Which closed high street shops do you miss most?

The only way to save the High Street, is to even the playing field with internet shopping so they can compete fairly.

We all know you can buy things cheaper on the internet. But do you know who you are trading with?

I check out unknown sellers before I buy from them. I often uncover a multitude of company names, selling the same products at different prices on different websites, all using the same virtual office address, registered in another country to avoid UK taxes. I have found addresses that don’t exist. A property that no longer exists in the middle of a road?, you can bet there will be businesses using it.

The first thing I do, is a search of the ‘company name’. Then I google the address and check where it is on Google Maps. If I can see a building with the company name on I can be fairly confident I am dealing with a real company. If I see what looks like a virtual office, delving further will probably uncover a seller with a multitude of what looks like small businesses. Registered names attached to these companies often have slightly different spellings to look like different people.

Many of these ‘small businesses’ are not registered for VAT. Many that are, register out of the UK, Luxembourg often comes up. Why should other countries benefit from taxes that should be paid to our government? Taxes that are needed for OUR vital services like the NHS, roads, the police.

Amazon and eBay are rife with these types of traders. Having your own website is much cheaper these days, so many of these traders will have separate websites for each of their ‘companies’.

A legitimate company will sell £100,000 worth of goods and be taxed accordingly. A trader with 20 companies selling £50,000 worth of goods each could be paying virtually nothing as they will be below the VAT threshold and claiming expenses on each one separately. Paying next to nothing in taxes enables them to undercut the competition.

Traders with multiple websites often sell the same item at different prices. Why? To get you to believe you are getting a bargain on one site or are they nearing their limit on other sites?

And they are killing off our High Streets.

Do virtual offices have to inform authorities what businesses are registered with them? If not, they should.

Stop traders using multiple names, make them accountable. I have said before the name at the top should be on all branches of a business so we know who we are dealing with. If they are trading in the UK, then they should be paying taxes in the UK.

I miss many shops. I like to look and examine products before I buy, but I am slowly joining the couch-potato shoppers as things I want are just no longer available on the High Street. Politicians should have looked into this a long time ago, and I do hope they come up with a solution to save what is left of our bricks and mortar stores.

Then there is Amazon………..

I prefer buying from shops where I have the opportunity to see goods. I’m not keen on Argos but at least it is easy to take goods back if there is a problem. Positive comments about John Lewis and other shops don’t help me because there is no local branch.

It surprises me that Halfords has managed to keep so many stores open. The last twice I visited I was the only customer in the local store, which is conveniently close to the supermarket I use regularly. That reminds me very much of the nearest Maplin store, which closed when the company went into administration. I would miss Halfords for odds and ends, such as the puncture repair kit I bought recently.

I agree with Alfa that action is needed to prevent online businesses gaining an unfair advantage over those companies that do trade responsibly.

As the saying goes use it or lose it, with the fall in customers using bricks and mortar stores the rising costs of business rates and employing staff it doesn’t make economical sense to stay on the high street.

Everyone likes a bargain but if the majority of people keep buying through the internet then they only have themselves to blame when all of the shops disappear. If you ask the majority of those who say they miss the big stores when did they last go in and make a purchase they probably can’t remember as they have been ordering online as it is more convenient.

If we lose the high street shops this will put a large number of people on the dole queue which means a reduced tax income for the government so less money available for the maintenance of important infrastructure such as the NHS and social projects.

So buying through the internet actually does more damage to the country’s finances just so that you can save ten quid on a purchase.

It’s partly self inflicted misery by the consumer and sky high overheads for the retail shops and the government have been warned enough times over recent years but chose to ignore it until now because suddenly the exchequer is going to suffer with the loss of income.

Typical of politicians they have left it to the last minute and by the time they have finished pontificating and coming up with useless ideas it will be too late.

Yes Robert but as I keep on saying we are run by US conglomerates who will eventually take over this country,s democracy due to the “Secret Talks ” with Donald- America First-second and third – Dr Sam Fowles : Trade Bill 2017-2019, Amendments A8 & NC6 https://38dgs.org.uk/trade-legal-briefing and https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-us-trade-deal-uk-wish-list-representative-negotiations-chlorine-washed-chicken-tariffs-a8292006.html The UK government has announced a 3.4 % increase in funding to the NHS – problem ? they have not said where the money is coming from –Nicholas Timmins describes it as- the “PM,s 70th Anniversary present to the NHS –a big glittery box full of question marks ” -end quote -announcement deferred (till they work out WHERE the money is coming from ) Also quote -as the government must prepare for “possible” war with Russia – the State of Readiness has now gone UP in barracks + the TA , the amount of GDP will have to go up (to 3 % ) –exactly what Donald demanded — government spokesperson — its probable that taxes & interest rates will rise.

Shops exist primarily to make their owners a profit. With inadequate profits they will close; they are not there to offer a social service.

Then they are there to provide a means to view goods. Some things I would want to see before I buy – non-utilitarian clothing for example (I’m quite happy to buy underwear and socks on the net) – like a suit, upmarket shoes, shirts, furniture, for example. But for other goods – lawn mower, microwave, washing machine, tv say – I don’t need to see and feel them; I’ll look at Which? reports, reviews, my own research. Should I regard a shop assistant’s knowledge and recommendations as better than these?

Finally, they are there as a local distribution centre for goods. But these days, with such an efficient delivery network to your home or click and collect and many outlets this is no longer necessary.

