People are no longer earning a liveable wage. This is why the high street is dead. People are only spending on necessities. Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and M&S have all recently had poor sales figures and issued warnings as consumer tighten their belts. It has nothing to do with people shopping online and shunning the high street. People are not spending on luxuries anymore because they can’t afford it.
Nobody talks about the shit level of service found on the high street. Just recently ordered a £30 photo service. Waited months for the store to fulfil the order only for them to lose the product. As I can't find the receipt they just shrug their shoulders, they don't give a shit that i'm out of pocket and had to drive in to see them. Had to find a car park, pay for parking, walk through the rain and when I come back ten minutes late got lumped with a £50 fine from local council, even though I paid for parking already. Stick the high street. If I want bad service, I'll take my chances online.
The high street is empty because of business rates. The rates are simply unaffordable for small business. If business rates were introduced on a sliding scale (based on turnover) the UK highstreets would be full of innovative and creative micro businesses. This would create a local culture and make each town center unique. It's amazing how simple this fact is yet it's never been addressed. The government would rather have betting shops and half empty high streets as their tactic is some business rates are better than nothing at all.
What about converting empty units into affordable housing or apartments to help relieve the housing crisis in this country? It would also create more mixed use areas, where communities are created around the High Street.
One of the beefs I find in the high street is the lack of parking, look at Bristol, on Saturdays most places are for 2-3 hours then you have to move the car So councils shoot their own foots with their parking greed
I have to agree car parking charges effectively kills town centers. Car parks should be nationalised and every town center should offer a free to use park and ride, with small food stalls operating at the park and ride. I know, I'm just dreaming of a utopia that will never exist.
They should redevelop those areas. Turn them into a combination of small street level shops with residential space above. Like things were before the advent of shopping malls. Back to the future. Governments should reverse the culture of big corporate subsidies and tax breaks. Reinvest that money to encourage small businesses with tax breaks and give housing loans to encourage people to take up residence above them. Reverse suburbanization and inter-city decay. Create communities again!
Seems like some of the property owners should look into converting their properties into flats. More housing nearby might then mean more need for shops again, and more jobs.
The corporations are to blame for this and it's about time small business had a level playing field in order to compete on equal terms with big business who have an unfair advantage and influence in the economy.
Online business did not kill the high street, it was shopping malls wot did it. In fact online transactions saved small business who can transact directly with customers from warehouses rather than expensive display shops. The 'tax bias' argument about business rates (a property based tax) can't be translated to the online world.
Change the planning laws to make house building easier in the high street I can't believe this wasn't suggested.More local residents also helps the shops that remain.
Business rates are far to high, it makes no sense for any entrepreneur to pay so much money in an retail space that gets little foot fall and customer interest, blame council!!
Aditi K It is nothing to do with business rates, look at rents first. Property values are far too high and rents guarantee that they need a substantial sales to even break even.
David Lazarus I see the effects of overly priced rates as my dad owns food shops in prime retail spots and let me just say paying £200.000 per year is just ridiculous for the current retail climate,where footfall isn’t what it was 10yrs ago, terrorism and online shopping has been factors and the council has done 0 to come up with survival mechanism to help
Aditi K Online shopping is more convenient and much cheaper, also much better choice. Meanwhile in store, the ranges are getting smaller and overpriced
Tom Jardine Here where online grocery is quite popular there are even dark stores which have no customers at all but are the local hubs of their own delivery network. As for ranges this is a result of competition from the discount supermarkets. ALDI and Lidl have a limited range of products maybe a few hundred but have sufficient size of orders to get the best prices. Even big supermarkets are shrinking their ranges from 90000 items to get better prices in the end. This is why they can also make profits with a smaller range.
Parking is an issue. My local council changed the parking so it wasn't clear when and where you'd have to buy parking. I did buy it and the payment supposedly went through but somehow still got a hefty fine... Will never shop there again.
