High street retailers are being hit from all angles at the moment and have been increasingly hit year on year dating back to when the internet was born (properly) around about the mid 90's. There are lot's of reasons for this, the major one being the competition from the internet but this is not the reason why shops are failing. I sell on the internet but I never buy from the internet, why? It's because I prefer to go into a shop and buy something, I use the internet to find a price and to find info on a product but I will only buy from a shop. There are lot's of people like myself. I've sold thousands on the internet but only bought once.
The two primary reasons for shops closing are:
1. PARKING CHARGES - I can't even go to browse any of the shops near myself without having to pay a parking charge. Thats both locally and at the larger towns further away. This immediately puts me off from 'having a quick look' as a) I don't want to pay to have a look, and b) I have to have change to put in the damn machine. If I haven't got it then how am I supposed to get change without parking up? But how can I go and get change without parking up? This immediately is a barrier between the 'potential' customer and the shop keeper. How on earth is a shop keeper supposed to sell to someone who refuses to pay to browse?
The worst for me was just last week. For anybody who doesn't know, Stockport town centre is one of the worst areas in the UK for empty shops. The Peel Centre in Stockport has a Curry's, Pc World, Comet, Argos, Boots, Toy's R Us etc. These are on the edge of Stockport town centre so not out of town but the same style but on the edge of town. I pulled up on the car park with the intention to 'browse' and then noticed that they are charging £1 for 2 hours. Now I know it doesn't sound like a lot but it's the principle of it for me. I mean I only wanted to have a look so essentially I was being told to pay £1 for the privilege. I refused to pay and drove off. Parking charges are a big no no. If you were charged £1 to go on a website and have a look at what they had you would more than likely not pay it. It's a reason to not go shopping, a big no no.
2. RENT PRICES - Landlords charge absolutely ridiculous prices. For a shop in my local town they are charging between £400 and £800 per week for shops that are around 400-600 square foot. This is local shops the type of shops that should exist here are butchers, green grocers, delis, cafe's, small clothing shops, hair dressers, newsagents etc. I say 'should' exist because the town isn't big enough to feed the bigger chain stores shops, there aren't enough people, the shops were designed in the 60's for local people, it's a local shopping centre. The centre it pretty dead now, greggs bakery moved out last year after being there since the 80's and I'd guess it's the landlord trying to just ease that last pound out of them. Honestly £400 per week is just ridiculous, nobody with any sense would pay that price for a little town shopping centre shop and that's exactly what's happening. One by one they are disappearing and we are being left with charity shops, (there's only about 15 shops as it is). Landlords and the council are the biggest problems with shops around this area and I'd expect it's the same with the rest of the country.
Between them rich out of touch landlords and the councils are the largest reason why all high street shops will eventually fail. If you want an order in which will fail first then here you go:
Phase 1.
Larger towns - HMV, Blacks, Comet, Carpet Right basically all the ones that have been in the news needing either a buyout or an increased overdraft (if the business ain't making money now then it will only get worse, an overdraft is just putting off the inevitable)
Smaller towns - All non essential local shops, cd / music shops, small electrical shops, small furniture shops, small computer shops, Estate agent shops (but the agent will carry on office based), small fashion clothes shops (one's serving the over 60's will scrape by), small stationary shops, any remaining photo express shops, card shops, all are at high risk of closing.
Phase 2.
Larger towns - Most of the remaining chains will have moved out and moved into smaller out of town shopping centres. We will see a lot more teaming together and putting two three or four shops within 1 a bit like you see at debenhams at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised to see HMV inside Sainsbury's. Maplins will team up with Machine and Mart. There will be a lot of this going on. Because the high streets will be so empty the remaining independents there will have no option but to close. At this point the rich landlords might offer incentives to stay but it will be too late, the damage will have been done. The shopping centres and high streets will then be demolished and new homes will be built in their place.
Smaller towns - Some restaurants, some cafe's, most of the hair salons will go(you will only see 1 or 2 per town, not 5), sandwich shops, long-standing newsagents will start to disappear.
Phase 3
Larger towns - There will either be empty smashed shops waiting to be knocked down or there will be new houses owned by the council being let out.
Smaller towns - Only shops with a market aimed at primarily the over 60's will survive. Shops like Mobility shops, long standing hairdressers, general food stores (tesco express, late shop, spar). There will be long-standing restaurants and takeaways that will be ok. Anything that relies on a high footfall won't be there. Half of the smaller towns would be converted to homes by the council. The remaining shops will be long-standing shops and continue to trade having weathered the storm but on a much smaller high street so much less potential competition.
Chris. (Good to look back in 15-20 years and see how it all panned out)
Just saying.....
