WH Smiths Merry Hill (West Mids) to close.

[F-UnitMad]

Rather bad news for some of us in the West Midlands; our Browsing Library - a.k.a. "Smiffs" on RMweb, located at the Merry Hill* shopping centre, is to close at the end of March.

Whilst other branches are at Stourbridge & Halesowen, the Merry Hill store was a big one, and has all the railway mags & 'bookazines', including - importantly for my interests - Model Railroader, Trains, and Classic Trains from the USA.

Worryingly, the smaller branches might not get those titles in as a matter of course. They'll probably still have the UK 'big four'.

Browsing may be frowned on by some, who might advocate subscriptions, but I for one always like to see what's in an issue first, before deciding to buy or not, and I find that no magazine - UK or US - always has content of interest to me in every single issue, & a sub from the USA is also rather expensive.

'Smiffs' was my retreat when I had to go to the Merry Hill with SWMBO. With the closures of ModelZone & Maplins a while ago, this closure will mean I have no reason to go to there at all, now, but also nowhere to retreat to!!!  

 

*a.k.a. locally as the "Merry Hell" shopping centre....  

 

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by F-UnitMad

[number6]

Sure the irony isn't lost on you but maybe they had too many browsers and not enough buyers...

Edited February 28, 2020 by number6
spelling

[Enterprisingwestern]

17 minutes ago, number6 said:

Sure the irony isn't lost on you but maybe they had too many browsers and not enough buyers...

 

Whilst agreeing in principle with your sentiments, F U M did buy some issues and I am of the same opinion as him re browsing, no point buying a magazine which doesn't have any content of particular interest.

 

Mike.

[number6]

Me too over the years of course. There is a great scene in Fleabag where a guy comes into her little Cafe. He sits down, plugs in his laptop, then his phone charger and takes up a whole table but doesn't buy anything! Extreme example perhaps but retail has changed and many high street shops became places to handle items that were then purchased online [often from other retailers] then they went out of business.

 

 

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, number6 said:

Sure the irony isn't lost on you but maybe they had too many browsers and not enough buyers...

Oh I knew the cynics would emerge on this one.... I'm sure my buying a few more mags that I didn't want would've really kept them in business...

 

40 minutes ago, number6 said:

...many high street shops became places to handle items....

... except in my case if I didn't buy the mags in the shop, I wasn't going to bother going away & buying them online instead, was I..??

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

Oh I knew the cynics would emerge on this one.... I'm sure my buying a few more mags that I didn't want would've really kept them in business...

 

... except in my case if I didn't buy the mags in the shop, I wasn't going to bother going away & buying them online instead, was I..??

 

Taking my case in point to the extreme, in Spain I don't browse, so I don't buy any UK mags at all.

A couple of the local prensas out here have French and Spanish magazines, I browse, I buy.

Browsers aren't necessarily criminals causing the downfall of the UK model railway magazine industry.

Simple innit?

 

Mike.

[Steamport Southport]

Very much a happy browser here.

 

I have a subscription to two magazines and buy three or four others most months depending on content. Very rare that I don't buy them, but sometimes they are just too similar*. However there are a few others I buy when they have something of interest such as Steam Days, Steam World, Back Track, Railway Bylines or Traction.

 

How do I know whether they are worth buying if I can't have a quick look? The online contents lists aren't always very accurate. I'm certainly not like the bloke I keep seeing in WHS who is constantly standing there reading the campervan and caravan magazines....

 

*How many articles on DCCing the same model do we need?

 

 

 

Jason

[AY Mod]

On 28/02/2020 at 19:12, Enterprisingwestern said:

Browsers aren't necessarily criminals causing the downfall of the UK model railway magazine

 

The ones who nick the DVDs off the cover should be looking at a custodial though. 

[caradoc]

Flicking through a magazine to see if it's worth buying is fine, I do it myself ! Standing in front of a section and reading an entire magazine from cover to cover however (and giving a disdainful look when asked politely to move) is not.

 

[soony]

US mags are available from Tornado Books in Birmingham , in the same street as the old court buildings. You can also give Parabellum in the Jewellery Centre a try, unfortunately mainly wargaming, but paints and lots of US sourced items are there, IF you can get in!! LOL.... A couple of requests could well make them stock items.

[Legend]

Yes we lost W H Smiths from Braehead Shopping  centre and Greenock a few years ago . They were big shops and the rates must have been killers .  Fortunately I still have the Glasgow branches , but I do wonder for how long . Again very large shops with it seems to me few  customers . Yes there are still plenty people buying magazines and cards but the rest of the shop seems to have very few people in it. 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Legend

[caradoc]

6 minutes ago, Legend said:

Yes we lost W H Smiths from Braehead Shopping  centre and Greenock a few years ago . They were big shops and the rates must have been killers .  Fortunately I still have the Glasgow branches , but I do wonder for how long . Again very large shops with it seems to me few  customers . Yes there are still plenty people buying magazines and cards but the rest of the shop seems to have very few people in it. 

 

Silverburn too does not have a WHS - Plenty of shoe and clothes shops however ! I don't think The Fort has a WHS either (although it does have a Waterstones). I try and use the Paisley branch of WHS when I can, but I also fear for the future of town centre shops.

