Its all going very bad

The_White_Horse

just some personal evidence - I have a friend who is a manager of a branch of a very famous high street store and he says they are 24% down on last years takings so far this xmas - and that is with Woolie gone!

Furthermore, just from seeing it myself, major town centres yesterday were not that busy - loads of shops have major sales, up to 50% of before xmas!!!!

It is insane. Things are going to be bad next year.

LilacPixie

I would be interested to see the online sales results. This year I have done the vast majority of my shopping online on only ventured into the city centre once.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

More shopped earlier this year, around the summer.

Its going to be a bad winter for retail walkins..

zygurat789

The_White_Horse wrote: »

Furthermore, just from seeing it myself, major town centres yesterday were not that busy

Just how many town centres did you see for yourself yesterday?

Never mind town centres or the internet I was on the M62 at Warrington
The retyail park exit was backed up for miles.

System

I haven't bought anything in shops this year for my xmas shopping, going to the shops is so 2008.

Really2

I thought it was anounced last week sales were 20% up on last year.

What type of store is it? could it be loosing trade to the "£1" stores?

Old_Slaphead

Really2 wrote: »

I thought it was anounced last week sales were 20% up on last year.

What type of store is it? could it be loosing trade to the "£1" stores?

If so, I reckon that could be one last hurrah before increases in VAT, utility bills, fuel costs and interest rates etc kick in in early 2010

nb thought all the "poundshops" were the new Waitrose

purch

This year I have done the vast majority of my shopping online on only ventured into the city centre once

Is there still a 'City Centre' ?? .......... I thought (after reading this forum) that they had all disapeared :eek:

Lotus-eater

They haven't disappeared, we're just shipping them to the USA, they are going to be tourist attractions, ye olde Englande etc.

stueyhants

Really2 wrote: »

I thought it was anounced last week sales were 20% up on last year.

What type of store is it? could it be loosing trade to the "£1" stores?

I thought the 20% related to one specific online retailer and wasn't a representation of the UK as whole ?

As always, some shops will do well as others will do poorly. What is important is the overall spend across all shops and not looking at one particular shop that has done well because one or several competitors no longer exist.

Really2

stueyhants wrote: »

What is important is the overall spend across all shops and not looking at one particular shop that has done well because one or several competitors no longer exist.

So you think the OP point is fairly irelevent then?

Most of the signs are that sales are up on last year
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/christmas-shoppers-defy-snow-and-economy-1846508.html

UK shopping centres are also booming. Capital Shopping Centres, which owns 14 malls including the Manchester Arndale and the Gateshead MetroCentre, had more than 7 million visitors last week, a 3 per cent rise on the pre-Christmas week in 2008.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235706/Bumper-Christmas-high-street-shops-best-sales-years.html

High street stores were on course for record pre-Christmas sales today after shoppers spent an estimated £120 million in the past two days alone.
November sales in London were 13.3 per cent higher than the same month last year and the best since October 2006, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium.
A weak pound combined with mild weather and early promotions and discounts from many departments stores helped to boost sales, the group said.
More than £1 billion is expected to be spent over the crucial six-week period up to December 24th - a stark contrast to last year when sales slumped as the recession began to bite.

Or simple google search
http://news.google.co.uk/news/search?aq=f&um=1&cf=all&ned=uk&hl=en&q=christmas+sales+up+uk