We, the consumer, have caused the demise of many shops by either buying online or putting specialist shops like the fishmongers, grocers, sweet shops and butchers that were a part of every high street out of business by going to the supermarkets.

I suggest that it will be those shops that offer products we need to see and touch, assess the size and quality, appearance, before we buy, along with those outlets that also provide things of small size and quantity – pens, envelopes, shoelaces – and specialist shops like pharmacies that will survive. Department stores will shrink to such items. Most shops will need to congregate in less expensive areas away from the town centres that local authorities have viewed as cash cows.

Online shopping is here to stay, as consumer have gravitated towards it in their hordes. Other retailers need to keep up-to-speed and either join in or provide something the onliners cannot offer, or simply find ways of competing on price. I bought a new lawn mower recently. I researched online, chose a make and model, visited a local retail outlet who handled the make but didn’t keep it in stock. They would order it and gave me a price that was £80 over the online price. When I pointed this out they gave me a new price just £7 above and got the order. I was happy with that and presumably they were.

The point about high street shops is if they are too expensive, for whatever reason, I and I’m sure others will simply shop elsewhere where it is cheaper. I do not owe anyone in the retail trade a living.

Which shop do I miss most? Probably the traditional ironmonger where I could rootle through their shelves, but half a pound of 4″ nails, one hinge, a tap washer, not prepacked in plastic and carrying a silly price-tag.

It’s a pity that John Lewis and Waitrose have joined the companies that are struggling: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/27/john-lewis-to-close-five-waitrose-stores-after-warning-on-profits

Is a rebranding exercise a good idea if a company is struggling? I don’t know but there have been examples where this has not helped.

I recognise that high street, Melanie. I have known it from the 1950’s onwards and it has been forever changing. I had relatives in the area and it was a good place to go shopping and out for a treat.

Book-ended by two UndergrounD stations and with a railway station in the middle of the High Road connecting to the City, the East End and the docks, the shopping centre was extremely accessible. There were plenty of bus and trolleybus routes to the surrrounding suburbs plus a frequent bus service to Southend via Ilford and other Essex towns. There was also a long distance Green Line coach service from Hertford to Guildford via central London. There were daily coach services to Clacton-on-Sea and other home counties towns that stopped en route to pick up and set down passengers.

As well as BHS, M&S and Woolworths there was a large department store [Bartons] and a sprawling branch of the London Cooperative Society which sold almost everything except food [it had local shops for that].

There was a large theatre [Empire] which later became a TV studio for ATV, a large cinema/theatre, a dance hall, two smaller cinemas on the periphery, a large pub at each end and in the middle, a garden centre, and a stall market plus dozens of barrows in the side streets. There were a number of tea shops, and cafes, numerous tailors [Dunn & Co, John Collier, Weaver to Wearer, Burton, Alexandre, plus several local tailors and outfitters] and about a dozen shoe shops [K Shoes, Freeman Hardy & Willis, Saxone, Manfield, Dolcis, Barratts, Clarks, etc].

Among the products sold by separate shops were electrical appliances and fittings [every light-bulb tested before sale!], homewares, hardware, ironmongery, corsetry, hosiery, millinery, bridal outfits, jewellery, drapery & bed linens, knitting wool, furniture, carpeting & lino, wallpaper & decorating materials, sports goods, bicycles, musical instruments & sheet music, gramophone records, stationery, confectionery, timber, and coal.

For food there was a large original Sainsbury’s with separate counters for each commodity, International Stores, David Greig, and UK Tea Co, and several greengrocers and fruiterers. Not far away there was an open-fronted shop that only sold eggs.

There were the branches of five banks, branches of the Halifax and Abbey National building societies, plus three estate agents which acted as agents for other building societies. There was also a gas showroom and an electricity showroom and later a British Telecom shop. There were three chemists [pharmacies] – Boots and two independents – plus just one ladies hairdresser and one barber’s [with seven chairs all in use daily, a bookies runner, and a cabinet of requisites for the weekend!].

There was hardly anything that could not be bought or ordered from a specialist supplier plus the variety offered by the large stores.

Reflecting the traditions of the times, the only take-away was a fish & chips shop but there was nowhere to buy a sandwich or a beaker of coffee. The only places to buy plimsolls or gym shoes and kit was a solitary sportswear shop that also sold football boots and balls, tennis balls and rackets, cricket gear, and boxing gloves. For fishing tackle and bait you had to go east to other places.

To provide relief, there were three public toilet establishments with commodious facilities and attendants on hand.

Over the years traders came and went as tastes and fashions changed. In the 1960’s television rental shops appeared and later disappeared. Habitat had a smart modern store for a few years. Record shops came and went, a rash of travel agents took up vacant shops, and eventually the out-of-town malls and sheds, and then the internet, took their toll, so now it is but a shadow of its former self. Woolworths went [replaced after it moved to the mall first by C&A and then by Wilko], M&S vacated their upper sales floor and reduced the size of their food hall, BHS had its day, and the burger chains, takeaways and phone shops have filled some of the gaps in the frontages. On my occasional visits the high street still seems to be busy but it is a very different experience now.

While Toys-R-Us have gone into liquidation in the UK/USA watching Chinese news TV it seems the Chinese Fung Group have increased their percentage share in the Asia version and separated the company from its western partners .
A large amount of money is being invested in it , it stands to reason as China makes most toys and makes them cheaper , so that “Holiday Period” time as Americans are now calling it will not be left bereft of toys.