Last men standing on the High Street? (Independent article)

hotlondon

Following on from all the threads discussing the winners and losers on the high street, here is a very interesting article from today's Independent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/who-are-the-last-men-standing-on-the-high-street-1216448.html

WTF?_2

They earmark Boots as a potential 'winner' but seem to completely ignore the massive debt burden it was saddled with after a private equity takeover......

Never mind the adverse business conditions - so many otherwise sound firms either leveraged themselves to the max to expand or were taken over with private equity money, the debts being dumped onto the company, that they are in precarious positions now.

stevetodd

!!!!!!? wrote: »

They earmark Boots as a potential 'winner' but seem to completely ignore the massive debt burden it was saddled with after a private equity takeover......

Never mind the adverse business conditions - so many otherwise sound firms either leveraged themselves to the max to expand or were taken over with private equity money, the debts being dumped onto the company, that they are in precarious positions now.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about shares to risk buying into any, at least with the housing market I feel I can trust my judgement but I am way too much of a novice with shares so will just have to leave them alone (obviously I am leaving property alone at the moment too). But with shares I wouldn't be able to tell genuine articles highlighting true value and people just simply trying to talk up the market (like some of the rubbish we get about property at the moment)

Leighthal

I work for Morrisons and I'm really hoping the management did'nt over extended themselves when they took over Safeways a few years back.Oh well only time will tell.

alared

The winners are not on the high street.

The winners are the four big supermarkets who sell everything cheaper than what you can get it on the high street.

That`s why the high street is disappearing.

Compete or go under.

IMO,I think the big four do a great job and if they can make it pay with vast profits,there`s still room for more price cutting.

WTF?_2

stevetodd wrote: »

Unfortunately I don't know enough about shares to risk buying into any, at least with the housing market I feel I can trust my judgement but I am way too much of a novice with shares so will just have to leave them alone (obviously I am leaving property alone at the moment too). But with shares I wouldn't be able to tell genuine articles highlighting true value and people just simply trying to talk up the market (like some of the rubbish we get about property at the moment)

I'm not much into speculating on the stock markets either. As far as I'm concerned, the name of the game at the moment is to preserve the wealth that you have.

However, once inflation starts to rage (which it eventually will as the governments are going flat out to stoke it as a matter of policy) the price of everything will shoot up and cash will be come increasingly worthless if it is just sitting in a bank. At that point, a stock market tracker fund wouldn't be a bad investment. Certainly a lot better than cash. But not for a while yet......

MrsE_2

So long as M&S is ok:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I would go into mourning if M&S went bust:eek:

amcluesent

>But not for a while yet...<

No much sign of break below 4000 again though!

Leighthal

MrsE wrote: »

So long as M&S is ok:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I would go into mourning if M&S went bust:eek:

If they did then it would be a real signal that the '!!!!!! has hit the fan'.I know they have had hard times recently but managed to turn it round.I worked for them ('84 to '94) and they were a great firm to work for (christmas bonus,share scheme,breast screening for staff etc.heck there was even a hairdressering salon/room for staff to have a cheap haircut in the store where I worked!).Belts have probably tightened in the many years since I worked there.

Kez100

alared wrote: »

The winners are not on the high street.

The winners are the four big supermarkets who sell everything cheaper than what you can get it on the high street.

That`s why the high street is disappearing.

Compete or go under.

IMO,I think the big four do a great job and if they can make it pay with vast profits,there`s still room for more price cutting.

And online sellers. Those HS sellers with good value online presence will be better positioned to weather the storm imo.

If it wasn't for overspending on debt the High Street would have altered a long time ago.

mizzbiz

Boots is way too expensive. Their Shampoo, for example, is a third of the price in say Savers or Home Bargains. Who cares if it has an Arabic label. I'm not paying two Poond for a translated label.

The sad thing about Boots is that it's an excellent shop for little things you can't get anywhere else too easily. For example, I got some hair-dressing scissors from there. I couldn't get them anywhere else, but there were £20!!!! I would shop in Boots all the time, but I can't justify paying three times more for everyday items. They will probably go out business eventually because of this, then we won't be able to get our hair-dressing scissors and other unusual items anywhere at all!