Death of the High Street

[Richard320]

It's the same the world over.

 

My local trainshop doesn't keep Banker's Hours - his are even shorter. Seriously, my bank opens two hours earlier, closes one hour later, and is open six days a week instead of five.

 

There aren't many locally-owned pharmacies around here - too many chains competing. Including discount stores similar to Tescos, as well as a lot of grocery "superstores."

 

And it has never ceased to amaze me that businesses put the least-qualified, lowest-paid workers on the front line dealing with the paying customers. The workers who don't generate income get the better hours and higher pay and don't have to deal with the public. Where's the sense in that?

[stewartingram]

I live in a small town with an almost non-existent High Street. We recently lost a fabulous old-time independent hardware store that stocked everything and would sell you a single nail if you wanted it. Massive hole in the small street occupied mainly by takeaways and charity shops (and an excellent newsagents that stocks every railway magazine including MRJ and Model Railroader - must be a lot of enthusiasts in Chatteris).

Our single GP surgery, modern, is situated in a cul-de-sac 5 mins walk from the High Street. The complex includes a residentail elderly home, Lloyds chemist, and an opticians (though the latter has recently moved out to a vacant High St. shop). Actually seems quite a good arrangement - but the service....NOT! The surgery has an arrangement where all prescriptions are normally sent over to the Lloyds (after a nominal 3 day processing which is ok) for you to pick up. I have a regular prescription, the fulfillment of which was well established with no problems at a large Tesco before we moved here. At the chemist, the arrogance of the pharmacy staff has to be seen to be believed, and stocks are always low. A promise of "stock coming in, call in again Tuesday" is normal, but they never have it when you go in. So after a stand up argument with the pharmacist, we now have our prescription paper "held back" in the surgery for our collection. No problems with the paperwork, the surgery is fantastic, and back to Tesco we go. On odd occasions if out of stock there it is replenished within hours, & held for our collection. In reality as my daughters work in the store, we often don't even have to travel there anyway. Oh, and the Lloyds has a 2nd shop in the High Street, more pleasent staff attitude in there, but still not very efficient. Strange how the independent shops are either brilliant or fail, and the chain stores have no interest in customers, yet Tesco shines above it all?

[PhilH]

Another factor of course is that you don't even have to physically go shopping now - I do a month's shopping on line and Tesco will pick and deliver for £3 on one of the less popular slots.

[Calnefoxile]

Our 'High Street', if you can call it that, in Calne isn't the best. There used to be a butcher and a Grocer, but they've both gone. We've now got 3 Charity shops, a chippy, an arts & Crafts shop, Iceland, Boots, a bookies, a bakers/cafe, a Pound shop, 3 or 4 Estate Agents, a couple of newsagents and 4 or so Banks. Now add to that a Sainsbury's and a Co-op. Oh and 4 or 5 Chinese Takeaways, 2 Indian Restaurants (Actually owned by the same person, 1 is licensed the other is bring-your-own booze). Almost forgot, a Kebab shop

 

Out of the town centre in the estates are 2 more chippies, 2 One-Stops, 1 more Chinese, 1 more Kebab shop and another Indian Takeaway. oh I also forgot the Tesco Express.

 

Now move to Chippenham and the high street is great if you want to buy a Mobile Phone, then sit in a Coffee shop whilst you look at it, we do have a Smiffs though and plenty more Charity shops. A Tesco, Iceland and a few womens clothes shops, a Millets and a smattering of Furniture shops. We are lucky to have a Curry's Digital, but it's not that big.

 

There are NO Model Shops in Chippenham, but there is Modelmaniacs in Calne, but he's more into Remote Control Aircraft and only stocks the 'normal' Model Railway stuff, none of the bits and bobs you normally need.

 

Regards

 

Neal.

