John Lewis......should be allowed :)

motorguy

waltsalt wrote: »

I know there are loads of people that would disagree, but I really don't care about town centre shopping. I think it's inconvenient and old fashioned. All the empty units could be repurposed for office space or accommodation.

But thats the point - you SHOULD care. Local businesses generate revenue that predominantly remains in the local economy. The likes of Tescos, ASDA, John Lewis, etc, are like huge vacuum cleaners sucking our cash into their offshore bank accounts.

Plus theres very few skilled jobs being created. Local businesses are supported by local accountants, local electricians, local tradesmen. Those 1500 jobs are predominantly going to be shop assistants, with all the skilled work done offshore.

waltsalt wrote: »

As for shops going out of business, I guess if they can't compete then they need to diversify and offer customers something different. They need to evolve instead of just existing and plodding on. And failing that then the owners and workers should move away from retail and work elsewhere.

Just my opinion.

Very simplistic viewpoint.

Whats better - a local butchers offering fresh meat and skilled staff, thats paying its taxes and vat and pushing revenue back into the local community OR a fresh meat isle in Tescos with meat from god knows where and from god knows what stacked out by someone on a minimum wage by a company that put little back into the local community and pay little or no TAX or VAT?

Apply the same to your local electrical independent, or sports shop or computer store, or clothing shop when thinking about John Lewis.

Just my opinion.

motorguy

irishjohn wrote: »

Cannot remember all the details but if I remember right the Finance Minister has surcharged the big boys in order to assist the small businesses. They have to rise to the challenge and find some way of bringing a product to market - the bigger businesses are here to stay and yes some of these are avoiding tax. I will choose a small independent over a big national if they can make it a good experience.

thats good news if its correct but only a small part of a solution. Try getting a business loan or maybe reduced rates on premises or a grant or real help and you'll find its nearly impossible.

Its not a level playing field if the other team are getting millions in aid to start up, reduced or no rates, grants, and then paying a lot less in tax because they chose not to.

That needs to change.

jenheiffer

snowmen wrote: »

Turning down the opportunity to create up to 1500 jobs in a recession???
Seems such a simple decision to me.
I am actually surprised that John Lewis stuck it out for as long as they did.

Look, JL is not a charity. They only 'stuck it out for so long' because they saw there was something in it for them, not us!:)

waltsalt

motorguy wrote: »

Whats better - a local butchers offering fresh meat and skilled staff, thats paying its taxes and vat and pushing revenue back into the local community OR a fresh meat isle in Tescos with meat from god knows where and from god knows what stacked out by someone on a minimum wage by a company that put little back into the local community and pay little or no TAX or VAT?

For me, the convenience of the accessible supermarket with extended opening times and good prices wins every time. I haven't been to a real butcher in ages.

motorguy wrote: »

Apply the same to your local electrical independent, or sports shop or computer store, or clothing shop when thinking about John Lewis.

Just my opinion.

I would never, ever pay the crazy prices that local electrical retailers sell their products at.

joefizz

waltsalt wrote: »

I agree with the 'Attwood is a Mentalist' camp. The big out-of-town shopping complexes in the USA that usually have a Sears and JC Penny and the like are class.

Have you been to the US lately? Malls and out of town complexes closing and in financial trouble all over the place.
In the last year sears closed about 20% of its shops, JC Penny about the same. Sears estimated to close about 30% of the remainder this year with JC Penny about 10-15% of the remainder.

Not exactly a great example.

As for JL, well they probably wont go anywhere. It was that long ago and a lifetime ago in financial terms that they applied to set up here (back in the 'boom' times) that I dont think they are bothered.

If you are going to use North America as an example, the out of towns are dying just as much as the towns did. I did cry crocodile tears when they complained about the cost of gas, which has had an impact on the out of towns as they are really out of town there.
The real dangers in the States/Canada to local shops is the walmart supercentres.

Oh and I really would recommend going to a local butchers and trying out the meat there. Geniunely you dont know what you are missing.

I stopped buying meat, fruit and veg from supermarkets about a year/18 months ago and just get from local small shops. A lot fresher and far better quality.

Old_Git

I remember many years ago when Sprucefield first opend the Lisburn council where overjoyed with the prospect off happy shoppers going to sprucefield ,and off course they would stop in Lisburn on the way .
After some time they realised the shoppers drove past Lisburn .Now we see Lisburn council campaigning for John Lewis to move to Sprucefield . I cant see this being any benefit to Lisburn.

D.A.

Now I'm doing this from memory, but I'm just trying to think of what shops are/were in Bow Street in Lisburn (which is basically the town centre).

The only ones I can really think of that are local independents are Woodside's, Smyth Patterson's, Green's, Dalton's and The Yellow Door. Virtually all the rest of the shops in Bow Street were national chains, many of which have now gone out of business.

*That's* part of the problem with our town centres - greedy landlords charging excessive rents, and councils charging exorbitant rates that only the chain-stores could afford to pay. If this were sorted out, then maybe locally-owned shops would be able to have a chance to survive and sell unique goods that you can't buy in an out-of-town store.

You can't blame John Lewis for everything...

motorguy

D.A. wrote: »

Now I'm doing this from memory, but I'm just trying to think of what shops are/were in Bow Street in Lisburn (which is basically the town centre).

The only ones I can really think of that are local independents are Woodside's, Smyth Patterson's, Green's, Dalton's and The Yellow Door. Virtually all the rest of the shops in Bow Street were national chains, many of which have now gone out of business.

*That's* part of the problem with our town centres - greedy landlords charging excessive rents, and councils charging exorbitant rates that only the chain-stores could afford to pay. If this were sorted out, then maybe locally-owned shops would be able to have a chance to survive and sell unique goods that you can't buy in an out-of-town store.

You can't blame John Lewis for everything...

I dont think anyone is saying blame them for everything. There are real problems that our local retailers are facing that are not being addressed.

As i said, we need to be very careful what we wish for.

motorguy

waltsalt wrote: »

For me, the convenience of the accessible supermarket with extended opening times and good prices wins every time. I haven't been to a real butcher in ages.

Well thats a decision for you to make. Hope you enjoy your horse burgers.

waltsalt wrote: »

I would never, ever pay the crazy prices that local electrical retailers sell their products at.

I would say pound for pound they're not really that much different from the big players - i used to sell PC's and Laptops from a retail unit and i could match PC World and their ilk no problem. The problem was PC World would put on a big TV campaign for 'SONY laptop half price at £299'. People would flock down in their droves only for the laptop to be 'sold out' (usually one per store was allocated' and they were talked in to a dearer laptop that there was profit on for them. I had people ask me to price match with Tesco's and when you checked the stock Tescos didnt have any!

Plus PC world would hard sell extended warranties, accident damage cover, IT Support, etc, etc - all at inflated prices, so the customer rarely walked away paying just the ticket price.

Also local stores can work a bit on the price whereas the big players wont.

BigAl94

waltsalt wrote: »

For me, the convenience of the accessible supermarket with extended opening times and good prices wins every time. I haven't been to a real butcher in ages.

I would never, ever pay the crazy prices that local electrical retailers sell their products at.

If you spend a bit of time doing research you will find many local suppliers who will beat the big boys on price. I usually get free delivery thrown in.