Everyone who shops looks like a half-dressed zombie, me included. I swear it never used to be like that. All dark ugly coats, dead eyes. I’m glad the shops are getting a wake up call. Add something a bit more interesting and less mass-marketed tack for once!
If you need anything fairly specific, you often won't find it in brick and mortar shops. For my craft the offering on brick shops is too small. I guess I could learn to make do with 10% of what's on offer online... The issue is also people don't want to pay for handmade goods so I make less so buy less supplies.
It's because so much shopping has moved online as it's cheap and convenient now but it's good that theres businesses that can use the space it leaves. Offices , night clubs , workshops , community and hobbyist groups, lazzer tag , mini cinema , low cost housing ect
I sympathize with the High Street but I think the biggest down fall is the business rates and overheads, not being online shopping as the only measure. People will always want to go about the city and shop. Its dog eat dog, lot of these big chain stores had the monopoly for decades but its going to be individuality that sparks the flame again. Even before the rise in online shopping the High Street near me, the big shopping centres was a let down. Just didn't work with the consumer... so its been on a downer from then. Maybe its down to the councils and the way they grant licences, parking restrictions, transport and street sale.
The high street deserves to die. Town councils make it as unpleasant and difficult as possible to shop in their towns now with more and more road and parking restrictions designed to squeeze as much money as possible out of people. Then they charge shop owners silly rates meaning the shop owners have to pass that cost on to the customer and therefor can't compete with online prices. On top of that, half the time stores you go to don't stock what you want or close early without notice.
Of course there is a crisis. What do you expect? Savers who rely on banks such as pensioners have had their incomes reduced considerably. Often have to pay for parking in town centres and people now have alternative, to shop online. Reading town centre is stupidly expensive. Also pubs 3 quid a pint means it is cheaper to have a drink with friends at home. I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on a high street other than food. Why? It is more Important to pay the mortgage and property has been prohibitive for years. This is the future as backed up by Mark Williams at Revo. The US have also had the same issues. M&S have been closing large department stores and re-opening much smaller M&S food halls.
High Streets belong to the last century. Demolish them all (except those with an historic centre, such as Oxford, York) and build 100 storey blocks of flats in their place. Plant trees on the land that should become available as a result.
Maybe if Britain didn't invade India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa, and worse of all Palestine then take the lands from these native people and give it to Jews and call it Israel. This is god's revenge
Pakistan invaded Bangladesh. Slaughtered three million Bangladeshis. Pakistan invaded and still occupies part of Kashmir as it does with Balochistan. Pakistan also created the Taliban then used them as a proxy force to invade and occupy Afghanistan. UK's greatest crime was aiding the creation of that festering shithole Pakistan, a polio stronghold and grotesque experiment in multi-generational inbreeding.
ok here is a clue... better value less £ online. no paying for bland name support. the scythe cuts and is sooo about time. also since londinistan featured who needs a close machete shave? who needs large overpriced chains elsewhere? time to upgrade is 20 sthing not 19 sthing...
I've always hated going into a store to shop anyhow, Amazon brings my goods right to my house. I did not need to suffer being profiled and followed by security while shopping, I did not have to suffer shit customer service, I did not have to come out just to find a new ding or scratch on my cars body/paint. Otherwise, I do miss walking around looking at pretty girls tho, but these days that gets you into trouble too, so. . .
Don’t forget having to sift through rude people, but keep smiling or you’ll become the rude one. Social etiquette becomes draining even for the socially fluent when shopping.
Purley Way in Croydon is probably gonna see a lot of retail job losses in the coming years due to its out-of-town location. I've been sure about this since Toys Я Us went bust.
Just go back to the *inventor of the Mall* who despised shopping malls. The original idea in Gruen’s words, *“provide the needed place and opportunity for participation in modern community life that the ancient Greek Agora, the Medieval Market Place and our own Town Squares provided in the past.”* … Gruen’s first grand shopping complex, the 800,000-square-foot (74,000-square-meter) Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, had fountains, an aviary, and even a large art installation by the prominent mid-century artist Harry Bertoia. A socialist who hated cars (“Their threat to human life and health is just as great as the exposed sewer,” he once said)… qz.com/454214/the-father-of-the-american-shopping-mall-hated-cars-and-suburban-sprawl/
You won't be saving money as the government has increased your tax or cut your services to recoup the losses in tax they got from your local businesses. Think about all the unemployed on benefits too - you aren't saving believe me.