[Butler Henderson]

Its the changing face of retailing - out of town and internet. The high streets that are doing better than the rest are those that have one of the Big4 right on the edge of the town centre - people park there, walk into town, take whatever they have bought back to the car and then do their weekly supermarket shop. Not that the small traders are entirely blameless - I know of one person who pulled out of opening a deli in a market town not because of the out-of-town Safeway or competition from the town centre Morrisons but because someone was opening a deli in a small out-of-town development 6 miles away and they thought they could not cope with the competition

[stewartingram]

Another factor of course is that you don't even have to physically go shopping now - I do a month's shopping on line and Tesco will pick and deliver for £3 on one of the less popular slots.

 

Re-inventing the wheel!

My 2 uncles many years ago had a village bakery, and grocers shop. (I remember it during the '50s when I was at primary school).

Uncle Wilf used to go out delivering to the other surrounding villages and farms in his Morris 8 van, much like Tesco do today. No internet then of course, just a paper order given to him whenever he called, for delivery on his next round. Odd that a few years ago when made redundant, I drove for tesco.com for a while until i got back into my real job.

[Talltim]

In the last six months we have lost two high street 'names' from our local shopping centre, Dixons and Millets. The reason the branches have closed is because of a massive increase in rent, a figure of 400 to 500% has been quoted. Several other businesses have also left and I am beginning to wonder when some of the others are going to leave.

Dixons the the electroics retailer? I thought they shut all their bricks and mortar shops a few years ago.

[spamcan61]

Dixons the the electroics retailer? I thought they shut all their bricks and mortar shops a few years ago.

 

The remainder were re-named 'Currys digital', not sure if all the shops have actually been re-branded. ( or it is a different Dixons)

[Guest]

There are NO Model Shops in Chippenham, but there is Modelmaniacs in Calne, but he's more into Remote Control Aircraft and only stocks the 'normal' Model Railway stuff, none of the bits and bobs you normally need.

As well as Modelmaniacs there's Marks Models in Wootton Bassett, Westons Railways at Studley Grange and then Spot On Models in Swindon.

OK, so you need a car to visit them all but that's a pretty impressive density of model shops.

 

BTW, you forgot to mention Calne's brand new purpose built Woolworths

[Butler Henderson]

The remainder were re-named 'Currys digital', not sure if all the shops have actually been re-branded. ( or it is a different Dixons)

 

Its the same - Dixon Store Group owns Currys, Currys Digital (the old Dixon stores) and PC World. Did read recently that the Dixons name might be returning to the shops.

[melmerby]

Its the same - Dixon Store Group owns Currys, Currys Digital (the old Dixon stores) and PC World. Did read recently that the Dixons name might be returning to the shops.

 

The one in the centre of Birmingham on High Street is called "Black" (Currys/PC World)!

 

Keith

[roger440]

Free parking - all that is required to make local shops more welcoming.

Near me - Wokingham charges a fortune to park and has those nasty clampers elsewhere in the town, I can't even remember when I last shopped there. Crowthorne has free parking so I quite often take a stroll down its high street.

Tesco's provide free parking (along with other supermarkets) the only thing that is wrong with them is that they have been forced to out-of-town sites by NIMBY planners and agitators.

 

Absolutely right. My town (buckingham) has a council that keep making it more difficult and expensive to park, (partly by in the late 90's removing most of the parking spaces!) whilst bleating about the empty shops!

 

Net result, i dont go there. A weekly visit to tesco's on the ring road, and if i maybe need something else that got forgotton, i'll go to the petrol station at the end of the high streey, simply because i can park outside the front door - for free. The council will drive everyone out of buisness, but are too stupid to see it!

 

Recently we got a focus. Cue much whining in the local rag about the local hardware store going to the wall. You know what. Good ridance. They were the most unhelpful miserable people ive met.

 

Give it another 5 years and the small town high street will consist entirely of takeaways and restaurants.

 

The internet has totally changed things, more than i think most realise. Thinking about it now, i cant actually remember the last time i went "shopping" in a high street. I order everything apart from the tescos weekly shop online. Its great.

