Bad news for high St retailers continues-getting grim out there.

[Lightscribe]

I’ve said before on here that I’m watching the £1.4bn Westfield development in Croydon with interest. It looks as though they are already throwing the possibility of delaying the completion until 2025 - 10 years after given the go ahead.

What’s laughable is Croydon council saying they’ll step in if they fall through - all thanks to the tax payer.

https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/council-committed-building-huge-new-1885879

[sancho panza]

On 30/11/2018 at 04:44, Sideysid said:

I’ve said before on here that I’m watching the £1.4bn Westfield development in Croydon with interest. It looks as though they are already throwing the possibility of delaying the completion until 2025 - 10 years after given the go ahead.

What’s laughable is Croydon council saying they’ll step in if they fall through - all thanks to the tax payer.

https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/council-committed-building-huge-new-1885879

Surreal.

[sleepwello'nights]

Reading this thread is at odds with the length of traffic queues over the last few days into our nearby town centre. Today it was far longer than I recall last year.

[One percent]

1 minute ago, sleepwello'nights said:

Reading this thread is at odds with the length of traffic queues over the last few days into our nearby town centre. Today it was far longer than I recall last year.

Agree but are people actually spending or just wandering round 

[Andersen]

Just noticed some cities I visit are introducing "London style" charges for anyone driving into the main shopping area. Another nail in the coffin...

"Birmingham is one of five cities which have been ordered to implement clean air zones by 2020. The others are Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton." https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birminghams-new-clean-air-zone-14802158 

[spygirl]

On 30/11/2018 at 04:44, Sideysid said:

I’ve said before on here that I’m watching the £1.4bn Westfield development in Croydon with interest. It looks as though they are already throwing the possibility of delaying the completion until 2025 - 10 years after given the go ahead.

What’s laughable is Croydon council saying they’ll step in if they fall through - all thanks to the tax payer.

https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/council-committed-building-huge-new-1885879

I argue o nthe other site.

In terms on mega shopping centres, they are all in place.

The bottom half of the UK is:

- Bristol causeway

- Soton West Quay.

- Reading Oracle.

- London Bluewater.

Thats it. Theres roughly 60-100 miles between centres.

Any attempt to add new shopping areas will fail as these will suck up all the retail spend.

I pointed out the very long overdue Bracknell redevelopment will fail (out competed by Reading Oracle and London)

So will the Basingstoke refurb (out competed by Reading and Soton)

All other retial has t compete by being niche or twee -so bath and Winchester.

Bracknell and Bstokes are shitholes so no chance.

 

[Andersen]

The site below seems to collate stats of high street retailers who have gone into administration etc. It's sobering to see so many well established names. Site was last updated just a few days ago.

Partway down the page has a .XLS download listing the biggest names, there are other interesting links to the right of the page http://www.retailresearch.org/whosegonebust.php

[Queasing]

13 hours ago, Andersen said:

The site below seems to collate stats of high street retailers who have gone into administration etc. It's sobering to see so many well established names. Site was last updated just a few days ago.

Partway down the page has a .XLS download listing the biggest names, there are other interesting links to the right of the page http://www.retailresearch.org/whosegonebust.php

Good link, will be interesting to see what additions are made to that list in 2019.

Short news article on declining footfall on high street based on research by Springboard 

http://anonym.to/?https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/10/uk-high-streets-face-quietest-christmas-since-credit-crunch

Quote

Footfall – a measure of the number of shoppers visiting stores – is expected to decline by 4.2% this month compared with the same time in 2017, when visitor levels fell by 3.5%.

 

[Chewing Grass]

Strange really that despite importing vast numbers of immigrants with mothing but a holdall at a rate of 150,000 every quarter or over 500,000 per year since 2013/2014 it has only slowed the decline which is carrying on regardless.

[One percent]

I did a quick visit to Oxford street yesterday. It was busy but not rammed. I thought it would be a lot busier this time of year. 

[MrXxx]

The problem for High Street/virtual shops is their lack of flexibility on prices and/or their managers lack of decision making power to actually manage.

OK, they have their "We will match any High Street competition on prices" mantra but a) matching is no good, I may as well not shop around and just buy at the competition, and b) their real competitor now is not the High Street but the Internet, so they need to accept the fact of lower margins and price match them...

...all they are at the moment is a a shop window for InT suppliers; as humans we are visual animals that like to touch/feel before we buy, and impulse buys....you can't run a profitable business on these two factors nowadays.

[spygirl]

On 30/11/2018 at 04:44, Sideysid said:

I’ve said before on here that I’m watching the £1.4bn Westfield development in Croydon with interest. It looks as though they are already throwing the possibility of delaying the completion until 2025 - 10 years after given the go ahead.

What’s laughable is Croydon council saying they’ll step in if they fall through - all thanks to the tax payer.

https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/council-committed-building-huge-new-1885879

Posted o nthe other thread - councils wasting money on commercial real estate

https://www.ft.com/content/c466743e-f7bd-11e8-8b7c-6fa24bd5409c

For example, Surrey Heath council accepted a cut in the rent in order to keep the Camberley branch of House of Fraser open, though it will not disclose the extent of the reduction. The council had bought the freehold just two years earlier for £16m.

