High streets dying?

Is your high street dying?? - when I was a teenager in UK saturdays were always exciting - high street browsing; maybe some shopping and full of people; traffic and trade. Seems this is now all changing ; seems rather sad too?

high streets dying??

Re: High streets dying?

I have no interest in high street shopping, whatsoever.

Re: High streets dying?

Definitely. The only shops round my town are pound shops, bookies, fast food mainly indisn takeaway shops, a newsagent, one freezer food shop, couple Sandwich shops and that's it. No clothes or shoe shops, many shops boarded up. Marks and Spencer closing down lots of shops not too far from me and i.m gutted, I live their food albeit a bit expensive. Have to go into big city Leeds if I want a good shopping spree but I rarely go

Re: High streets dying?

High streets have been dying or dead for the past 10yrs. Where have you been Gumbud !

High street stores have failed because they haven't lowered their prices to effectively compete with internet prices. They don't really add any value to the products in most cases, they just want to sell for silly prices. In the end, they paid the price and are going out of business.

The age of ripping people off in shops is over.

Re: High streets dying?

There are actually pound shops closing round here.

There are empty units in all the arcades as well, so many businesses going belly up.

Places which I consider to be overpriced (Debenhams, John Lewis, M&S, those awful designer clothes/shoe shops) all seem to be managing though, maybe their online sales are used to keep the retail outlets afloat?

The internet has killed the High Street and I make no apologies for using online shopping most of the time. I find High Street shops to be full of overpriced tat.

In my area now, other than the afore mentioned stores, it's all coffee shops, estate agents, banks and building societies and charity shops.

When I go into "town" (which isn't very often due to astronomical parking charges) it's only to use Wilkos and maybe a trip to the bank.

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Agree !!
Our local town is full of charity shops and coffee shops ,there are a few independant shops but theyre overpriced and I wouldnt ever shop in them.
Online shopping is the way forward.

Re: High streets dying?

It's nothing to do with the internet. People are just not interested in spending money. We will see more luxury brands folding. Brands that have an internet presence. The money is haemorrhaging out of this country. The wealthy are leaving.

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I was a trader for half a century and have seen the decline over the years...there are many reasons.
In the sixties car ownership really took off and the high streets were booming.
Then came the parking meter,yellow lines, traffic wardens and whole streets becoming pedestrianised.

The supermarkets saw this coming and through cunning and bribes persuaded the councils to allow them to build out of town shops with massive car parks.This changed shopping habits for ever.
Town markets declined even more with parking restrictions and the use of the credit card....traders only dealt in cash in those days.
The internet is just the latest thorn in the side of the suffering high street.

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I think many things have killed our high streets, here many of us stopped going window shopping in the town because we refuse to pay so much to park our cars. The council started the rot. They also charge like wounded bulls for rent and business taxes, making the shops have to charge more than internet companies with out of town warehouses.

The shops have done their bit to kill of the high street too it's just so boring all the high streets look the same, a few years ago we were in holiday and standing in a town on the border of Scotland and suddenly realised we had every single shop in that street back home in surrey ! No local stores at all they were all big chains.

If you want something odd or unique don't buy from the high street go on line.

All adds up to a dead high street.

Re: High streets dying?

Add to that the ridiculously high business rates that many shops can't afford and punitive parking charges (if you can find a space after you've negotiated the endless one way streets, buses only lanes and pedestrianised zones that is) that discourage shoppers and visitors to town centres. I was forced to venture into my town centre on Tuesday on an errand. The once vibrant town centre is now a ghost town filled with pound stores, food outlets and gambling joints, this on a market day too. The only thing missing was a tumbleweed blowing down the high street.