 

Maybe the hard financial times ahead will focus the minds of councils that the only towns/high streets that willl survive are the ones you can actually get to! I wont hold my breath, they will just blame someone else!

[roger440]

Its the changing face of retailing - out of town and internet. The high streets that are doing better than the rest are those that have one of the Big4 right on the edge of the town centre - people park there, walk into town, take whatever they have bought back to the car and then do their weekly supermarket shop. Not that the small traders are entirely blameless - I know of one person who pulled out of opening a deli in a market town not because of the out-of-town Safeway or competition from the town centre Morrisons but because someone was opening a deli in a small out-of-town development 6 miles away and they thought they could not cope with the competition

 

Smart person. Fight / struggle to a town centre location or just drive to an out of town location? No contest is there?

 

Note that Howes have moved to an out of town location. Smart move, very smart move. I can just drive upto the front door, get out and not get robbed by the council..

[Gwiwer]

When we bemoan the loss of the High Street and wail and gnash our teeth at retailers who open at 9 and close at 5 (possibly opening for a few hours on Saturday mornings) we need to look at the bigger picture of societal change over time.

 

I don't believe there has been a single cause-and-effect scenario at work but rather an interaction driven by wholesale changes in the way we live.

 

The High Street was alive and well 50 years ago and probably the only place to shop aside from the (then common) "corner shop". You could nip down to George on the corner and pay a little more for something or you could hop on a bus (there were buses then as well!) into town and end up paying the about same for your shopping when you factored in the bus fares.

 

At the time it was fairly common for the man of the house to be the only income-earner. Back in the day when it was expected that when you left home it would be to marry and raise your family then many women were literally "housewives" who cleaned, shopped, raised the younger children and performed any other domestic duties during the hours shops were open and her husband was at work. Shopping hours of 9 - 5 worked. The High Street shops were open when the customer needed them and didn't need to stay open late or through weekends employing "school-leavers" with minimal training and product knowledge at rock-bottom wages.

 

We have slowly and steadily moved into a world where it has become normal for both partners to work at least part time and for shift and weekend working to be far more commonplace than it was. The larger shops have been better able to respond to this change by extending opening hours and days sometimes to the point where they never close. In return we are asked to accept the cheapest form of labour they can hire for such hours which is the teenager after school or at weekends since to pay full time staff to work those hours costs more.

 

High Street shops have often been family businesses. The family would want some time together and not wish to be open seven days, neither might it be a realistic option to employ staff to extend their hours. In some cases this has been done but not universally.

 

I recall at the age of six it became our habit to shop as a family weekly on Friday nights as the local supermarket (which normally closed at 5.30) started "late night" shopping and stayed open until 7pm. We would be up in arms if they closed at that time now. Previously mother had shopped daily as required, just a single bag-load at a time, as she was the traditional housewife raising a young family and not otherwise employed. The advent of late night shopping meant she found time freed to take on a small part-time job and help with the ever-rising cost of living.

 

We have both driven the change and been victims of it. In just the same way with the increase in car ownership across the same 50-year period we have both driven (in more ways than one!) the shift to out-of-town shopping and bemoaned the loss of the traditional High Street.

 

There is no single answer if this is seen as a problem. It is a shift in human society as a whole. It has taken a time to get where we now are and will not be reversed over night. Who knows where we might be shopping in 50 years from now. We might see the giants like Tesco shutting up shop and becoming distributors because everyone is sitting at home ordering online.

[forest2807]

I think you've summed it up very well there Gwiwer. I agree. Next item for discussion please!

[Shamouti Ben Yafo]

Any truth in the rumour that Tesco are changing their motto from "Every little helps" to "UL-LAH!"*

 

*War of the Worlds, HG Wells.

