M&S closing down shop

Starrystarrynight

I can understand the OP's sadness. The smaller town centres do seem to be suffering.

I'm not far away, in Darlington, and a lot of retailers are saying that the council isn't helping. There are loads of roadworks going on, parking here is dear, and their own parking wardens seem to give out an awful lot more tickets now.

I guess there are a lot of factors a company will take into consideration before closing a shop, along with things customers will look at when deciding where to shop.

It's no surprise that they'll choose to shop out of town or online, but I do feel for town centre businesses.

redcarone

It's all about the shareholders now and the bigger companies will not invest any profit without consideration from the banks who these days are investors themselves and therefore know which firms are profitable and more importantly know the margins and return predictablities from each store, say M&S lease.
Redcar is a small town yet the takings just in M&S on the food section over the previous four five weeks have been beyond expectations. After the lastest figures at M&S, it's obvious they are on a downward path with their clothing line and should ditch it. Theie excuse was that the website kept crashing yet the clothing is aimed at the older folk who see thr internet as a alien concept as oppossed to an everyday gadget, and their clothing is crap these days anyway, awful material and too pricey.
Anyone heard from the R&C council and their views and M&S closing it's Redcar store??

tomtontom

redcarone wrote: »

It's all about the shareholders now and the bigger companies will not invest any profit without consideration from the banks who these days are investors themselves and therefore know which firms are profitable and more importantly know the margins and return predictablities from each store, say M&S lease.
Redcar is a small town yet the takings just in M&S on the food section over the previous four five weeks have been beyond expectations. After the lastest figures at M&S, it's obvious they are on a downward path with their clothing line and should ditch it. Theie excuse was that the website kept crashing yet the clothing is aimed at the older folk who see thr internet as a alien concept as oppossed to an everyday gadget, and their clothing is crap these days anyway, awful material and too pricey.
Anyone heard from the R&C council and their views and M&S closing it's Redcar store??

You're suggesting M&S should stop selling clothes? :eek:

You will find that many 'older folk' are quite comfortable using the internet, my mum prefers it because it is easier to take returns to the post office than trekking to the store.

redcarone

I apologise for not being clear in the earlier post. I certainly think the M&S Outlet in Redcar should dispense with selling clothes and concentrate on the food section only. The chothes are already twelve to fifteen months old before they reach the outlet and the price doesn't reflect it's value and some
items have been found to be more expensive than M&S main shops. If the clothes section isn't profitable then it's unsustainable !!
When i was suggesting that M&S clothes is for the older generation, that's the reputation it's gained and as for the internet users like your mum then great however not all older folk are too familiar with todays technology.
Reading the Gazette tonight, local MP Ian Swales has said has met with M&S representitives and hopefully something can happen however the council's silence is golden.

KMK

It has been announced that the Redcar store will close on September 27th.They could have waited until after Christmas perhaps.


What is really disappointing now is that they are running the store right down so that the current range of food is abysmal. Several fridges are full of crisps, bottles, biscuits etc, so the range of fresh and frozen food is very limited. The store is dying on its feet and any remaining customers are getting a very poor service after years of loyalty to the store. I think the town and the remaining M&S customers deserve better than this.


Needless to say the atmosphere there now is very dispiriting and yet before the announcement of closure, it was a pleasure to shop there with the sea views and the incredibly friendly staff. M&S are discarding a special store which has been part of the town for 76 years. Hope it's worth it!

JReacher1

KMK wrote: »

It has been announced that the Redcar store will close on September 27th.They could have waited until after Christmas perhaps.


What is really disappointing now is that they are running the store right down so that the current range of food is abysmal. Several fridges are full of crisps, bottles, biscuits etc, so the range of fresh and frozen food is very limited. The store is dying on its feet and any remaining customers are getting a very poor service after years of loyalty to the store. I think the town and the remaining M&S customers deserve better than this.


Needless to say the atmosphere there now is very dispiriting and yet before the announcement of closure, it was a pleasure to shop there with the sea views and the incredibly friendly staff. M&S are discarding a special store which has been part of the town for 76 years. Hope it's worth it!

The atmospher is going to be bad as the staff are losing their jobs!

I may be on my own but I feel more sorry for the people losing their jobs as opposed to an area which is now losing their M&S. At the end of the day it's a loss making store. If people in the area where that bothered they would have shopped there more and it wouldn't have shut!

When a successful company shuts a branch in your local area then you have to blame the area!

Money-Saving-King

KMK wrote: »

They could have waited until after Christmas perhaps.

They probably would have if the store had had the support to keep it profitable but obviously it wasn't. You can't blame a company for shutting a store if it's making a loss.

force_ten

KMK wrote: »

I have always been a fan of M&S and have admired their ethical stance on many issues .However I am deeply disappointed to hear that they are about to close down their store in Redcar, a small seaside town on the north east coast. Like many places in the area the town has been really struggling during the recession. The high street in particular has suffered and now M&S, virtually the last shop of any standing, has decided to simply walk away from a site it has occupied for over 76 years.


The shop sells food and has become an Outlet. M&S claim that the outlet shopping is done mostly online via Amazon (strange partner for ethical M&S) and that Redcar will become non viable. The truth is it will have an adverse effect on the town and according to staff there the shop still makes a profit. 44 people will lose their jobs and many customers , including me, will have to travel 13 miles to the nearest M&S.


I know that M&S is not a charity, but over the years they must have made profits from this store in the good times but now the town and customers needs some support, they are going to pull out.


I have contacted the Head Office but it looks like a fait accompli. Has anyone any advice on how to effectively protest in such a situation or is it pointless?

The section i have highlighted is one of the problems, if they are the last shop of any standing then they are not going to get the footfall through the shop,

A Marks and Spencer that is in a town centre surrounded by pound shops, charity shops, and other discount retailers is really going to struggle as the customers that are going into town for this type of shop are not going to be an M&S customer

it is a sad fact of life that if the store is not hitting targets then it will eventually close

fozmcfc

The 100 year old, Woolwich store is closing as well. Although there is a petition to try to save it.

It a sign of the changing high street. It was a full store, when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's with about 20 doors to enter and exit, but now down to about 6.

It turned into an outlet store at some point and it's now nearly half food, half clothes.

I'm not surprised it's going, it's just more and more like a cheapo store. I reckon, it has only kept going because of the tradition of it being in the town centre.

However, they are gradually building a M&S superstore, about 2 miles down the road.

http://853blog.com/2014/06/06/ms-to-close-woolwichs-marks-finally-loses-its-spark/