What does your high street look like?

Plasticman

Supercharge_Me wrote: »

I did the same yesterday, in my nearest town with a shopping mall (Crawley) and it was shocking, plenty of shops closed, alot of small shops, a travel agent, toy shops, along with the obvious Zavvi, Woolies, Whittards, Officers club (though i can still see them there in 2010 since no one wants their stock). There was also Sports Soccer closed and Disney store closing down.

It was a real shock and i never imagined things would get this bad, i think the worst part is that it will get worse.

I was there the other day too. One of The Works shops has shut and Qube. Didn't they have an Adams? Didn't notice it but don't know if it has shut down or if I just walked by and missed it!! Buzz (in with Spoils) was closing too. Losts of gaps in the shops.

I live in a small town and the only gap is Woolies - all other shops are occupied. Only a matter of time though I guess..........

Deep_In_Debt

I live in a fairly small town in Surrey. Many shops are now empty. Estate Agents are going, but then why a small town needs so many I'll never understand, charity shops are thriving and loads more opening up, take away restaurants are thriving too and even Subway, which opened at the end of last year is looking busy with youngsters and hoodies. Not sure they are buying anything, just looks busy when I go by!

fc123

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Don't really go into town much but read this in the news:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=381249

On the other hand, somebody's clearly got plenty of money:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_cambridge/displayarticle.asp?id=381622

The type of old school companies that run commercial property trusts and the like are a bit catch up in their thinking.
They are 5 years behind everyone else. Sadly, they will take indie traders to the wall, may let the unit out for the same rent to another hopeful...who will last a year...then the premises will, again, sit empty until they lower the rent to a level that will provide a living for the occupier.


I found out who the Big Cheese is at our Big Glass Tower LL (A pension unit trust run by old school Masters of the Universe)....his view is to push to the limit...then , if necessary, push over the edge...all to keep 'values' as high as possible for as long as possible.
Fully liable traders are just an irritant to him but he likes them in the portfolio as they don't give in as easily (they can't just go into administration and shaft the lease) but he bankrupts them every time.....even if they have nothing more to give.

He does it out of malice and spite and to prove a point.

Not a nice man to deal with at all.

fc123

In my sector, this company is rocking...and, I don't think it caused the change in indie clothing retailing at all, but has reflected the change.....and mopped up a lot of gaps.

The rent increases in 03/04 rendered a lot of indie, branded, niche retailers unviable purely due to their lower margins; not enough gap btween stock costs and overheads to cover the new boom rents. High St stores have far higher mark ups....plus coffee shops.

Asos reports sparkling Xmas sales

• Published: 19 January 2009 08:13
• Author: [EMAIL="JessicaPriceBrown@emap.com"]Jessica Price Brown[/EMAIL]
• More by this Author
• Last Updated: 19 January 2009 09:00
• Reader Responses

Asos experienced strong Christmas sales

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Asos reported roaring Christmas trade, with sales up 118% for the nine weeks to January 16.


Asos sales were up 108% for the 42 weeks ended January 16.
Asos said it had been boosted by continued growth in online shopping on top of its young fashion positioning. So far, young fashion sales have been less impacted by the recession because its younger customers are less affected by rising bills and mortgages.
Asos chief executive Nick Robertson said: "We have had another great Christmas. Sales, visitors, conversion and average basket value were all at record levels with the website attracting 5.2 million unique visitors in December alone. We now have 1.2 million active customers, a 112% increase over the last 12 months."
Robertson added: "We helped maximise sales over the Christmas period by running a number of free delivery weekends and product promotions. Whilst this has impacted margin, we expect profit before tax for the year to March 31 to be in line with the board's expectations."
"We remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for Asos with both young fashion and the internet proving more resilient in the current economic climate. We will continue with our programme of investments, putting in the infrastructure to support continued growth."

benood

I've not noticed shops being very quiet but parking is a doddle - a few months ago it would take ages to find a space - now there are loads to choose from.

mvengemvenge

I've wondered how long it will take before the big shopping centres (Trafford Centre, Bluewater) start to really suffer.

A_fiend_for_life

It's certainly quiet around town though I never go into the shopping centre so no idea how it's doing in there. Might take a peek tomorrow though Saturday would be more telling.

fc123

benood wrote: »

I've not noticed shops being very quiet but parking is a doddle - a few months ago it would take ages to find a space - now there are loads to choose from.

It's always like that in Jan/Feb. March trade usually depends on weather.

fc123

mvengemvenge wrote: »

I've wondered how long it will take before the big shopping centres (Trafford Centre, Bluewater) start to really suffer.

They will let space at cheaper rents rather than keep it vacant for too long. What they won't do is let neighbouring retailers know...rent incentives will be cloaked.

I know of one well known chain that expanded last year on totally free space on temp let for 6 months....to try out the centres. They have a fairly portable shop fit so was easy to move in, set up and trade straight away.

One of the managers was telling me how great it was as they had a backlog of stock to shift....and managed to get their stock position clean with very low overheads....they then negotiated a low rent in the units they wanted to stay iin and abandoned the others with no penalty.

jackieb

Since Woolies closed it's been very quiet down town. Usually I have to circle to get parked but the past 3-4 times i've went down i've got parked no problem. I saw that a shoe shop is closing down today. We did't have many shops to start with. Woolies was the main one. Iceland is going in there. We have mostly charity shops and bookies. The council is charging too much for rent here.