People are no longer earning a liveable wage. This is why the high street is dead. People are only spending on necessities. Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and M&S have all recently had poor sales figures and issued warnings as consumer tighten their belts. It has nothing to do with people shopping online and shunning the high street. People are not spending on luxuries anymore because they can’t afford it.
Nobody talks about the shit level of service found on the high street. Just recently ordered a £30 photo service. Waited months for the store to fulfil the order only for them to lose the product. As I can't find the receipt they just shrug their shoulders, they don't give a shit that i'm out of pocket and had to drive in to see them. Had to find a car park, pay for parking, walk through the rain and when I come back ten minutes late got lumped with a £50 fine from local council, even though I paid for parking already.
Stick the high street. If I want bad service, I'll take my chances online.
The high street is empty because of business rates. The rates are simply unaffordable for small business. If business rates were introduced on a sliding scale (based on turnover) the UK highstreets would be full of innovative and creative micro businesses. This would create a local culture and make each town center unique. It's amazing how simple this fact is yet it's never been addressed. The government would rather have betting shops and half empty high streets as their tactic is some business rates are better than nothing at all.
They've turned the High Street into a mall event of scary stuff? Cool.
Turn it into Homes. Or help those under the Railway Arches!
What about converting empty units into affordable housing or apartments to help relieve the housing crisis in this country? It would also create more mixed use areas, where communities are created around the High Street.
They are struggling because there is no free parking, the shops are overpriced. Out of town retail parks are thriving so retail isn’t dead
Out of town retail parks are thriving because most of them offer free parking.
One of the beefs I find in the high street is the lack of parking, look at Bristol, on Saturdays most places are for 2-3 hours then you have to move the car
So councils shoot their own foots with their parking greed
High business rates, less disposable income its a vicious circle.
Anti car government. Greedy landlords. Exorbitant business rates. What do they expect. Typical high street road are too narrow and people can't park.
I have to agree car parking charges effectively kills town centers. Car parks should be nationalised and every town center should offer a free to use park and ride, with small food stalls operating at the park and ride. I know, I'm just dreaming of a utopia that will never exist.
Blame the greed landlords and the stupid high costs of runing any business in that location.
They should redevelop those areas. Turn them into a combination of small street level shops with residential space above. Like things were before the advent of shopping malls. Back to the future. Governments should reverse the culture of big corporate subsidies and tax breaks. Reinvest that money to encourage small businesses with tax breaks and give housing loans to encourage people to take up residence above them. Reverse suburbanization and inter-city decay. Create communities again!
Bit like the BBC that I only watch through UA-cam and iPlayer (rarely now).
Mark Shirley haha well said!
haarp2012 you OK - not sure I'd go that far
Watching this for hw lmao. Hey any1 from my class 😂
Seems like some of the property owners should look into converting their properties into flats. More housing nearby might then mean more need for shops again, and more jobs.
zoning rules make that really hard to do, but it if the rules were changed it would be a good way to go
The corporations are to blame for this and it's about time small business had a level playing field in order to compete on equal terms with big business who have an unfair advantage and influence in the economy.
The internet has pretty much killed the high streets off.
Online business did not kill the high street, it was shopping malls wot did it. In fact online transactions saved small business who can transact directly with customers from warehouses rather than expensive display shops. The 'tax bias' argument about business rates (a property based tax) can't be translated to the online world.
J A I know some high street independent stores which are doing well
Pop up shops do well too
Change the planning laws to make house building easier in the high street I can't believe this wasn't suggested.More local residents also helps the shops that remain.
This trend has been going on for at least 25 years.
