Disappearing shopsops

Indeed, high rates have contributed to the loss of some businesses, and the knock on effect is that many towns and cities now have a fair number of empty buildings. If councils lose rent and council tax as a result, the public will end up paying to cover the shortfall. The city in which I live already has three very large abandoned buildings - BHS, Debenhams and John Lewis, and half of the shops in the city centre malls are closed. Even worse, we have a large number of office buildings in and around this city which are also empty, and apparently, some are going to be demolished to avoid the rent and rates cost. Even worse, for some strange reason, the council are still giving the go ahead for building new offices!

I've never enjoyed high street shopping for clothes and shoes. I'm tall so have to shop for nearly 100% of my clothes and especially shoes/boots on line.

High street stores have loads of petite sections but nothing for tall. Except for a few doing 'long'.

Went to Next today, Monday: the changing rooms are still closed. I returned the trousers I bought 2 days ago and didn't bother to look for anything else.

The high street would be regenerated by small businesses if the cost of rent and council tax was much reduced.

Cosmetics online can be a bit problematic and you sometimes need to see shades on your skin but unless I travel miles to big towns or cities, I will have to stick with the tried and true. Although at 78, who's looking at me

I must be in the minority as I hate shopping. I have a handful or online retailers whose clothes fit me and I use them. Our Debenhams was pretty awful apart from the perfumery and cosmetics department, the clothes retailers and franchises seemed to be forever having sales and there were always rails of pulled about clothes. I buy my clothes from British online retailers, the postage is reasonable, returns free or low cost. What on earth are people buying that costs more to return than the value of the item itself? I have just bought a new bra online, a great success, and they are a small, start up business. Big High Street chains have had their day, covid19 just speeded up the decline. I think that eventually we will end up with High Street showrooms where you can see/touch and then order.

Online shopping takes the embarrassment of walking out of a shop where nothing pleases you. I can't bear to be assisted as I know just what I want having made an art-form of consumerism. I find myself buying stuff to just get out. Auntie Wainwright would have loved me!

mrsmopp

As people flock to Primark or order from Amazon shops are closing left right and center. We’ve lost Debenhams, BHS, Woolworths, Laura Ashley, and lots more. I don’t want to shop online, I want to see what I’m getting. But our high street shops are a dying breed.
A nation of shopkeepers? Not any more.

Since lockdown my local area has become a magnet for smaller independant shops. In my village alone, new coffee shop/ convenience store, hardware shop, thank goodness, new artists shop, we have two other convenience stores, two butchers, two bakers, card shop, chemist, can eat from India, China, Italy, Spain(tapas bar), all thriving, think that is the way to go, clothes shops in town, bus ride away.

Parking was always the problem in the market town where I used to live.

I agree with Hetty58. However, until the parking charges are dropped in town centres people will continue to shop online.

A good few years before Covid our very large Debenhams was in dire need of customers! Such a shame

BlueBelle

merylstreep there is no joy in shopping for clothes online if you think back to when you used to buy an item of clothing on the High Street you would probably try 20 items on and although they looked lovely on the rail, looked awful on you or just didn’t fit well.
By the time you chose an item online pay the postage, it arrives and you decide you don’t like it then you ve got to send it back, paying more postage, and start all over again

But everyone’s right the High streets have gone for now ours is dire but after we are long gone probably a few generations on someone will come up with the idea of having shops in the high street and everyone will laud this brilliant new and totally unique old fashioned idea

100% agree !!

Read a report middle of last year that high streets were going to be pretty much a thing of the past in approximately 10 years . But with covid this timetable was at 5years because of the way our shopping habits have changed

I got fed up with the same old chain shops long ago. Bill Bryson summed it up nearly forty years ago when he first arrived in the UK. Although he loves it here, the first thing he noticed on his tour around the country was the same shops in every town. Boots, WH Smith, Woolworths, Debenhams, Laura Ashley, Monsoon, Body Shop and so on. I love the small independent shops but high rents and rates means they can’t afford to trade on the high street, and quite frankly I’m bored with the chains. I agree that allowing supermarkets to sell and out price all kind of goods hasn’t helped at all either.
I’m in dire need if some new clothes now having shielded for over a year but it will have to be online, where at least you can still find small independent traders, some selling lovely clothes in natural materials which I’m sticking with nowadays in my quest to cut down on plastic and plastic fibres.