Earlier this year, Sports Direct said it would keep the Darlington branch of House of Fraser open after the local authority offered a 75 per cent discount on business rates for a year.

Its just shows how gormless and the  conflict of interest LAs have by getting into shops.

What will they do next? Stop broadband deployment so people have to shop locally?

 

 

[spygirl]

2 hours ago, MrXxx said:

The problem for High Street/virtual shops is their lack of flexibility on prices and/or their managers lack of decision making power to actually manage. THEY ARE ALL THE FUCKING SAME, SELLING PRODUCTS MADE BY OTHER COMPANIES

OK, they have their "We will match any High Street competition on prices" mantra but a) matching is no good, I may as well not shop around and just buy at the competition, and b) their real competitor now is not the High Street but the Internet, so they need to accept the fact of lower margins and price match them...

...all they are at the moment is a a shop window for InT suppliers; as humans we are visual animals that like to touch/feel before we buy, and impulse buys....you can't run a profitable business on these two factors nowadays.

I dont go to CUrries and buy a Curries LCD TV. I buy a Sony TV.

Curries adds no fucking value or convenience.

I did buy my telly from John Lewis. They offered a 5 year guaranteed - which Im unlikely to need.

Curries would have tried to sell me a 200 warranty. Cunts.

[Funn3r]

On 03/12/2018 at 12:43, spygirl said:

the very long overdue Bracknell redevelopment will fail (out competed by Reading Oracle and London)

Think you're 100% right. Not been there for a few weeks but it's looking unhappy already. Seems to be popular with Waitrose shoppers who also want their favourite quinoa salad from M&S. Not what you'd call a solid recession proof customer base. 

[One percent]

9 hours ago, spygirl said:

I dont go to CUrries and buy a Curries LCD TV. I buy a Sony TV.

Curries adds no fucking value or convenience.

I did buy my telly from John Lewis. They offered a 5 year guaranteed - which Im unlikely to need.

Curries would have tried to sell me a 200 warranty. Cunts.

Curry’s is weird. There is one near me that I refuse to go in. Staffed by a certain demographic that views women as somehow second class. 

One example of their piss poor behaviour was that I went in there to look at fridge freezers. Some bloke came wandering up, offering advice I didn’t need, I was just looking. Gave it the hard sell and when I went to walk out, started screaming at me, literally, as I had wasted  his time.   so I have avoided them like the plague. It isn’t the only bad experience I have had in there 

Last year, I needed a new telly.  Decided to wander into the one in the big retail place in smoggy land. Superb service.  Lots of helpful advice. Said I also wanted a DVD player. Took me over there, I said, no, too expensive. Went to the till to pay for the telly and the bloke came wandering across saying you can have this matching blue ray for 20 quid. 

Skippers lane one, buying a new printer. Bloke was excellent. 

[spygirl]

8 minutes ago, One percent said:

Curry’s is weird. There is one near me that I refuse to go in. Staffed by a certain demographic that views women as somehow second class. 

One example of their piss poor behaviour was that I went in there to look at fridge freezers. Some bloke came wandering up, offering advice I didn’t need, I was just looking. Gave it the hard sell and when I went to walk out, started screaming at me, literally, as I had wasted  his time.   so I have avoided them like the plague. It isn’t the only bad experience I have had in there 

Last year, I needed a new telly.  Decided to wander into the one in the big retail place in smoggy land. Superb service.  Lots of helpful advice. Said I also wanted a DVD player. Took me over there, I said, no, too expensive. Went to the till to pay for the telly and the bloke came wandering across saying you can have this matching blue ray for 20 quid. 

Skippers lane one, buying a new printer. Bloke was excellent. 

Choice of employee id guess.

Id guess the essex one is recruiting the bottom 30%

Whilst smoggy one will be top 30%

[One percent]

2 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Choice of employee id guess.

Id guess the essex one is recruiting the bottom 30%

Whilst smoggy one will be top 30%

Guess so.  It was like shopping in twi completely different companies. 

[Option5]

10 hours ago, spygirl said:

I dont go to CUrries and buy a Curries LCD TV. I buy a Sony TV.

Curries adds no fucking value or convenience.

I did buy my telly from John Lewis. They offered a 5 year guaranteed - which Im unlikely to need.

Curries would have tried to sell me a 200 warranty. Cunts.

Currys used to have a price guarantee program whereby they promised to beat the price for the same item offered elsewhere. What they neglected to say was that they would get manufacturers to modify an existing model for them, by transposing two switches or lamps so you couldn't buy the same model number anywhere else.

I once had to collect a TV that my late partner had ordered from them, I collected it and paid cash, only to be stopped by some security type demanding my receipt, the ensuring stand off kept me entertained for at least 20 minutes as I'd sent her son on in front to the car to open the boot and he had the receipt (and his iPad was in the car to keep him occupied)

Two security, three management types shouting and me smiling at their threats. The police came and after confirming the facts asked me if I wanted to press charges for false imprisonment (I think they were more annoyed than I was)

Another business that will die soon.

