Major Retailers Closing

fc123

We have been de-cluttering this weekend and I found an old newspaper clipping from last year (I must be old fashioned...still clipping articles to keep )
Found the link...OK, it's the Google man so he's a bit biased but I remeber reading it prior to my internety involvement, though I had read the Long Tail the previous year.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3952518.ece

It’s interesting that small businesses have been among the earliest and most creative adopters. While specialist stores may be disappearing from our high streets, they are turning up in ever-increasing numbers on the internet. Thanks to the web, small businesses no longer need to be local businesses.

I have quoted the comments as the fraud will just have to be dealt or coped with...same as shoplifters and vandals....but it won't stop what is happening.
It amazes me that the big LL's didn't see it coming and how it would impact the rents their tenants would be able to pay.

OK, the funny money in the system over the past few years masked it (Bauger etc) but I still can't believe they didn't get what would eventually happen.

There are still lots of potential tenants out there with new concepts and ideas....they are waiting for rents to fall (so their businesses are profitable) , same as FTB'ers with houses.

Internet revolutioned the way we communicate, its going to be a part of our lives for a long time whether we want it or not. Security is a big problem for large, small businesses, and for individual home users, and with that comes increasing cost to safeguard oneself online.

Julie Williams , Essex, UK


Unfortunately for businesses - especially small businesses who can't afford security specialists - there is an enormous and growing downside which will eventually bring the internet to its knees: the huge distraction of spammers & marketeers and the constant threat to online financial transactions

Chris Thomas, Oxford, England

bo_drinker

Do you think local councils will ever wake up and do something to help the situation re rates etc?? There are 50 + empty shops here and it looks bleak. Surely something needs to be done to get the ball rolling again or are they not going to budge ??

obprestige

The Old Orleans in Kingston Upon Thames has closed with immediate effect. Not sure what the situation is with that company. We also have the big retailers that have gone under like Barretts and Woolworths both of which are still empty.

opaque

bo_drinker wrote: »

Do you think local councils will ever wake up and do something to help the situation re rates etc?? There are 50 + empty shops here and it looks bleak. Surely something needs to be done to get the ball rolling again or are they not going to budge ??

I think only a little bit is rates, it's the other masses of problems that mean there are still so many empty shops. Even if you had no rates, no rent and shops were provided free for local businesses there is no guarantee you'll manage to keep going. Sometimes businesses are just not viable in some situations. And if you know that why bother even trying. That's one of the environments we're in now in some places.

bo_drinker

opaque wrote: »

I think only a little bit is rates, it's the other masses of problems that mean there are still so many empty shops. Even if you had no rates, no rent and shops were provided free for local businesses there is no guarantee you'll manage to keep going. Sometimes businesses are just not viable in some situations. And if you know that why bother even trying. That's one of the environments we're in now in some places.

I agree, it looks like the beginning of the end for the High St.

BettiePage

vivatifosi wrote: »

Found another article on retail leases, this time by the chairman of House of Fraser. Key points:

* Retail rents are too high by 20-25%
* Even when firms go to landlords suggesting CVAs they get turned down.
* Pre-pack administration is the only way to make landlords sit up and listen.
* Big property companies are inflexible because they can't be seen as setting a precedent.
* Landlords are failing to see that in every town in the UK there is a new shopping centre open -called the internet - that they have no domain over.

See: http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=38&storycode=3138129

Local Asda is moving out of the town centre mall to just over the road on to land they'll have bought from the council. The town centre owners are now trying to sue the council over this.
Asda has been threatening to move for years and when car park charges were brought in it made them even more determined.

Shropshire Star

Plenty of empty shop premises in Telford at the moment so surely being paid a lower rent is better than getting nowt?

opaque

BettiePage wrote: »

Local Asda is moving out of the town centre mall to just over the road on to land they'll have bought from the council. The town centre owners are now trying to sue the council over this.
Asda has been threatening to move for years and when car park charges were brought in it made them even more determined.

In Cambridge they based the new 'shopping centre' around John Lewis as they said they'd move to the outskirts unless they made the changes. A lot of people here couldn't have cared less if they'd had gone but the council fell to their knees and did what they were told. As a result they kicked out a couple of smaller cheap shops that had a very strong customer base (would be even stronger now) against a big shop with some clout. It is now in the new shopping centre which is packed full of expensive shops that the normal people of Cambridge don't want and we don't have the shops like QD anymore. But thats fine, because we can all afford to shop in Links of London, Swarsky Crystal, All Saints, Jane Norman, Ben Sherman.

BettiePage wrote: »

Plenty of empty shop premises in Telford at the moment so surely being paid a lower rent is better than getting nowt?

In the short term maybe, but the thing is shop owners have to think long term. A shopping centre might have empty shops now but in a year or two when the recession ends and things pick up they'll be fine. But if they have new deals now for 50% of the current rental costs then they are tied into contracts for many many years and when they get to the end of their contracts they might not be able to get back to the same levels they have now. Better to take a short term loss against losing big in the long run.
A lot of shopping centres are owned by pension schemes who have to take the longer term view anyway.

kirsty12_2

In Cambridge they based the new 'shopping centre' around John Lewis as they said they'd move to the outskirts unless they made the changes. A lot of people here couldn't have cared less if they'd had gone but the council fell to their knees and did what they were told. As a result they kicked out a couple of smaller cheap shops that had a very strong customer base (would be even stronger now) against a big shop with some clout. It is now in the new shopping centre which is packed full of expensive shops that the normal people of Cambridge don't want and we don't have the shops like QD anymore. But thats fine, because we can all afford to shop in Links of London, Swarsky Crystal, All Saints, Jane Norman, Ben Sherman.


I have to disagree with you, i love the new shopping centre!!

pickles110564

bo_drinker wrote: »

I agree, it looks like the beginning of the end for the High St.

People have been saying this for years after the first retail parks were built however if high streets price right and supply what the consumer wants then they will carry on.

Cannon_Fodder

rach83 wrote: »

I think the following will go in 2009 -

Holland and Barrett, Superdrug, BHS, Pilot (clothes store bit like New Look), Body Shop, Bay Trading, Claires Accessories, La Senza.

Cheers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8015902.stm
Fashion chain Bay Trading is going into administration, putting about 1,000 jobs in 268 branches at risk.
The decision was taken after credit insurance was withdrawn following the release of results on Wednesday.