Who uses the high street?

Bronnie

lazer wrote: »

To be honest,

I've always thought the same about shops and offices.

Personally what i would favour is shops open 10.30 - 6.30 amd the offices (including banks. estate agents etc) open 9 - 5, that way the office workers have time to shop and the shop workers have time to go to offices to get whatever they need done

Result - Everyone happy!

..........and libraries.

Why is this community resource that we pay for in Council Tax so restricted, all those educational, IT and leisure resources left locked up in the dark for so many hours a week instead of being available til 9pm and all day Saturday and Sunday, complete with coffee bar please?

My local library is open as follows
Monday9.30am - 5.30pm
Tuesday9.30am - 7.30pm
Wednesday9.30am - 1pm
Thursday9.30am - 5.30pm
Friday9.30am - 7.30pm
Saturday9.30am - 1pm


Spread the staff more thinly across the hours, use the profits from the coffee bar to supplement staffing and make use of trained volunteers to make the service more accessible.

Idiophreak

red_devil wrote: »

Old butchers would turn in their graves now if they heard the word value sausages what are they? What is in them?

I think people tend to romanticise butchery somewhat. Things like sausages came about in the first place because the butchers were trying to sell every last bit of the animal, but presenting it in a more "palatable" way. They'd bulk them out with whatever was laying around the place at the time. If anything, "old butchers" would probably turn in their grave at the amount of quality meat that's put into expensive sausages these days...

If they're repeating it, try and watch some of the "turn back time: the highstreet" shows when they're on...Some of the tactics the high street used back in the day, supermarkets would be dead proud of now...if they could get away with them, that is.

LittleMissMPB

dehaani wrote: »

Why do high street shops open 9-5?

These days when everyone is expected to work and working hours are concentrated during office hours, who are the high street shops catering for?

I didn't realise working hours were concentrating during office hours? Just think about how many people work in shops. I used to work at a shop that was open till 8pm, and hated it. I had a family to get home to, but if I wanted the money, I had to do it until I found somewhere else. You could guarantee that there would always be one customer walking in at 8pm and take forever looking around or wanting to set up a credit agreement, with no regard for the stores closing time or that the people who work there are actually people who probably haven't even had their dinner or have families they want to get home to. My days off used to be a Tuesday and a Friday to do my shopping etc.

High street shops are catering for other shop workers, carers, stay at home parents, those looking for work, the self employed, those who work shifts, people who work night shifts, people on maternity leave, people on parental leave, people who have retired, people who have taken annual leave, people who have a weekday as their day off... there is probably even more.

They obviously serve a few stragglers who can fit shopping into their working day but generally those shops are selling their wares to benefit-claiming scum and pensioners.

I think that's extremely judgemental and quite frankly, rude. If you look at what I just wrote you'll see that there is a wide range of people who can visit the shops in the working hours. I don't get the streotype of all benefit claimants being scum. I really hope you never end up in a situation where you have to claim, your veiwpoints may change on that one day if you are made redundant or get ill.

Isn't it wonderful that we pay all those scum bags to feed themselves and they don't even have the decency to do it properly? Instead of using the butcher, they spend all our tax money on cable TV and beer then buy crispy pancakes for their meals.

lmao I was on income support for a couple of months, a couple of years ago. I didn't have cable tv, or sky tv, just regular freeveiw. No internet, no landline phone, just a PAYG cheap mobile. I didn't drink. At all. The last drink I had was right before I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I don't even have the odd glass at christmas as I'm usually driving. I found our local butchers to be very expensive, so I stuck to Asda. It's cheaper to buy 'fresh' food rather than frozen and cook in bulk, it's common sense and tbh I'm amazed more people haven't figured it out. I could do meals for myself and my daughter for 2 weeks on £45 (I was getting £3.10 healthy start vouchers a week to go towards milk, fruit and veg but always spent a lot more).

What I don't get though, is why you care so much about what people on benefits decide to buy in their grocery shopping? Are you just looking for someone to blame because people can't afford the prices that butchers charge?

barbiedoll

Pigpen is spot on, shop opening hours are still based on the assumption that the women stay at home with the kids, and shop during the day. With the rise of the working woman (paid work that is, I know that SAHM's work harder than most of us salaried workers!) the High Street has changed beyond recognition. The proliferation of takeaways, coffee shops and estate agents are testimony to this, along with the rise of the "out-of-town" shopping malls. It's sad really, but I guess we can't expect many small shop owners to work 16 hour days, they would find it hard to pay for extra staff and although initiatives such as the butcher who sells his own ready-meals, do help, I can't see the traditional High Street ever making a comeback now, sadly.

