Toys were us. Stay Tuned for:- Prezzo pizza Clare's accessories Frankie & Bennys New Look Debenhams Chimichanga
They were bl**dy horrible places to walk around. Really bad layout, just never felt right. I'm not surprised.
Another company that has failed to adapt to modern-age consumer spending habits. Everyone shops online nowadays..
Used to be a great shop. Sold everything from newspapers, sweets, cards, posh pens, stationery, records and videos, toys electronics and those digital watches with calculators on.
W H Smith makes all its profits from its shops at airports and railway stations. I would not be surprised to see most of its High Street estate gone within five years. The great hope for town centres was to be leisure and restaurants. But too many poor offerings are looking dodgy with serious cash flow problems since Christmas. As mentioned above the (awful) Chimichanga chain is to be totally closed this year. House of Fraser and Fenwicks must be at risk if they fail to negotiate rent reductions
Makes you wonder how long the "high street" has got left? It's almost as if history repeats itself every x amount of years - same outcome, just a slightly more modern reason for it.
I think its more "how long does the out of town shopping centre have left" They replaced the high street, and are now being replaced by online shopping High streets seem to be making a bit of a come back as a niche thing
It's all down to business rates and rents. It's too expensive in town and the councils have screwed up the parking in favour of pedestrians that now can't drive to the shops because there's no where cheap/free to park. Of course people will go a bit further to out of town mega stores where parking is free because it's cheaper and then people will shop on-line because it;s cheaper still. Old folks with no car or computer are royally screwed.
Yeah, I agree with this. There doesn’t seem to be such an issue with stores closing in high streets in European towns and cities. Presumably punters there can shop online almost as easily as us, so there seems to be something else at play. Part of it might be that there seem to be more independent shops there, rather than the chains we have in the UK.
Physically going shopping hasn’t become less of a nightmare. The High St often seems packed to me. What’s been eroded is margin hence the vulnerability. Toys R Us was never a pleasant shopping experience. Other toyshops might have quirky or collectible toys or pocket money things like marbles. Your child could linger. Toys R Us was a warehouse full of boxes, so who wouldn’t buy on the net instead?
Personally I hate shopping. If it can't be bought online, primarily at Amazon, Sainsburys, or physically at the local Tesco on the way home, I won't be buying it. However my wife still loves to spend saturdays walking round Watford St Albans or London Colney shopping centres and if she leaves it too late has trouble parking so they can't all be dying.....or she's seeing someone else.....the number of shopping bags and "I saved 25% on this T shirt which is usually £150" stories would suggest I'm safe. She is a marketeers dream. I'm their nightmare. "77% of 82 people agreed"? ....b******s.
I don't particularly care about Toys R Us (although when the kids were little, I and a group of friends used to make a very useful annual visit to the branch at Waterlooville for a mammoth Supermarket Sweep-style pre-Christmas shop) but I hope "value-added" high street retailers survive. For example, the staff in my local Waterstones are excellent; when they've taken the time to listen to what I'm after and talk me through a load of recommendations, I have no problem spending a few extra pennies buying the books from there, rather than on Amazon. Then again, I think I'm the only person left who still likes to read actual books. Have a Kindle but never used it.
I used to be a business rates specialist and remember arguing when Harlequin was due to open that prime values in the town would change to the new centre and the High Street would become a back water. Inland Revenue couldn't see this happening but was proved right. Old fashioned leases with upward only rent reviews a massive problem . Market has no chance of quick change.
Spot on. Go to any town overseas and you see lots of specialist privately owned shops and restaurants. Hate the brand domination of any British High Street.
Entertainers toy shop closed in Watford last month, nothing to do with how the company is doing but the council upped the rental rates much higher due to the new development that's not even ready that they just decided not to renew the lease. Waterstones did the same in the Harlequin a few years ago.
I would genuinely like someone to explain to me the economics of shop rents. Surely a landlord would rather receive a lower rent from a long-term sustainable business rather than demand the high rents that cause some shop units to stay empty for ages? the same thing sometimes seems to apply to office space too.
Taxation should be on income and income alone. It's the only fair method of collection as it's based upon ability to pay. Taxing accumulated or left over wealth bears no relation to the person's ability to pay, because it is calculated by largely arbitrary measures and dissuades people from saving for their future. If a build up of too much wealth is an issue then it's the income taxation policy that has failed. Probably one for the politics section.
So someone living in a £100 million stately home who doesn't do a day of work but just lives off inherited wealth accumulated over centuries shouldn't be taxed?
Not income tax no, not if they're not earning. There will of course be sales tax for the things that person buys and a proportionate council tax for the services that dwelling uses, that's only fair. The fact that a large wealth was accumulated shows that there was a deficiency in the income taxation at the time that wealth was accumulated, or it shows that that person or that person's family has been prudent and cautious. You can't in all fairness go back and grab some of that just because now you think previous policy was too lenient. For example. If someone works hard for 15 years buys a house, pays off the mortgage and then lost their job. Income is now zero. How is it fair the government says ooo you've got a house lets tax you a lot. That person has no income so has to sell up to pay that tax and then the government eventually has to house them. Yet the chap next door who also worked the same job, but instead of saving, pissed his wages up the wall on drink and drugs and therefore still rents. Also loses his job and now gets his rent paid by the tax payer. If both people then have a debilitating long term terminal illness guess who get's care free and who is assessed to pays their own way for care until they've been made bankrupt? Assuming a fair and robust income tax system that can't be circumvented (It isn't and that's another matter) wealth taxation is based out of jealousy, not common sense. A wealth taxation is a disincentive for people to work hard, save and better their lot and creates a race to the bottom. Wealth and property taxation has been discussed in the politics section many times so probably best for the conversation to continue in there.
I thought the Toys R Us stores were predominantly out of town? The High Street seems to be thriving to me.. just look at that enormous thing going up in Watford. It might not be your traditional shopping experience but it is in the High Street. I think the "everyone shops online" thing is a exaggerated myself. Maybe it applies to the typical poster on this board (male- lower 20's & upwards) but certain groups seem inexorably tied to the physical shopping experience. The youth.. the elderly.. and females seem to swarm over every town center shop ive ever been in.
I used to use my Kindle but now I can't even be bothered to do that. It's Audible only for me these days, until they work out how to just import the books directly into my brain.
I bought my Silly Putty from the Mary Rose. The Entertainer is owned by hard line Christians, but their Amersham store is a treasure trove, with some well priced toys. It's genuinely fun to take the kids in there with some pocket money and passively enjoy their excitement as they find out they can get this comic or that little toy for a couple of quid.
Silly Putty was fascinating stuff, like alien tech. I seem to remember it melting away the head lining to one of my dads cars. He was not as impressed with this particular human advancement as I was. I never saw that putty again. I might go and buy myself some!