 

[One percent]

4 minutes ago, Option5 said:

Currys used to have a price guarantee program whereby they promised to beat the price for the same item offered elsewhere. What they neglected to say was that they would get manufacturers to modify an existing model for them, by transposing two switches or lamps so you couldn't buy the same model number anywhere else.

I once had to collect a TV that my late partner had ordered from them, I collected it and paid cash, only to be stopped by some security type demanding my receipt, the ensuring stand off kept me entertained for at least 20 minutes as I'd sent her son on in front to the car to open the boot and he had the receipt (and his iPad was in the car to keep him occupied)

Two security, three management types shouting and me smiling at their threats. The police came and after confirming the facts asked me if I wanted to press charges for false imprisonment (I think they were more annoyed than I was)

Another business that will die soon.

 

I do hope that you did press charges. 

[Option5]

Just now, One percent said:

I do hope that you did press charges. 

No, the police and I were just grandstanding, the CPS would never have pursued it.

The copper did say that they hate these "private security armies"

[Ash4781b]

Debenhams Plc testing lows today- 5.54p a share (market cap of approx £68mn). There were some pretty poor footfall numbers out. 

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/12/high-street-left-high-dry-footfall-plunges-november/

[Ash4781b]

Do Curry’s / PC world still run those massive football pitch sized stores ? I stopped buying there - stores difficult to navigate and a returns policy that staff seemed to invent on the fly.

[sancho panza]

UK retail gazzette adds some miseryry :

Poundstretcher-pre tax profits of £2mn on £387mn turnover................tell me it ain't so.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/12/poundstretcher-posts-3rd-consecutive-fall-in-sales/

 

Poundstretcher has revealed falling turnover and profits for the full year, marking the third consecutive year sales have dropped.

For the year to March 31 2018, the discount retailer saw turnover dip 2.5 per cent to £387 million, while its gross profits grew 6.8 per cent to £37.2 million.

Over the same period, its pre-tax profits dropped nearly 25 per cent to £2.07 million and its EBITDA fell from £11.2 million in 2017, to £10.7 million.

It attributed the significant drop in profits to increased distribution and admin costs, and warned that its activities were affected by the “underlying economic climate”, which included “a number of risks and uncertainties”.

 

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/12/flannels-handed-125000-business-rates-relief-prevent-derelict-site/

'

Mike Ashley’s Flannels fascia has been granted £125,000 in business rates relief by a local council in order to prevent one of its sites remaining derelict.

Flannels purchased a former nightclub in Doncaster in 2016 with a view to converting it into a new store.

However, despite the fashion retailer reporting a £5 million profit on £62 million turnover last year, its head of property halted development of the site – rendering it unusable and meaning Flannels had no obligation to pay business rates.

In an effort to restart work on the development and prevent the site from remaining derelict, the local council offered “support” via a business rates lump sum.

In 2011, the Local Government Finance Act 1988 was amended to allow local councils to grant discretionary discounts on business rates.

Despite their strategy ultimately proving successful, the council said the “help” offered to Flannels might “risk setting a precedent for further retail applications and challenges if they are not supported”.'

 

[sancho panza]

UK retail suffers worst November footfall decline in 9 years

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/12/high-street-left-high-dry-footfall-plunges-november/

Black Friday’s increasing dominance as an online-only sales event has meant UK retail endured the biggest drop in footfall for the month of November since 2009.

According to the latest Footfall and Vacancies Monitor from the BRC and Springboard, overall footfall in November fell by 3.2 per cent, a dramatic swing from the same month last year when it grew by 0.2 per cent.

It also marked the 12th consecutive month of footfall decline.

 

Breaking down the footfall figures between retail location types, the high street suffered a decline of 3.8 per cent while retail park footfall declined 1.4 per cent.

This marked four months of consecutive weakening for the high street, and the largest decline since April when it fell by four per cent.

For retail parks, it was the deepest drop in footfall since April when it fell by 1.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, shopping centre footfall declined by 3.8 per cent, which was a sharper decline relative to the October drop of 3.3 per cent and the decline of 1.3 per cent recorded in November last year.

In terms of regions, Northern Ireland sustained its footfall growth of 2.7 per cent, similar to what was recorded in October, and for the second consecutive month it was the only region to show growth.

The East, South East and East Midlands experienced the deepest declines of 5.6 per cent, 4.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively.

[sancho panza]

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/12/department-store-spending-13th-month-row/

'Consumer spending at department stores across the UK has fallen for the 13th consecutive month, according to new data.

Barclaycard said spending in department stores during November fell by 7.1 per cent year-on-year, as the sector remains one of the hardest hit by the ongoing challenges plaguing the UK retail industry.

Profit warnings from the likes of Debenhams and John Lewis, major restructures, job cuts and store closure announcements from Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and Debenhams, and weak financial performances across the board have all been brought about by sliding consumer confidence, declining footfall and rising uncertainty around Brexit.'