Not all High Streets are dying a slow death though. I work in an area which can be described as "ethnically diverse", which means that it is occupied by mostly African, Caribbean and Asian people. The high street there has 3 fishmongers, too many greengrocers and butchers to count, four bakeries, several newsagents, a thriving market on 3 days each week, quite a few useful "pound" shops and also a Peacocks! Many of the shops open at around 7.30-8am and close well after 6pm. The quality and freshness of the produce is excellent and the prices are extremely good. It is a bit of a pain lugging home heavy shopping bags on a crowded commuter train and I do try not to buy fresh fish unless I can get off work early and not stink the train out! :rotfl: But while the place may not be the most attractive high street in the land, it is always busy and the traders do very well there. And yes, lots of people who live there do go to work as well!

make_me_wise

dehaani wrote: »

Why do high street shops open 9-5?

These days when everyone is expected to work and working hours are concentrated during office hours, who are the high street shops catering for?

They obviously serve a few stragglers who can fit shopping into their working day but generally those shops are selling their wares to benefit-claiming scum and pensioners.

A few stragglers, lol. I love how you phrase stuff. The over 60s are a massive part of society and have a lot of disposable income. Then you have students, stay at home mums, people who work shift work - not everyone works 9-5. School kids on their way to or from school. Loads of people value shops in the local high street.

As for calling people who live on benefits scum, that really isn't necessary. A small minority of those that claim benefits are fiddling the system. A lot of people who need to rely on benefits do so when going through a difficult time in their lives. Why shouldn't they be able to benefit from a system they have paid into whilst working. Walk a mile in their shoes before you look down your snotty nose at them and tar them all with the same brush.

pigpen

barbiedoll wrote: »

Pigpen is spot on, shop opening hours are still based on the assumption that the women stay at home with the kids, and shop during the day. With the rise of the working woman (paid work that is, I know that SAHM's work harder than most of us salaried workers!) the High Street has changed beyond recognition. The proliferation of takeaways, coffee shops and estate agents are testimony to this, along with the rise of the "out-of-town" shopping malls. It's sad really, but I guess we can't expect many small shop owners to work 16 hour days, they would find it hard to pay for extra staff and although initiatives such as the butcher who sells his own ready-meals, do help, I can't see the traditional High Street ever making a comeback now, sadly.

Not all High Streets are dying a slow death though. I work in an area which can be described as "ethnically diverse", which means that it is occupied by mostly African, Caribbean and Asian people. The high street there has 3 fishmongers, too many greengrocers and butchers to count, four bakeries, several newsagents, a thriving market on 3 days each week, quite a few useful "pound" shops and also a Peacocks! Many of the shops open at around 7.30-8am and close well after 6pm. The quality and freshness of the produce is excellent and the prices are extremely good. It is a bit of a pain lugging home heavy shopping bags on a crowded commuter train and I do try not to buy fresh fish unless I can get off work early and not stink the train out! :rotfl: But while the place may not be the most attractive high street in the land, it is always busy and the traders do very well there. And yes, lots of people who live there do go to work as well!

I live a very diverse area as well.. Many many nationalities and religions all with different habits and cultures and often foods as well. We have 2 polish markets, a Halal butcher and 2 halal supermarkets, an oriental supermarket and it is fabulous.. the other thing with this is in other cultures the women are not permitted to work once they are married with children, a large percentage of the Polish families have young children and have gatherings in these shops and these spill over to the local coffee shops/cafes/cafe bars etc. There are 2 disgustingly cheap frozen food places that make farm foods and Iceland look like Waitrose.. being really posh we also have in walking distance a tesco express, a small sainsbugs, netto Aldi and Lidl.. it is shop heaven here.. I order tesco online and have it delivered..:D

There are also a lot of students being 15 minutes from the university, obviously they have half days and free days/periods so shop then.. there are also a lot of bars locally that are open late so they need staff too.

SaLoGo

relic wrote: »

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

I do consider myself lucky... after living in the middle of nowhere for 5 years where the nearest decent shopping centre was an hour and half drive away I love the fact that I can just pop down the road to go shopping at a time that's suitable for me