The final nail in the coffin for the high street?

Heam44

Heam44

Well-known member
With Boohoo buying the Debenhams brand (not including the shops and staff etc) and ASOS doing the same with Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge. Is this the final nail in the coffin for many high streets throughout the country?

Do you think online shopping will take over completely?

Or will our high streets just reduce in size?

Will independent shops / new brands eventually fill “the gaps”?

Will existing brands grow to become the new “big boys” of the high street?

Has Covid sped up the demise of the various brands mentioned above?
 
Heam44 said:
With Boohoo buying the Debenhams brand (not including the shops and staff etc) and ASOS doing the same with Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge. Is this the final nail in the coffin for many high streets throughout the country?

Do you think online shopping will take over completely?

Or will our high streets just reduce in size?

Will independent shops / new brands eventually fill “the gaps”?

Will existing brands grow to become the new “big boys” of the high street?

Has Covid sped up the demise of the various brands mentioned above?
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I think Covid has exposed lots of preexisting weaknesses in these retail models. Most of the names mentioned just haven't moved with the times and the changing landscape of retail.

I think there is a definite future for the high street, but not in the shape of huge department type stores.

I also think the government needs to look at how these online transactions are taxed and where the actual transaction is deemed to take place.

Primark doesnt sell online at all, so they must have something up their sleeve to weather the storm?
 
The traditional High Street was already in terminal decline long before Covid. I think what we will see in years to come are High Streets becoming more like entertainment venues with more bars, restaurants, theatres and the like. People will visit for recreation rather than shopping. I guess Stockton with the closing down of many shops and the reopening of The Globe Theatre is a good example of this.
 
No - There will be a business opportunity for new companies to rise up as and when things return to normal
No - There will be a place for real shops - but diminished fir sure
Yes - High streets will be reduced
Yes - There will be an opportunity for new brands / shops to open after this mess goes away.
Not sure -
Yes - Covid has seen off many brands.
 
A lot of people (not me) do like shopping. So there will be a market and shops like Primark will do even better as other alternatives close.
 
The local authority in Stockton has already made the decision to cut back the High Street retail footprint.

I'm looking forward to seeing where the Castlegate food outlets move to. Hopefully a new 'Shambles' style with them bundled together.

The rental from the empty shops is going to be missed by the landlords, and the business rates by central government.
 
What it needs is landlords to get more realistic about rents, which in turn can make running small specialist shops a viable option for people.

A mix then of the large giants like Amazon who will continue to sell on line, augmented with smaller specialist physical sellers who offer something you cant get from online retailers (whether than be knowledge or experience).

It's the middle ground like your Debenhams which aren't specialist enough to attract people in through the overall "shopping experience", and can't match the economies of scale that Amazon can offer, who will continue to suffer.

Primark is a bit of a special case as it specializes in bulk selling "fast fashion", however people are slowly coming round to how unethical and environmentally friendly this is, and I really hope we're able to move away from this although in this age of "influencers" I'm not sure how realistic that is in reality.
 
Our council in Sheffield have already signalled their intention to massively scale down the retail footprint and are in the process of moving the majority of larger stores into one smaller area.

The spaces left behind, whilst empty at present are earmarked for entertainment/hospitality. Essentially you'll end up with two "zones" - one for retail and one for leisure (and a third massive retail zone around 5 miles from the centre - Meadowhall).
 
I would rather go shopping for clothes than shop online

I do think the amount of shops will reduce in size, sadly some will fall by the wayside, which will give opportunities to new companies, businessness getting in to the market
 
One of the problems is the rent and rates, the system is messed up.
Rents go up or stay the same, even though demand for high street retail goes down, this should be proportional, not the inverse.
Rates go up or stay the same, even though demand for high street retail goes down, this should be proportional, not the inverse.
Parking goes up, which costs the staff, and costs the shoppers, which drives away both.

The landlords and council are their own worst enemies and they had it too good for too long, and now they just can't let the money go, so they're going to run it into the ground and squeeze out every penny for the short time they had left. Where as the future would be in moving with the newer requirements, and taxing the industries gaining out of these changes (but who are doing it with less jobs, which in turn means less tax in the pot).

Not everything will go on line, a lot will, but not everything, but the days of selling everything in massive shops is long gone.

I think there will be a bit of a reversal soon, maybe in the next 10 years. Shopping areas need to be condensed, smaller shops, and a lot more specialised, as everyone selling everything is destroying everything.

Instead of 5 shops selling mens clothes, womens clothes, men's shoes, women's shoes and tat, they're all going to lose (eventually, or until it's last man standing) as they're all competing with each other, and they're all losing to the rates. It's like a casino, there is no way for these guys to win, not whilst the house is taking a bigger percentage every year. They also lose as it's forcing the punter to go to 5 shops, to see what is available.
If one shop sold only mens clothes, one sold only womens clothes, one sold only men's shoes etc etc they would all gain, in that market, have less stock to manage, require less space, less heat, less bills etc, be more specialised and it's better for the punter only going where they need to for a good choice, rather than 5 places with crap choice.

Effectively there needs to be some legislation to stop shops selling everything, as it will ultimately end up in none of them selling anything.
 
And as lizards says. Rent.
Heam44 said:
😂 I’d love to hear more on the “dress so badly” part Sheriff.

What do you class as bad dress sense and good dress sense?
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People wear ill fitting clothes. I mean stuff like shoes with jeans with an untucked shirt is just bad taste. And a lot of it is down to the fact that most men either aren't interested in or don't know how to look good. But you can't tell what you're going to look like until you've tried them on and looked in the mirror.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
And as lizards says. Rent.

People wear ill fitting clothes. I mean stuff like shoes with jeans with an untucked shirt is just bad taste. And a lot of it is down to the fact that most men either aren't interested in or don't know how to look good. But you can't tell what you're going to look like until you've tried them on and looked in the mirror.
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I think what you're referring to sheriff is a clown, only used at parties 😂
 
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