Alan Heath Are you sure? I would have said the last 10 years
@@Matty12333 Yes Tom, I stick with that analysis. I think it was the large retail malls which started the end of the High Street.
Business rates are far to high, it makes no sense for any entrepreneur to pay so much money in an retail space that gets little foot fall and customer interest, blame council!!
Aditi K It is nothing to do with business rates, look at rents first. Property values are far too high and rents guarantee that they need a substantial sales to even break even.
David Lazarus I see the effects of overly priced rates as my dad owns food shops in prime retail spots and let me just say paying £200.000 per year is just ridiculous for the current retail climate,where footfall isn’t what it was 10yrs ago, terrorism and online shopping has been factors and the council has done 0 to come up with survival mechanism to help
Aditi K Online shopping is more convenient and much cheaper, also much better choice. Meanwhile in store, the ranges are getting smaller and overpriced
Tom Jardine Here where online grocery is quite popular there are even dark stores which have no customers at all but are the local hubs of their own delivery network.
As for ranges this is a result of competition from the discount supermarkets. ALDI and Lidl have a limited range of products maybe a few hundred but have sufficient size of orders to get the best prices. Even big supermarkets are shrinking their ranges from 90000 items to get better prices in the end. This is why they can also make profits with a smaller range.
Parking is an issue. My local council changed the parking so it wasn't clear when and where you'd have to buy parking. I did buy it and the payment supposedly went through but somehow still got a hefty fine... Will never shop there again.
People have realised that there are far better uses of their non working time than shopping (yawn).
Carrie Perkins I am fed up of shopping, I swear that’s all people do these days
Everyone who shops looks like a half-dressed zombie, me included. I swear it never used to be like that. All dark ugly coats, dead eyes. I’m glad the shops are getting a wake up call. Add something a bit more interesting and less mass-marketed tack for once!
Any mention of crippling business rates - sure that has a lot to do with it!
If you need anything fairly specific, you often won't find it in brick and mortar shops. For my craft the offering on brick shops is too small. I guess I could learn to make do with 10% of what's on offer online... The issue is also people don't want to pay for handmade goods so I make less so buy less supplies.
It's because so much shopping has moved online as it's cheap and convenient now but it's good that theres businesses that can use the space it leaves.
Offices , night clubs , workshops , community and hobbyist groups, lazzer tag , mini cinema , low cost housing ect
Hasn't. Internet shopping only forms 15% of all goods bought. It increases 1% a year and the retail experts think it'll peak at 25% in the mid 2020s.
Why don’t you ask the government to do something then Richard. Also, the OP just mentioned how losses can be made up for - through other businesses.
I sympathize with the High Street but I think the biggest down fall is the business rates and overheads, not being online shopping as the only measure. People will always want to go about the city and shop. Its dog eat dog, lot of these big chain stores had the monopoly for decades but its going to be individuality that sparks the flame again. Even before the rise in online shopping the High Street near me, the big shopping centres was a let down. Just didn't work with the consumer... so its been on a downer from then. Maybe its down to the councils and the way they grant licences, parking restrictions, transport and street sale.
Everyone indoors pudpulling and eating jammy dodgers
As vox's piece on malls put it well, maybe now we can have real pro-social 3rd places instead of places to only indulge in consumerism.
The high street deserves to die. Town councils make it as unpleasant and difficult as possible to shop in their towns now with more and more road and parking restrictions designed to squeeze as much money as possible out of people. Then they charge shop owners silly rates meaning the shop owners have to pass that cost on to the customer and therefor can't compete with online prices. On top of that, half the time stores you go to don't stock what you want or close early without notice.
Of course there is a crisis. What do you expect? Savers who rely on banks such as pensioners have had their incomes reduced considerably. Often have to pay for parking in town centres and people now have alternative, to shop online. Reading town centre is stupidly expensive. Also pubs 3 quid a pint means it is cheaper to have a drink with friends at home. I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on a high street other than food. Why? It is more Important to pay the mortgage and property has been prohibitive for years. This is the future as backed up by Mark Williams at Revo. The US have also had the same issues. M&S have been closing large department stores and re-opening much smaller M&S food halls.
