Changes on the High Street

[Carth]

I must admit I'm an old fogey . . I always have a preference to see and feel things I want to buy in order to judge better if they're worth it. Obviously this means that online shopping is not something I take to easily.

I guess it's fine for those who are willing to wait a week for a purchase to arrive, and then have the calm and forgiving attitude required to return said item if it's wrong or damaged when (if) it arrives.

yes yes yes, change with the times you old luddite but we seem to be throwing experienced and helpful retail staff onto the dole and replacing them by an ever growing army of low paid (or self employed) delivery drivers working to tight schedules.

goodbye high street shopping . . hello night clubs, pound shops, and fast food take-aways

[1andrew1]

At the other end of the price spectrum, New Look is not looking good either.

New Look’s precarious finances are set to come under more pressure after the withdrawal of credit insurance to many of its suppliers.
The development is a further blow for the ailing fashion retailer, which is struggling with falling sales and a debt burden of more than £1bn.
The chain’s deepening woes come at a bleak time on the high street. Debenhams saw its market value drop by almost a fifth last week after it issued a Christmas profit warning, while House of Fraser confirmed that it had been forced to ask some of its landlords for rent cuts.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/b...over-cmmzxj60k

[denphone]

Yes it certainly does not look good for New Look that is for sure.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by denphone

Yes it certainly does not look good for New Look that is for sure.

New Look, the fashion retailer, is weighing a plan to close about 10% of its British stores in another sign of the tumult facing the high street.

Sky News has learnt that the South African-owned chain is drawing up proposals for a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a process often used by struggling retailers to restructure financial obligations to creditors.

Sources said on Thursday night that New Look's CVA plan was not yet finalised and was only one of a number of options under consideration.

A decision about whether to proceed is expected to be t‎aken in the coming weeks, and would require the consent of bondholders.

If it does go ahead with the store closures, roughly one-tenth of New Look's nearly-600 outlets in Britain would be axed, with sizeable rent reductions sought at many of the remaining shops.

Source

[denphone]

Expect more High Street casualties as the weeks go on..

I remember once shopping in a House of Fraser, about 30 years ago - they were expensive, and I never used them again.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Paul M

I remember once shopping in a House of Fraser, about 30 years ago - they were expensive, and I never used them again.

The internet has changed everything as we all know as High Street business models which worked before are now looking archaic in comparison to their swift online competitor's who have nothing like the overheads the High Street chains have and they don't have inflexible leases or increasing rents either to deal with.

[Hom3r]

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, last year I spent over £1,800.

But easily saved £500, over shops.

But having Amazon Prime I can order for next day delivery, which is great for mid week.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by denphone

Expect more High Street casualties as the weeks go on..

Another one in trouble:

Originally Posted by

The Sun

High Street fashion chain East has gone into administration putting 314 jobs at risk.

The retailer, which first opened its doors in London in 1994, has 34 stores and 15 department store concessions around the UK.

The womenswear chain initially fell into administration in June 2015 but it was rescued by Indian chain store, Fabindia

It closed 15 stores and five concessions in a pre-pack deal.

But a tough trading environment had lead to administrators being called in less than a year later.

The shop remains open while they evaluate options for selling the business.

It's only a small one this time but symptomatic of the hard times for the high street.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Another one in trouble:



It's only a small one this time but symptomatic of the hard times for the high street.

And sadly those times are likely to get harder.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Another one in trouble:

It's only a small one this time but symptomatic of the hard times for the high street.

An even bigger shock is that The Sun missed the chance to say East has gone West after its profits went South.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Kursk

An even bigger shock is that The Sun missed the chance to say East has gone West after its profits went South.

Probably couldn't work out how to get North in.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Probably couldn't work out how to get North in.

An even bigger shock is that neither I nor The Sun took the chance to say East has gone West after its profits went South .

Originally Posted by Hom3r

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, last year I spent over £1,800.

But having Amazon Prime I can order for next day delivery, which is great for mid week.

I do pretty much the same, at least half (if not more) of my orders are from Amazon - not only do I save money anyway, but I also get a discount on amazon vouchers through work, making them even cheaper. Its all delivered to me as well, saving on fuel and parking expenses.

[heero_yuy]

Quote from The Independent:

Marks & Spencer has announced the closure of up to 14 stores, with 468 jobs affected.

The retailer said the closures were part of M&S's strategy to downsize its clothing & home offering to focus more on food.

The retailer said six stores will close by the end of April: Birkenhead, Bournemouth, Durham, Fforestfach, Putney and Redditch, with all staff moving to nearby stores.

A further eight stores are proposed for closure: Andover, Basildon, Bridlington, Denton (Outlet), Falmouth, Fareham, Keighley and Stockport.

M&S said it will now consult employees in these branches about their future. The company did not confirm how long that process would take.

If the stores do close, staff would be offered the chance to move to other stores before redundancy is considered, M&S said in a statement.

Martin Lane, managing editor of personal finance site money.co.uk said the news was distressing for M&S employees but warned of further redundancies ahead at high-street retailers.

“This is the third time in a matter of weeks we’ve heard of job cuts impacting some of the UK’s biggest stores," he said.

Looks like they've admitted they can't compete in the clothes market.