Who uses the high street?

balletshoes

so what would you rather the high street shops do? open from 7am to 9am, then close until 12noon, open then until 2pm (to catch the lunch hour crowd) then close again til 5pm, and open for another couple of hours?
If you expect most high street stores to be open from 7am right through until 7pm, you're increasing their overheads and wage bills by about half again each day.

dehaani

brians_daughter wrote: »

My uncle is a butcher and was close to having to shut up shop. He now opens 7am -9pm and does cooked breakfasts and evening take out meals - not pizza and chips but real 'home cooked' meals such as beef stew and dumplings, lasagne and the likes. He even serves veg or salads etc with them so busy workers who are running late home etc can pop in and order their evening meals. He is now turning over 3 x what he was 18 months ago, so maybe you have a point - i feel its the diversity and the extended hours that have produced this turn around for him

Good on him. That is exactly the sort of thing I expected to see happen in our local high streets but generally it hasn't happened. Your uncle is really switched on.

SaLoGo

I'm lucky, I have Meadowhall shopping centre 15 minute drive away which is open til 9pm and Parkgate Retail Park 5 minute drive away which is open til 8pm. I very rarely to into town because you have to pay for parking!!

dehaani

SaLoGo wrote: »

I'm lucky, I have Meadowhall shopping centre 15 minute drive away which is open til 9pm and Parkgate Retail Park 5 minute drive away which is open til 8pm. I very rarely to into town because you have to pay for parking!!

There are shopping centres near me too but you can't get decent, locally produced meat and veg there. It's all the usual, big faceless brands there.

life_in_termoil

I live in a small town and the high street is thriving!! We have 2 great butchers, 2 green grocers, 3 charity shops, 5 cafes, 1 small co-op, 5 hairdressers, 3 banks, a jewellers, 1 hardware, 2 homewares, fabric shop, card shop, sweetie shop, dry cleaners, chemist, 2 bakers, 2 estate agents, a pet shop and endless gift shops, The problem we have is parking!!! We also have a couple of museums and a theatre. The shops are always busy and are only open 9 - 5.30 but they dont close for lunch. The quality from the butchers and greengrocers is outstanding (far better than the large supermarets) and the prices are reasonable. I live 15 miles from any large supermarket so the few extra pennies paid for fruit, veg and meat is suppressed by the money I save on petrol.

Keep the High Street is what I say

Oh and I work shifts and im not a pikie!!

relic

SaLoGo wrote: »

I'm lucky, I have Meadowhall shopping centre 15 minute drive away which is open til 9pm and Parkgate Retail Park 5 minute drive away which is open til 8pm. I very rarely to into town because you have to pay for parking!!

I wouldn't say it's lucky to be living within a 15 minute drive away from Meadowhell!

Hermia

brians_daughter wrote: »

My uncle is a butcher and was close to having to shut up shop. He now opens 7am -9pm and does cooked breakfasts and evening take out meals - not pizza and chips but real 'home cooked' meals such as beef stew and dumplings, lasagne and the likes. He even serves veg or salads etc with them so busy workers who are running late home etc can pop in and order their evening meals. He is now turning over 3 x what he was 18 months ago, so maybe you have a point - i feel its the diversity and the extended hours that have produced this turn around for him

Wow! I hope he doesn't have to work those hours all by himself! Good on him for responding to what the public want though. There is a fabulous butcher and greengrocer where I live, but they are open from 9 - 4.30 or 5 so I rarely get the chance to go to them. Shops are still closing at a scary rate in my town so I do think shopkeepers need to think about what the public want a bit more.

onlyroz

In general you don't get butchers on the main high street of a mid-to-large town. They would be in the smaller towns and villages, or in the suburbs, where people actually live. The butcher I use is in the next village, and the only time I can get there is on a saturday. If they were to open late on a few evenings during the week then I'd probably shop there more often.

In the town where I work it is usually bustling at lunchtime - no idea what it's like at other times of the day because I'm at my desk working. But it does seem like the majority of people out-and-about are wearing joggers and pushing prams rather than wearing suits and smart work clothes.

ShAnE

I've never understood this. How hard is it to have half your staff work 8-5 and the other 11-8 or 8-4 /12-8 whatever you work.
But the most annoying day is Sunday 10-4 is a joke.

I would use my local butchers and other shops if they were open 8-8 /7-9 but 9-5 gives them absolutely zero chance of my business.

pigpen

I maybe we should send prince charming out to kill trolls..

Do you have proof this is what people who are unable to find work spend their money on? And all of them? .. you think?!

Beter still.. why don't they ban such processed crap being sold at all so EVERYONE has to eat proper food.. I mean.. eating raw fresh goat has its place but every day?

I actually find it is the people who work in the shops that sell the cheap processed crap that often buy the cheap processed crap.. and in one of the shops here they had to make the space behind the counters bigger because more than half the staff were so disgustingly obese they didn't fit behind the till!

Maybe we should tax the working people twice as much so the government can afford to ship fresh stuff in greater quantities or subsidise the farmers here further for their produce... (for those with a sense of humour deficit this is humour in a taking the pee out of the troll)

Our local butcher offers a delivery service.. the shops here open weekends when the usul 9-5 workers are not working... many are actually open until 6.

Anyway.. if you are not one of the 'benefit scrounging scum' why are you sitting here and not at work where you should be? Or are you far too busy watching sky, drinking tinnies and eating your microwave chips?