Demise of the city centre

[lokiuk]

All ok until the WiFi goes down at home!

Just live somewhere with decent 4g coverage, and you use that quite happily if you don't have metered internet usage on your phone

 

[Yokel]

Who wants it to be stopped? Its inefficient and more expensive in all but niche shops.

But do we really want nothing but charity shops, fast food outlets, international coffee chain franchises, and the odd WH Smith or local newsagent? There is an unsettling look of decline and emptiness - for example seeing an empty shop with RES ASS above the boarded up door, nobody even removing the signage properly.

 

[Sana]

This pandemic seems to be decimating city centres even further.

 

[Richard Headicus]

Every Christmas present this year has been bought online (99% by SWMBO I'm happy to say) and many delivered here. God knows why with the travel restrictions but I'm not stupid enough to question her on that one. Alternatively they've been sent direct to whoever they've been bought for. The only thing I've bought in a shop is the card for her - from the supermarket's card section as part of the weekly shop.

What is this High St(r)eet you speak of?

I find a certain irony, in the demise of the corner shop/local grocer/butcher/candlestick maker et al. This was brought about, in the fullness of time, by department stores branching out too. Then the supermarkets appeared, putting pressure on the big stores. Now the supermarkets, in some cases, are feeling the heat from the internet. An awful lot of arrses have been bitten on this merry - go - round.
I hope SWMBO isn't knackered after all the running about for pressies.

 

[stacker1]

But do we really want nothing but charity shops, fast food outlets, international coffee chain franchises, and the odd WH Smith or local newsagent? There is an unsettling look of decline and emptiness - for example seeing an empty shop with RES ASS above the boarded up door, nobody even removing the signage properly.

Turn them into accommodation, pointless throwing money at something people dont need.

 

[Richard Headicus]

Has anyone told Mary Portas that the High st is fu##ed

What was that? I must be going a bit deaf/blind in my old age. I didn't quite catch that last word.

 

[giatttt]

Employees working from home don’t need to be in the United Kingdom...

Nope. But the cultural differences don't go away.

 

[ThelmatheBelmer]

Turn them into accommodation, pointless throwing money at something people dont need.

Why? People will always want the personal interaction. That's one of the big sellers of the local shop.

 

[Sana]

They say that Phillip Green has more than enough money to save Arcadia. Corporations and fat cats really do look out for their employees.

 

[stacker1]

Why? People will always want the personal interaction. That's one of the big sellers of the local shop.

So go to the pub or your mates house.

Its pretty sad if you need to socialise in Currys or River Island

 

[Sana]

So go to the pub or your mates house.

Its pretty sad if you need to socialise in Currys or River Island

Currys and River Island are local shops?

 

[stacker1]

Currys and River Island are local shops?

You find them on the high street.

 

[Cold_Collation]

They say that Phillip Green has more than enough money to save Arcadia. Corporations and fat cats really do look out for their employees.

The man is a turd. I know you're not suggesting it, because it won't happen, but do you think for a moment that he'll give up any of his personal fortune to save anything of his 'empire'? He's made his money. He's off.

 

[76mill]

Ah, but today's little spoilt snowflake brats must not EVER be exposed to nasty things like bombsites.

The Otterbury Incident should be compulsory reading!

 

[Sana]

The man is a turd. I know you're not suggesting it, because it won't happen, but do you think for a moment that he'll give up any of his personal fortune to save anything of his 'empire'? He's made his money. He's off.

Topman no longer: Philip Green's Arcadia falls into administration | ITV News

Arcadia is in administration but still trading and no redundancies have been announced yet.

www.itv.com

Arcadia falls into administration putting 13,000 jobs at risk – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group enters administration

www.theguardian.com

You were right.

 

[lokiuk]

Why? People will always want the personal interaction. That's one of the big sellers of the local shop.

Indeed it is

 

[solomon88]

Is this thread the nearest one we have to obe on the decline of the High Street and traditional retail? I finding it shocking to see so many empty and shut down shops in the High Steet of the local town - and now the Acadia group going tits up will mean more empty units.

Can the decline be stopped? How?

Maybe, in 10+ years, the electric car thing won't work out as people assume it will, and out of town shops will have to come back to the centres.

 

[lokiuk]

This pandemic seems to be decimating city centres even further.

That would start the conspiracy theorists off, if every tenth city shop closed down

 

[Electromagnetic]

That would start the conspiracy theorists off, if every tenth city shop closed down

9G?

 

[bobthebuilder]

They say that Phillip Green has more than enough money to save Arcadia. Corporations and fat cats really do look out for their employees.

The question is why would he save Arcadia? It’s a moribund business that has been in decline for decades. The brands are hardly aspirational; who wants to shop at Burton or Dorothy Perkins? Chucking money at Arcadia would only delay the inevitable, an inevitable that was going to happen without Covid.