[Mickey]

So Im not alone in being happy to say "Ta ra" to out of date retailers? Thats good to know

All we got to do now is drag the PO screaming into the 20th century...hopefully before the 22nd one starts - Or at least afore that "chap" in charge of their Onion notices

[AndrewC]

Any truth in the rumour that Tesco are changing their motto from "Every little helps" to "UL-LAH!"*

 

*War of the Worlds, HG Wells.

Ahh, blue striped tripods wading up the Thames.

[grahame]

Funnily enough exactly the same happened in our village, chemist was OK until Boots took them over, now their stock of basics has gone downhill and customer service is very poor; my wife's repeat perscription was almost always wrong, and they made it sound like it was her fault.

 

Snap. Our village independant chemist has now been taken over by Boots. Oddly enough some of the staff are the same but the service has changed for the worse - they probably have to follow more silly corporate rules. Pah.

 

G.

[grahame]

All we got to do now is drag the PO screaming into the 20th century...hopefully before the 22nd one starts -

 

Ohh, I don't know, I used to have a Post Office run Girobank account which was great. Then Alliance and Liecester took it over and it became less flexible, now Santander have take them over and the service and account benefits have gone to the dogs. My local village Post Ofice provide a more local, more friendly and more flexible service than Santanter do. And they can still offer it but Santander have deliberately made it difficult; withdrawing the paying in envelopes for use at POs, stopping paying interest on the account balance, withdrawing the cheque guarantee card facility, and a whole host of other niggling problems. At least I can still get cash out at the PO (through the Link facility and even buy stamps) and I can walk there - the 'local' Santander branch is a drive away and parking is difficult.

 

AFAIC the PO is more 21st century than Santander are. I'm currently looking for a better account with a different bank but I get the impression they're all tarred with the same brush. Banking is the oranisation that needs dragging screaming in to the the 21stC.

 

G.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

That's one that requires the government of the day to enforce the explicit bargain that was made with the banks: our elected representatives of all parties have over the years passed legislation that makes use of the banks inevitable for all; that is handing them our business on a plate. The other side of the bargain is that the banks have to be restricted in how far they can exercise the power that gives them. There is no secret in this: the UK banking sector depends at base on the capital we corporately supply. Our interest is to see that they do nothing rash with that capital: well now they well and truly have, and legislation must be enacted to stop any such silly adventures in future. Don't let up on pestering your MP about this.

 

Financial shennanigans are all part of the turf, and the legal managment of the finance sector has been by enacting laws to close stable doors after horses have bolted. A great one from the railways in C19th. A US railroad owner was continuously pestered by another individual, who wanted to acquire a controlling share in the railroad by ownership of the majority of the issued shares. Finally the owner sold the number of shares to give a controlling interest, meanwhile issuing a huge new block of shares to himself, in order to retain a majority shareholding. He got the money for the sale, and retained control thanks to the shares he had created out of thin air: and get this, there was no law preventing him from taking this action. The law was fairly promptly amended...

[Follower]

 

I'm currently looking for a better account with a different bank but I get the impression they're all tarred with the same brush. Banking is the oranisation that needs dragging screaming in to the the 21stC.

 

G.

 

As a (founder) customer I'd recommend First Direct. Although the current account doesn't pay interest you can move money between accounts instantaneously; if you have a deposit (interest earning) account with them they won't make routine bank charges.

 

Simon.

[RedgateModels]

Blimey, this has strayed a bit from my headache

[Guest dilbert]

Blimey, this has strayed a bit from my headache

 

Ah, you should have gone to the bank (prescription competent ?) in the first place - everyone knows that with Pharmacies, you'll pretty much get your money back... dilbert

[Kenton]

Whatever you do don't fall for their line about registering for repeat prescriptions.

If you do subscribe to this service then don't ever go away on holiday.

Changing the amount to cover a longer period seems to throw the whole system into chaos.

Bernard

Not true in the case of our local pharmacist - I guess it may be something to do with signing the repeat sheet (ie a semi-paper rather than wholly computerised system.)