Mary Portas take on dying High St's

fc123

Worse to come
But the shopkeepers of Tewksbury, Dunstable - or just about anywhere else - should not hope that they might be saved by a reviving economy just yet.
In fact, leading accountants BDO Stoy Hayward say that the worst is still to come for the retailing industry.
They predict 4,300 retail businesses - large and small - will go bust in 2009.
And next year is set to be even worse, with more than 7,000 retail businesses will collapse, as customers lose their jobs and see pay packets shrink.
Mary Portas: Save Our Shops, broadcast 9pm 23 June 2009 on BBC 2.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8113640.stm


IPlayer link; http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lbsvh/Money_Programme_2009_Mary_Portas_Save_Our_Shops/



There aren't many retail threads on this board but I was really looking forward to watching the above last night.


Then I felt like one of those 'I told you so' annoying types. The programme was quite painful on several levels.

It was the usual lack of detail, bare bones of causes type of programme and a read of Joanna Blythmans 'Shopped' told us what would happen when it was first published in 2004.
All the recession has done is speed things up a bit and take the blame off Arcadia/Tesco/Shopping Malls and the like.

The main reason is changing shopping habits and the domination of oligopolies within food, furniture and clothing.
Argos is now a one stop shop for pretty much everything basic/household.

Local communities don't get the full benefit of the cash spent in the area..the profit gets sucked out and a few crumbs ~in the form of 4 hour contract Min wage employment get sprinkled back.......then they talk it up as being 'wunderful' for the community as it is all 'Flexi' work.

Tax credits then mop up the small snag of the pay being dismal.

My sector used to make most of it's products in the UK (around 80%) until a decade ago...so a lot more people would benefit financially from an item being sold.
The chains, ever wanting more profit, went offshore.
Then one maverick (Primark) decided to rumble the low cost prices and pass on the savings to the customer .....and then prices just kept on falling ever lower.
Likewise, Tesco et al did the same.

I had a factory trip today (long train journey) a read some of 'Why most things fail' by Paul Ormerod. It referred to one company pushing prices down to get the competitive advantage..but that policy can destroy a lot more than their target competitors.

Sometimes, it can end up killing them off too.


The end result is abandoned High St's. They no longer have a place anymore. This has been happening for a few years..takes 3 years for an out of town superstore to kill a town centre according to Blythman.

Small retailers keep on at it due to personal guarantees on leases, lifes work etc.

I almost shouted at the screen when the clothing shop was profiled...please, just close it down...she could no way compete with a Zara or similar (bound to be a branch nearby in a mall), had no creative flair and it was dying due to lack of footfall plus wasn't good enough to be a destination store that people would make time to travel to either.
Worse, the parents propped it up with their life savings.....but it was just delaying the inevitable.

Music Man, I felt for him...even for the keenest ukelelier......how many ukeleles does one buy in a lifetime?
I know of a similar type of store that is cleaning up with a massive, specialist web presence. They even won an award and it props up the characterful shop that they run. I reckon he will survive but only by diversifying or selling in a different way as an add on.


Hair lady in Dunstable....this programme has really put me off doing a future plan (a few years from now)...getting SFEDI accredited to be able to offer specialist business advice ~(but within the niche, creative sector and manufacturing/direct retailing) because I know what I would say to her but I don't think I could bear to actually say it.
She was trapped by a fully liable lease with no hope of re-assigning it.

So if anyone is interested...you don't have to watch it now as I have told you the story...but there is a lot more going on out there than 'just a slump' in sales.

wageslave

I watched this earlier on the catch up thingy.
I worked in retail until a couple of years ago and it was obvious long before the recession that small town high street shopping was as doomed as the dinosaurs. The internet killed it.
Eventually the big chains, in their present format, will go too. Probably to be replaced with small "taster" stores while the bulk of their business is transacted online.
My daughters generation just doesn't do high streets, the digital city is their natural habitat.

1echidna

The retail sector does seem to be very badly hit in this recession. Don't remember quite the same in previous recessions (or is it my memory?) Perhaps more money has been sucked out of people's pockets already this time round.

wageslave

The recession has only accelerated a process that began quite a few years ago.

fc123

wageslave wrote: »

I watched this earlier on the catch up thingy.
I worked in retail until a couple of years ago and it was obvious long before the recession that small town high street shopping was as doomed as the dinosaurs. The internet killed it.
Eventually the big chains, in their present format, will go too. Probably to be replaced with small "taster" stores while the bulk of their business is transacted online.
My daughters generation just doesn't do high streets, the digital city is their natural habitat.

I read an article in MWB recently (not published online) about this guy
http://www.baggamenswear.co.uk/UNQ_HomePage.aspx

I remember his first store from 15 odd years back.
He has just removed loads of trad rail space and stock ......installed PC's so customer can view online but instore, has some stock displayed, masses of service available to any customer and they serve from stockroom instead.
Stockroom space was massively increased so he runs everything from one site now.
Smart guy.

wageslave

Very smart guy. It really is adapt or die.

openside

Then there are people like me who never in a million years buy something from a catalogue or internet site without seeing it in the flesh first!

avantra

The recession in the retail sector is nature's way of clearing the weak and unadapted am afraid, real shame but we need to move on and adapt (Sorry I'm stating the obvious).

wageslave

openside wrote: »

Then there are people like me who never in a million years buy something from a catalogue or internet site without seeing it in the flesh first!

Eventually you will be able to see it, in the pseudo flesh anyway.

bo_drinker

I shall try to see this on catch up or whatever, forgot about it tbh. Someone else said in another thread how this recession will get rid of the dead wood, and this is true. They are still closing maybe not as fast but it's still happening if not they are thinning or downsizing. 60 empty units on our High St now, I am intrigued to see where it will go. Big arty posters in many of the empty shops, some initiative from an embarassed council.( reduce the rates !!!!!!)

fc123

openside wrote: »

Then there are people like me who never in a million years buy something from a catalogue or internet site without seeing it in the flesh first!

There are lots of people like you around still....I am the same with many things.....just not enough of you/us to keep the current set up (Malls. out of town, hypermarkets plus the traditional High St.) going.

Less spend in Real Life Land will equal less overall choice in the long run....then the rents will fall and new concepts/small businesses will give something new a go and a whole new retail style will emerge.