M + S in the Boro shutting

Subbuteo_171 said:
Destinations are the name of the game for physical shopping, Leeds, Newcastle , Manchester etc that can support shoppers plus have the added benefits of more restaurants, bars, things to do etc

York is dead on its **** shopping wise its all about the food/drink/sniff/fight (delete as applicable).

Some smaller market towns appear to be doing ok from what I’ve seen, Beverley, Northallerton as examples although I concede the sample size is small and I don’t go to either too often.

Maybe if we binned / massively reformed business rates then physical shops would be more attractive.
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The wealthier areas will keep their shops. Nothing to do with the business rates (which have been set by the Tory government for the last 12 years, the party for small business).

The poorer areas will plump for Amazon and Primark, less people employed, more unemployment and a low wage economy.
 
Its ironic that M&S are effectively opening the equivalent of mega-stores whilst closing 67 "lower productivity" stores. Quite simply its about increasing profits at the expense of workers being made redundant and areas like Boro losing "value" in the quality of High-Street shopping.

www.theguardian.com

Marks & Spencer to open 20 large shops, creating 3,400 jobs

Retail chain to launch ‘full-line’ stores in Liverpool, Manchester, Croydon, Leeds and other locations
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
​

Marks & Spencer to open 20 large shops, creating 3,400 jobs​

Retail chain to launch ‘full-line’ stores in Liverpool, Manchester, Croydon, Leeds and other locations
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Marks & Spencer is to open 20 large stores and create 3,400 jobs as part of a £500m plan to rejuvenate its presence on the high street after bumper Christmas trading.

The retail chain – which in October said it would close 67 of its “lower productivity” sites** that sold clothes and homeware, about a quarter of its estate of bigger stores – said it planned to open the 20 “bigger, better” stores in locations across the UK in the next financial year.

The company intends to open eight “full-line” stores, offering clothing, homeware and food, in shopping centres such as the Bullring in Birmingham and Manchester’s Trafford Centre as well as retail parks and high streets.

A number of the stores will take over former sites occupied by the collapsed department store chain Debenhams.

Under the £480m investment plan M&S is to open 12 new food halls in communities including Stockport, Barnsley and the seaside town of Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, said a significant presence on the high street was crucial in offering consumers the widest shopping experience. The company is also expanding its Click & Collect offering to 130 stores, while its online sales surged over Christmas.

“Stores are a core part of M&S’s omnichannel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today,” Machin said. “Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space.”

Overall, M&S said under its five-year plan its estate of 247 stores would transition to 180 “full-line” sites and it would open more than 100 food sites. By its 2025/26 financial year it aims to run 420 food stores across the UK.

The company plans to broaden its franchise model by expanding its convenience store range beyond existing partners including BP, Moto, SSP and Costa.

Last week, M&S announced that it took its biggest share of the clothing and homeware market in seven years and the largest slice of the food market ever over Christmas.

**https://www.theguardian.com/busines...r-bigger-stores-selling-clothing-and-homeware
 
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ThatFragranceGuy said:
The x10 etc go but stop several times along the way

That said it's something like £7 return and cheaper travelling with 2 and takes same time as the train so not exactly a hardship
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Much slower than the train now since it added extra stops. Friends travelling for work now try to catch the National Express
 
fmttmadmin said:
Much slower than the train now since it added extra stops. Friends travelling for work now try to catch the National Express
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It's added a few minutes to the journey from Billingham with the extra stop at Dalton Park but the journey through Teesside has increased since the X9 was taken off.
 
M&S was a safe place for Mrs Wurzel to go on Match day afternoons.

Recently she has been less keen to go into the Boro, after BHS went then Debenhams, then House of Fraser/Binns. She doesn't drive. The M&S store had toilets, cafe and she always found familar food to buy. Staff and customers were pleasant.

I can see what M&S has done in the area - with 2 stores at Teesside Park, one in Guisborough, one at Cleveland Retail Park - all geared for car owners and not served by public transport. Plus online for clothes and now food. Closed Stockton, Redcar and shortly the Boro one, where rent and rates are higher.

The M&S in the Boro was one of the first M&Ss in the UK. the wife of Spencer lived at Marton when he died. I think she died in the 1960s. She probably kept an eye on the Middlesbrough store.

There isn't much choice for students at the University, where do they shop thats walkable. I used to go Tescos (Cleveland Centre) Hintons (Dundas Arcade), Frankie Dee (Linthorpe Road) Co-op (Linthorpe Road) Fine Fare (Hill Street Centre). All there is now is Sainsbury and online if you haven't a car. No Tesco's, Morrisons, ASDA, M&S, Iceland, Lidl, Aldi within 20 minutes walk.
 
1 hour 12 minutes to Newcastle for me by bus. 47 minutes to Teesside Park by bus.

Something not quite right for a distance of about 3 miles.
 
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