial property

The value of a council’s estate recorded in council accounts is called the net book value
(NBV). It records the value of an asset to the council, taking into account depreciation. In 2012/13, the total NBV for all English councils was £170 billion.
In the same year, councils spent nearly £12 billion on buying, building or renovating property.

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Asset-mgt-vfm-briefing-3-June-2014-FINAL.pdf

[The Masked Tulip]

One big out of town retail park that has been booming for 15 or so years since Tesco opened a huge store there first, and all the other stores followed, is now seeing several of those stores closing down.

I have been posting on here for a year or two now that that particular Tesco is like a ghost town on week days now and clearly it is having a big affect on the trade of the other stores.

[Rare Bear]

yup.

It probably tries to appeal to the vegan/hipster/posh/gluten-free/ new age crowd.

Of which we have about 3 individuals in Ilford.

Cant say I have tried their products, I cant see the point of it. Just smile and wave boys...smile and wave...

edit: after some googling, can somebody pinch me pls

They're part of a nationwide chain

https://www.eggfreecake.co.uk/shop/view/31

But I noticed the traffic last weekend in Ilford. Have we got better pound shops than elsewhere?

[Inoperational Bumblebee]

You can see this demonstrated perfectly in South Wales. Newport and Cwmbran are about 7 miles apart.

Newport used to have a thriving centre but over the years it's slowly become completely dead.

Cwmbran on the other hand used to be a tiny dump, but it has kept expanding. Now, it's like a cross between the high street and a shopping mall. Covered walkways but also lots of open uncovered space.

The reasons to me seem to be:
-A huge free underground and overground parking lot. They understand people want to drive there and encourage them.

-Different types of shops all the same place. You get the big chain stores and smaller independent ones all in the same centre. There's a big Asda, a big Primark and just by them is a pancake cafe. Just a bit further on there's an open square where all the youths hang out, but there aren't really any shops there. Just skateboarders and a fake beach (sandpit!) in the summer. Sweet shops, Superdrug, clothes shops, cafes, phone accessory shops, electrical shops, etc.

You can go there in any weather and the experience isn't awful. You can have a wander round to look at stuff, sit and have some food then nip off to Asda to pick up your dinner all within the same area. It has completely destroyed Newport as 15 minutes away in the car and you can get pretty much anything you need in Cwmbran. Newport parking STILL costs money, is poorly provided for and there are no decent shops any more.

The high street can still work, it just needs to provide something different. Upthread people have mentioned about it being more about entertainment - Cwmbran has the mix. You can shop for essentials, luxury items or just mooch around with your mates. It's relatively busy all the time too. There aren't many empty units either.

[200p]

Sprinkles Gelato is popping up everywhere, and sometimes when I go past, there are queues waiting to get in. They appear to do well where there is a young population - colleges, university sites. I've never been in one, but I can see the appeal. Also Wagamama is always heaving (never been in there though).

I figured, I might have been talking to myself on this, because I only found out there are only 5 stores in the country http://www.sprinklesgelato.co.uk/stores.htm It's like a nightclub inside (they are open until midnight), but instead of alcohol, you can ply yourself with coffee, ice cream and cake. The ideal store for people to take selfies and pictures of fancy ice cream to put on Facebook

Edited March 19, 2015 by 200p

[Byron]

Town Councillors have proved to be useless.

You seem to get two types in Swansea.

a The older socialist with good speaking ability but low academic ability

b. The smoother right wing types who are also of low ability.

Both types tend to be getting on in years. Other than an over developed sense of their own self importance, they have little to offer. Most of their contemporaries who do have talent have used it in business etc, and do not want to waste their time being politicians.

All the politicos have an agenda in their back pockets that needs money---your money, my money.

All of them failed maths O level, if they got that far.

So, believing that businesses are stuffed with gold, they bleed them dry. Believing that car owners are there to be fleeced, they bleed them dry.

Now, the City centres are dying and these twerps only answer is to raise business rates to cover the costs of their pet projects.

They dream of statues being erected to remember them.

They are completely unable to accept that their fad (whatever it might be) is to blame for the death of the city centre.

[spyguy]

I figured, I might have been talking to myself on this, because I only found out there are only 5 stores in the country http://www.sprinklesgelato.co.uk/stores.htm It's like a nightclub inside (they are open until midnight), but instead of alcohol, you can ply yourself with coffee, ice cream and cake. The ideal store for people to take selfies and pictures of fancy ice cream to put on Facebook

Aimed at Muslims.

Seriously.

[200p]

Hmm, you might be onto something.

[Saving For a Space Ship]

I figured, I might have been talking to myself on this, because I only found out there are only 5 stores in the country http://www.sprinklesgelato.co.uk/stores.htm It's like a nightclub inside (they are open until midnight), but instead of alcohol, you can ply yourself with coffee, ice cream and cake. The ideal store for people to take selfies and pictures of fancy ice cream to put on Facebook

Facebook Feedbook Facebulk

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feeder

feeder

Usually a male who likes to encourage weight gain in his partner through the consumption of food. Feeders differ from FAs... whilst an FA is attracted to big girls, a feeder gets turned on by making a thin girl fat....or a big girl even bigger.

(see entry for feederism

Edited March 20, 2015 by Saving For a Space Ship

[MarkG]

Both types tend to be getting on in years. Other than an over developed sense of their own self importance, they have little to offer. Most of their contemporaries who do have talent have used it in business etc, and do not want to waste their time being politicians.

Modern politics is for sociopaths too stupid to make money in business, and too smart to make it mugging old ladies.

[Greg Bowman]

Aimed at Muslims.

Seriously.

Aimed at Muslims.

Seriously.

Actually I think your facts are right aimed at a population that doesn't drink but having had just enough of s*** faced people telling me they are having a good time there is a more mainstream market for this and the sub 25 drinking habits reflect this

[Greg Bowman]

Actually I think your facts are right aimed at a population that doesn't drink but having had just enough of s*** faced people telling me they are having a good time there is a more mainstream market for this and the sub 25 drinking habits reflect this

And anyway before the white mice population prided themselves on getting doped up on cheap booze wasn't there milk bars with a similar vibe in the 50's ?

Edited March 21, 2015 by Greg Bowman

[Rare Bear]

And anyway before the white mice population prided themselves on getting doped up on cheap booze wasn't there milk bars with a similar vibe in the 50's ?

Yes, and back in the late 70s ther were the Dayvilles ice cream parlors.

[Greg Bowman]

Yes, and back in the late 70s ther were the Dayvilles ice cream parlors.

There was and wasn't there baskin and robbins as well ?