Major Retailers Closing

barnaby-bear

vivatifosi wrote: »

My guess is ten plus, purely because we're already up to 6 I think, though that could change a minute after typing this...

So far:

MFI
Woolworths
The Pier Group
Whittards
Officers Club
Zaavi

The speed that they have gone down with (plus the fact that none of them even made it to Christmas) suggests to me that we won't get away with just one or two more.

Edit: that's assuming you mean going into administration. Fewer of those will actually be wound up completely.

Not making it to christmas is probably tied in with the rents system - christmas eve/day is a quarter day when companies have to pay 3 months rent up front and this has triggered cash flow/credit issues to come to a head... the VAT date may have a similar effect:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=458930&in_page_id=2

When
I look at the list that have gone though there isn't really any surprise, all really weak companies...
MFI - with a slowing housing market demand dropped, they were expensive and there are a lot more players in that market
Woolworths - struggled even in the boom, supermarkets cover most of their range cheaper
Whittards - can't recall buying anything in there for years - overpriced tea/coffee and cheap 'fun' mugs

The Pier Group - overpriced scruffy tat -

Officers Club - indifferent products/brand

Zavvi - really a casulty of Woolworths losing their distribution chain coupled with an outdated model for selling music in the post-iTunes world...

I reckon the really weak products:
LUSH - overpriced fresh cosmetics
those shops that sell painted tin buckets/flower pots and pointless kitchen utensils/shabby chic

and those hit by a serious downturn damaging supply (c.f. Rosebys - less moving less curtains):
A carpet retailer or two? big rents and if not moving you can delay a new carpet if jumpy about the economy.
Car part supplier?

and those with outdated business models/lost the plot with their customers:
things it's easier/cheaper to get off the internet - e.g. Jessops
lost the brand plot - The body shop
WHSmith (but magazine/station branch arm strong and may benefit from woolworths going so not convinced)

barnaby-bear

brightonman123 wrote: »

i reckon these are going down, or facing downsizing their operations, or even their perceived status in order to survive, or just compete with a major consumer shift, towards the low-budget / £1shops etc-

Debenhams
M&S
Boots
Waitrose

The only one I would think a possible is Debenhams and that's because they were asset stripped by PE investors and carry a very weird debt model.
Waitrose in fact grew a tiny amount last year 0.2%.
Boots I think are strong and diversified their lunch deal/prescription services etc seems to drag in people who buy shampoo etc too - always packed (may cut smaller local high street branches)

barnaby-bear

poppy10 wrote: »

The bulk of their profits come not from selling goods but from selling credit - or rather, debt.With lending costs rising and customers keeping tighter reins on their pockets they are a sure-fire bet to go bust.

Also going down are Land of Leather, ScS sofas, Barker & Stonehous, Furniture Village, JJB, Clintons Cards, Monsoon/Accessorize and DSG group. I think.

I'd agree Furniture Village is weak and most of the sofa places but I wonder if DFS's reliance on selling finance may be it's saviour - if you are worried about your job/can't afford £2k upfront etc - perhaps £100 a month for a squillion years is attractive?

prowla

bo_drinker wrote: »

Rosebys. Gone. Please try to keep up.

Bloomin'eck - that was quick!

Sun

The Body Shop isn't doing well too.

disney_cjd

currys and the rest of the DSG (and good riddance they are !!!!!)

Halfords which is a shame

and a bookstore. All will go

codger

How Debenhams has lasted even this long is a mystery to many as it's a classic case of tip-of-the-iceberg commerce with hidden shallows, rather than hidden depths.

DFS is similarly gravity-defying: as its customers aren't financing its absurd multi-year 'free credit' deals, then someone else is.

Speculation about others seems a bit short on reality: W.H. Smith has a lucrative Post Office contract; Boots has done a really good job on brand consolidation in recent years; M&S's finances are still in very good shape.

(By comparison, House of Fraser has been hopelessly mismanaged -- it only woke up to the existence of the Internet long after every other of its High Street rivals.)

I hope they all make it through, though, because every retailer that closes is a tragedy for those who work there, and every individual chucked into the unemployment queues is a liability in a UK economy where an already over-inflated (and daft) State benefits budget cannot be sustained indefinitely.

I can understand the feelings of some who have, for instance, suffered at the hands of either Currys or PC World, and think the world would be a better place without either.

Best to be careful what you wish for though: when something sinks like a stone, the ripples it sends out can wash over you. . .

djm1972

codger wrote: »

DFS is similarly gravity-defying: as its customers aren't financing its absurd multi-year 'free credit' deals, then someone else is.

DFS and other retailers that offer 0% interest free credit get paid up-front by the finance company; who make their money by only paying so much in the pound for the debt, but then collect the full amount from the customer.

So a 0% nothing to pay for 12 months deal is as good as cash to DFS; and don't forget of course that their margin / retail price takes full account of the commercial relationship with the finance company.

treliac

dreemgirl wrote: »

I think a fair few will go during 2009...

my guesses: Clinton cards - who buys cards these days with ecards!!
currys
JJB sports
la senza
monsoon

They'll need to be competitive to survive. I try to avoid Clintons Cards - they're ridiculously pricey. Was really struggling to find the right Christmas card for DS and took a look in Clintons. The one I wanted, fairly but not extraordinarily expensive looking, was £6. For a bit of paper :eek: - I left it behind.

98jdougl

have to say much as i agree about clintons being overpriced, my partner works there and they have just been given loads more hours for staff and they are (within the region anywa) all pullin in above target amounts (targets based on last years takings)
I think if they have diffiulties they will get rid of the birthday's branches before the clinton'sbranches because they only bought them over quite recently.

Had heard that BHS were struggling as well to add my tuppence worth