The one thing that drove me up the wall in England was paying for parking just about everywhere. Even charging at sea fronts and in small towns - totally bizarre.
Wollongong Council charges $2 (£1) for four hours but that was enough to stop people going.Thre are still some big department stores in the CBD but few small shops it is like a ghost town at night. I can understand it in Sydney and Melbourne even Canberra CBD but not towns like Wollongong.
Since the Pandemic they stopped charging but the Lord Mayor said the charges will be reinstated soon.
Its the same in my area too Pix. All of the fast food outlets are now drive throughs with seating usually upstairs and all are placed somewhere in the three ‘retail parks’. Our high street is now a pedestrian type precinct and offers the type of shops that are of little interest to me … Poundland, Wilco, BuyRight and the cheap-tat clothing outlets are what attract most shoppers and those kind of shops do not interest me, so I have to visit the retail parks.
Oh its a disgrace, LD isn’t it? What if you don’t have a car, or have mobility issues that mean you can’t actually get to these places? Such a shame for what were once thriving bustling high streets. Its getting more like America (I imagine)
… where I was born 'n raised, '50s '60s, had a huge department store, old family business in the historic “high st” near the cathedral, dating back to the 19c., updated/enlarged in the 1930s, the Harrods of the west of England.
But the historic city took a battering: a succession of corrupt councillors, some say (?). And in '71 the store was sold to Debenhams, a couple of decades later the nearby docks (yes Glos has docks) were restored/redeveloped and the Quays shopping centre is where people shop. Debenham is bankrupt now, empty, just like most of the old shops in the area.
A bold move: the Uni (yes Glos has a Uni) is taking over the 200K sq ft deco department store turning it into a campus. A genius idea, young people breath life. £100M is being spent on the adjacent Kings Sq digital hub.
not exactly on topic but a close cousin? - I once lived in the suburbs of Liverpool probably 25 min walk to the docks? - there was a significant church once St Cyprians and others of course - St Cyprians is significant cos it’s where Ma and Pa met and eventually got married - bless their cotton socks - then slowly over time it deteriorated - lack of funds smaller congregations - I think I was christened there too. Then I checked it on line a few years back - it was just falling to pieces how sad until!! - the University of Liverpool purchased it - upgraded it and turned it into accommodation for students - how neat and so now St Cyprians lives on - check it out on the net if you are interested!
It was announced last week that Marks & Spencer’s in the centre of Bristol will close in January next year A shock to everyone as it was very popular and was the last decent clothes store to go.
The same happened to the M&S store in the nearest large town to this village. A new one then opened in one of the out of town retail parks. That is far more modern and has a nice café, it is also a lot bigger. Another plus is that there is unlimited free parking.
The large M&S was closed down in the high-street here, but a large M&S Food Hall was opened in one of the retail parks without any sign of a clothing outlet. It doesn’t make any sense as the high-street clothing store was always packed out.
On the face of it that probably seems that it didn’t make sense, not to us anyway, but it’s accountants who run these companies. Perhaps there was not enough profit being made generally by M&S so they closed that store down in favour of other stores taking those customers plus they also now had a Food Hall as well. The same has happened where I live. I don’t have figures but it could also be that rentals and business rates on out of town retail parks are not as expensive as town centre stores. We all know that businesses have to make a profit in order to make it worthwhile. With rents and rates squeezing them one way and customer expectations in buying for less cost there is only one other way and that’s to close stores that are expensive to run in favour of those that cost less, because they are situated in out of town retail parks. It’s all down to money, money, money, like everything.
Ah yes, those pesky rents and business rates. A friend had to close her antiques & collectables shop down due to almost doubling of the rent when renewing her lease. She sold everything off and closed down; she now works as a buyer for a TV/film prop supply company.
Our local mall tried that on the fishmonger so the latter just closed, a month later they reopened in exactly the same place at a lower rent.
It might well be that the advantage for retailers here of having the mall in the middle of the suburb is that if the mall tries to increase rents too much the retailer can move to one of the adjacent and cheaper shops just outside the mall. I have noticed a couple of retailers do that locally.
On line shopping will have a big effect on retailing, I understand that in the UK 25% of shopping is done on line whereas here it is only 14% so we have a long way to go.
I suppose historically the “high street” must have began as a “new feature” once and became the talk of the town and now we see its demise and new concepts of shopping take its place. I think the nature of human nature is that it can and does always adapt but maybe historic emotions take longer?
Like most towns our shops are closing. We have lost lots of the large chains. We have two malls, 3 if you count an edge of town centre 1970’s shopping area. And all are suffering.
But our permanent market is thriving. And becoming a place people go to for food. You can buy everything from Mushy Peas to Goat Curry, it has a good wine retailer there & a great beer stall. In 2019 it was named the best large outdoor market in the country. If I have a complaint about our market, it’s that of the stall that sells Pie & Mash. It does not, there is no liquor with it.
but has anyone yet asked the question let alone answered why it has happened? why has something that we found endearing ; enchanting ; useful ; convenient disappeared without us voting or having any say at all in it? It’s as if the heart of our towns have been ripped out but the town is still staggering around?
No need to ask that question because the answer is obvious. Shoppers decided to buy on-line rather than in person at the shop counter, it is as simple as that, consumers choice, no more, no less. If the foot fall had remained the same, then some of the wound up shops would still be open despite all the rate and rent rises. Yes, some would have floundered, but some would have remained.
We live close to Westfield London … 287 Stores, 93 Eateries.
Popular with all sorts, with the possible exception of the lager lout.
And Oxford/Regent Street is always busy too.
Shops like John Lewis at both the above locations will show/demonstrate stuff and almost encourage you to buy online … things like a mattress, a fridge, things needing delivery.
A shock to everyone as it was very popular and was the last decent clothes store to go.