High Streets belong to the last century. Demolish them all (except those with an historic centre, such as Oxford, York) and build 100 storey blocks of flats in their place. Plant trees on the land that should become available as a result.
Everything that’s British is....
Maybe if Britain didn't invade India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa, and worse of all Palestine then take the lands from these native people and give it to Jews and call it Israel.
This is god's revenge
ahrlj24. F**k off.
prat!
Pakistan invaded Bangladesh. Slaughtered three million Bangladeshis. Pakistan invaded and still occupies part of Kashmir as it does with Balochistan. Pakistan also created the Taliban then used them as a proxy force to invade and occupy Afghanistan. UK's greatest crime was aiding the creation of that festering shithole Pakistan, a polio stronghold and grotesque experiment in multi-generational inbreeding.
ahrlj24. Again, F**k off ungrateful immigrant or self hating Brit..... Grow up, nobody alive today is responsible for the dribble you spit.
Everything is always sold out whenever I go out shopping
That's just bad management / unflexible supply chains.
oh dreary me. nation of shopkeepers moaning ....1:31 shit she is undead FIRE!
look at their faces! the NHS has really degraded in recent years
Competition and costs beaten them out.
ok here is a clue... better value less £ online. no paying for bland name support. the scythe cuts and is sooo about time. also since londinistan featured who needs a close machete shave? who needs large overpriced chains elsewhere? time to upgrade is 20 sthing not 19 sthing...
Nation of shopkeepers!
It’s in the same level of crisis as the BBCs impartiality
I've always hated going into a store to shop anyhow, Amazon brings my goods right to my house. I did not need to suffer being profiled and followed by security while shopping, I did not have to suffer shit customer service, I did not have to come out just to find a new ding or scratch on my cars body/paint. Otherwise, I do miss walking around looking at pretty girls tho, but these days that gets you into trouble too, so. . .
Don’t forget having to sift through rude people, but keep smiling or you’ll become the rude one. Social etiquette becomes draining even for the socially fluent when shopping.
We should turn it into housing and renewable energy
No-one wants to live amongst bars and clubs plus little choice in parking.
All done by design! All to get rid of CASH
I can to rewind to check out the chainsaw. Luckily it was chainless.
A high street as a future?
Purley Way in Croydon is probably gonna see a lot of retail job losses in the coming years due to its out-of-town location. I've been sure about this since Toys Я Us went bust.
Just go back to the *inventor of the Mall* who despised shopping malls. The original idea in Gruen’s words, *“provide the needed place and opportunity for participation in modern community life that the ancient Greek Agora, the Medieval Market Place and our own Town Squares provided in the past.”*
…
Gruen’s first grand shopping complex, the 800,000-square-foot (74,000-square-meter) Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, had fountains, an aviary, and even a large art installation by the prominent mid-century artist Harry Bertoia. A socialist who hated cars (“Their threat to human life and health is just as great as the exposed sewer,” he once said)…
qz.com/454214/the-father-of-the-american-shopping-mall-hated-cars-and-suburban-sprawl/
All Bad things come to an End..the greedy Love of Money is now OVER!!
Hey British’s keep it for me and the queen
As I buy online to save money, I am part of the reason for the decline of the traditional department store.
Stuart Little Online sales are still tiny compared to overall retail. A simple lack of money because of stagnant wages is bigger factor.
You won't be saving money as the government has increased your tax or cut your services to recoup the losses in tax they got from your local businesses. Think about all the unemployed on benefits too - you aren't saving believe me.
Stuart Little Look at Harrods and Selfrages, they are doing well
Welcome to Amazonia.
Zombie Economy.
Next in CRASH 3....2....1......
BOOM!!!
Tory austerity !
I sure hope so. It's a sight from hell. The future will for sure be buying online only.
Watching this again two years later. Still a crappy news report for a crappy news program produced by a crappy producer