All Wilkos gone

Archiestephens_elbow said:
If people want to save the high street from stuff like this happening
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Daft idea

Let's halt progress and tax new stuff so that the old ways stay the same forever

There's already an online shopping tax, it's called VAT. Last thing we as consumers want is extra tax piled on top so that failing firms can continue to pay landlords for a bit longer, as, let's face it, any online shopping tax is coming out of our pockets, not theirs.

High streets just need to change. You can no longer have 8 of the same shop within a few minutes drive and have the same chains on every local high street. Replace them with fewer smaller units, leisure/services and residential properties to have people living back in town centres but in better quality housing than ancient poor quality terraces.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Daft idea

Let's halt progress and tax new stuff so that the old ways stay the same forever

There's already an online shopping tax, it's called VAT. Last thing we as consumers want is extra tax piled on top so that failing firms can continue to pay landlords for a bit longer, as, let's face it, any online shopping tax is coming out of our pockets, not theirs.

High streets just need to change. You can no longer have 8 of the same shop within a few minutes drive and have the same chains on every local high street. Replace them with fewer smaller units, leisure/services and residential properties to have people living back in town centres but in better quality housing than ancient poor quality terraces.
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Playing devils advocate….

There are likely two things that have driven people to online shopping rather than the high street; the convenience of not having to go out to get a product, and the fact it is cheaper.

One of the reasons it is cheaper online is because of the amount of tax paid by large online retailers compared to bricks and mortar businesses. Not really a level playing field is it?

Such is the purchasing and selling power now of some online retailers that there’s now not a huge amount of price different to what is left of the high street. The more that competition is reduced, the freer companies are to raise prices for profits with no consequences.
 
Air Resistance said:
Playing devils advocate….

There are likely two things that have driven people to online shopping rather than the high street; the convenience of not having to go out to get a product, and the fact it is cheaper.

One of the reasons it is cheaper online is because of the amount of tax paid by large online retailers compared to bricks and mortar businesses. Not really a level playing field is it?

Such is the purchasing and selling power now of some online retailers that there’s now not a huge amount of price different to what is left of the high street. The more that competition is reduced, the freer companies are to raise prices for profits with no consequences.
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It's not meant to be a level playing field though, is it? Businesses compete on cost and many industries won't have want a physical presence and shouldn't be penalised for that.

If it's cheaper to sell online, they can sell online themselves. Wilko had a website. Wilko hasn't failed because competitors weren't paying tax on stores, Wilko failed because they were largely full of tat and other shops came along and were better at being Wilko than Wilko were, namely b&m, home bargains and the range, who all have bigger ranges, better locations and free parking.

Home bargains employ twice as many people as Wilkos, has more stores, and their directors don't seem to be borrowing tens of millions to paying dividends whilst leaving the pension fund in a deficit, which probably helps.

That, and the fact that every time I've been in a wilkos last few years there been fairly quiet. Wilkos to me is the victim of their own previous success - and then sitting on their laurels and not innovating.

Rewarding them for that by stifling competition with an "online tax" that makes things more expensive for us all and keeps landlords profits rolling in sounds like a chuffing brilliant idea all round though, just what our economy needs.
 
Wilkos had revenue of £1.25bn. I don’t think we need to pretend its some little corner shop going out of business.
 
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fmttmadmin said:
Middlesbrough Wilko closes 8th October - it really is so sad for all the staff and their regular customers.
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Sad for the staff, for sure.

I’d be surprised if there are that many regular customers in truth. There are other shops to buy Brillo pads in. They’ll cope.
 
Was good for its puck and mix screws, nuts and bolts. Most shops ive been in seem deserted, even home bargains footfall aint what it used to be
 
We go to Stockton home bargains every few days and I hate being in it because usually most checkouts are open and the queues are huge.

Needs some self checkouts. Aldi and Lidl do them now and miles better.

Also needs to deal with the "homeless" bloke getting the trolley for you and offering to put it back, hoping to keep the pound in it.
 
atypical_boro said:
Sad for the staff, for sure.

I’d be surprised if there are that many regular customers in truth. There are other shops to buy Brillo pads in. They’ll cope.
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There are a lot of regular customers to the shop and the cafe that serves cooked food especially breakfasts at reasonable prices. I have used the shop regularly for years as my office is round the corner and it has always been a well used store. Especially convenient for those living in town. Being next to bus station and a multi storey car park (used to be free for 3 hours now, £1 for 3 hours) it is really conveniently situated.
 
fmttmadmin said:
There are a lot of regular customers to the shop and the cafe that serves cooked food especially breakfasts at reasonable prices. I have used the shop regularly for years as my office is round the corner and it has always been a well used store. Especially convenient for those living in town. Being next to bus station and a multi storey car park (used to be free for 3 hours now, £1 for 3 hours) it is really conveniently situated.
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Ok, it’s sad for users of the store too then. But as above, it’s progress. Wilko helped kill off the high street independent stores a couple of decades ago.
 
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