 

[Legend]

4 minutes ago, caradoc said:

 

Silverburn too does not have a WHS - Plenty of shoe and clothes shops however ! I don't think The Fort has a WHS either (although it does have a Waterstones). I try and use the Paisley branch of WHS when I can, but I also fear for the future of town centre shops.

 

The Fort certainly had one Caradoc , but it’s the other end of Glasgow for me .  I get depressed when I go into Paisley . I was born there . It was a great wee town with good shopping until they opened Braehead and pedestrianised Paisley at the same time . Now it’s Charity Shops, vape shops and cash converters

[caradoc]

And pound shops ! Agree, it is sad, so I try and do my bit by shopping in Paisley when I can.

 

[AY Mod]

I'm surprised Smith's hasn't gone the way of Woolies and so many other high streets chains with their low average sales per customer. Look at their key traditional lines...

 

Print publishing - generally reducing in sales volume with increased digital sales and subscriptions. Increased supermarket sales.

Books - online and ebook competition with Waterstones rarely making much profit in competition in key locations.

Stationery - another declining market.

Music - aside from the retro market it's largely gone from towns.

 

I think they'll end up where they grew up with small but busy travel locations.

 

Do you want an almost at its sell-by date bar of chocolate with that paper with yesterday's news? Nah, not any more.

[Andy Kirkham]

On 28/02/2020 at 18:21, number6 said:

Me too over the years of course. There is a great scene in Fleabag where a guy comes into her little Cafe. He sits down, plugs in his laptop, then his phone charger and takes up a whole table but doesn't buy anything! Extreme example perhaps but retail has changed and many high street shops became places to handle items that were then purchased online [often from other retailers] then they went out of business.

 

 

I remember that. When asked if he would like to buy anything his reply was "I'm good, thanks" - an infuriating expression often used (by my son at any rate) as a pointedly insolent way of declining to accede to a request.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Andy Kirkham

[Steamport Southport]

Pound shops. I remember back in the 1980s there was a 50P shop in Liverpool and it was fantastic. Loads of cheap artists materials and stationery. Long before the mainstream pound shops came along. It was more like an Aladdin's Cave place where they were getting a load of junk that no one seemed to want. Things like branded mugs left over from a promotion offer.

 

You start wondering about some of the prices in WHS when you look at the competition in the high street though. It's fine for magazines and such things which are normally at a fixed price. But I can't remember the last time I bought anything else from there.

 

 

 

Jason

[Andy Kirkham]

I order books online from Smiths and collect them instore as a way of avoiding Amazon. They're pretty quick and the prices are OK. It helps that I live 10 minutes walk from the branch.

[spamcan61]

Smiths and Boots are top of my 'how are they still going ' list, neither seem to have a real selling point in the 21st century.

[jchinuk]

1 hour ago, caradoc said:

Flicking through a magazine to see if it's worth buying is fine, I do it myself ! Standing in front of a section and reading an entire magazine from cover to cover however (and giving a disdainful look when asked politely to move) is not.

 

 

I agree completely.  I have seen blokes sit down (in a branch of WHSmiths) on the floor and read a magazine.

 

About the general point, what baffles me about WHS is that my nearest branches stock a lot of 'trade magazines' titles, which surely cannot sell that well.  Yet the branches at main stations in London rarely stock much in the way of modelling magazines, of any sort.

 

jh

[jchinuk]

55 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Pound shops. I remember back in the 1980s there was a 50P shop in Liverpool and it was fantastic. Loads of cheap artists materials and stationery. Long before the mainstream pound shops came along. It was more like an Aladdin's Cave place where they were getting a load of junk that no one seemed to want. Things like branded mugs left over from a promotion offer.

 

You start wondering about some of the prices in WHS when you look at the competition in the high street though. It's fine for magazines and such things which are normally at a fixed price. But I can't remember the last time I bought anything else from there.

 

 

 

Jason

 With the Covid-19 disruptions Poundland will be empty of stock in a couple of weeks.

 

jh

[AY Mod]

2 minutes ago, jchinuk said:

Yet the branches at main stations in London rarely stock much in the way of modelling magazines,

 

Sales volumes are not the only determining factors, margins and promotional payments play a part too.

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, jchinuk said:

 With the Covid-19 disruptions Poundland will be empty of stock in a couple of weeks.

 

Statement of fact or just speculative opinion?

[jchinuk]

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

I'm surprised Smith's hasn't gone the way of Woolies and so many other high streets chains with their low average sales per customer. Look at their key traditional lines...

 

Print publishing - generally reducing in sales volume with increased digital sales and subscriptions. Increased supermarket sales.

Books - online and ebook competition with Waterstones rarely making much profit in competition in key locations.

Stationery - another declining market.

Music - aside from the retro market it's largely gone from towns.

 

I think they'll end up where they grew up with small but busy travel locations.

 

Do you want an almost at its sell-by date bar of chocolate with paper with yesterday's news? Nah, not any more.

I suspect WHSmiths survive as stationers, if a small office or company need a printer cartridge or paper quickly, WHS are the easiest option, someone can pop out with the petty cash.

 

WHSmiths have not done music (as in physical CDs) for a while, certainly not around my way.

 

jh

[Ben B]

It's a shame it's closing; I remember the big WHS in Dudley closing in favour of the 'nearby' Merry Hill branch...