Our local town's shops have been disappearing for years. Tesco arrived just outside it, walkable to most people, and that was it. The butcher's, fruit shops, bakeries, etc have all gone.
I started work when I left school in a local shoe shop as a trainee manager and the whole street had busy shops in it. Now there are charity shops and hairdressers, that's it. People don't want to pay parking to go to a couple of shops when they can go to Tesco and park for free.
We have a castle, a lovely Marina and yet the town is a complete dump. The local councils need to come up with ideas to draw people back there and pronto.

During lockdown I ve bought three items of clothing online all three are unwearable but paying another lot of postage which is nearly as much as the item is not an option I ll have to keep them and hopefully sell for a tiny amount on marketplace

According to Orsola de Castro in her book ‘Loved Clothes Last’,
“online retailers lack the capacity to check and reintroduce returns into the main system”
Allegedly About 25% of returns end up in land fill. And a greater percentage of clothes donated to charity shops go either to Africa, thus damaging local economies and are responsible for the demise of local textiles and traditional styles of dress. Or go to landfill, which means cheap clothing made from man made fibres will be around for a long time polluting our planet.

Much as I love fashion and buying new clothes I am now putting a halt to unnecessary spending and upcycling garments that are no longer fashionable.

That is my rant over.

mrsmopp...I know, the disappearance of our much loved shops is heartbreaking. I was so upset when when Woolworths disappeared, it held so many childhood, teenage and adult memories for me. I felt like I was grieving. The toys, the sweets, the clothes the homeware, music and cafe, especially at Christmas. ??. I loved BHS too, I always went there to buy especially nice things. And now Debenhams, it's upsetting to say the least. All that's left in Harrogate of our recently closed Debenhams, is a lovely historic massive empty building full of rubbish, it looks so dark and dismal inside. I loved their clothing and handbags department plus their cafe, I could spend hours in Debenhams. I too like to see what I'm buying, I like to feel the fabric on clothing, and see the quality of things before I purchase, the Internet I find is very deceiving. Come back shops please, I miss you.!!!!!!!

I've just resorted to buying nighties on line. They arrived today and if I had seen them in a shop , I would have walked past . Now it's too much hassle to return so it's a case of - They will do !

I've never liked trekking round shops trying to find something that I like that's in stock in my size + the colour I want. How much easier to sit at home, use the laptop and see in an instant whether it's in stock.
I know the brands whose sizing fits me (Cotton Traders is my main go-to) and really enjoy browsing online.
Strangely, both of my AC absolutely love wandering around shops, looking at everything - which is why I refuse to go shopping with them, as I want to scream after the first half an hour...! ?
You're either a shopper or a buyer - and I'm definitely a buyer. I can't remembered the last time that I bought an item of clothing in an actual shop - certainly not for the last five years - so the demise of the High Street doesn't bother me at all (all those queues - aaaargh...!! ?)

As shops leave premises empty my hope is that they will be converted into residential properties to ease the housing problem. Rather than building huge out of town estates lets bring folk back to form communities. In our village small town many of the shops were previously terrace houses and could easily be converted back to living accommodation.

Doesn't the decline in the ability of small traders to survive go way back to the gradual end of Resale Price Maintenance in the 1960s?

The old business model no longer works

Adapt or die.

I do like the wandering around the shops have a touch and feel of clothing etc. But even before covid I’ve started shopping online unfortunately a lot do change for returns and a lot don’t. Which is the downside. I tend to look for the ones with free returns. But I’m a ppl person I like to see ppl and I’d rather go into a store and support shops and staff. Since covid I’ve started using my local veg shop etc I find the stuff lasts longer than supermarket stuff but I’ve noticed a lot of smaller shops are opening by me too.

I never liked the faff of trying clothes on in shops but I’m all in favour of shopping locally. However when you go into places like M&Co, Matalan etc, and would like to buy something in a size that’s not on the rail, question the shop assistant and she tells you that you could buy it online I give up! I walk out of the store thinking ‘well you’re doing yourself out of a job there’.