Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

tbtc · 22 May 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-to-close-23-stores-as-part-of-arcadia-rescue

Sir Philip Green plans to close 23 UK stores as part of a financial rescue plan for his Topshop retail empire, which takes in Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans and Burton.

The former billionaire’s Arcadia group needs the support of landlords for a deal that is intended to cut costs before the company’s next rental payment in late June.

As part of the rescue deal, Arcadia also wants to halve payments to its pension fund to £25m a year, only two years after agreeing to increase them to £50m.

If a plan cannot be agreed, then Arcadia, which has 570 UK stores and employs about 19,000 people, could face administration.

Green, who has not been in the UK since October, is said to be keen to wrap up an exit from the group he bought for £850m 17 years ago.

With his reputation in tatters after the collapse of BHS and accusations of inappropriate behaviour, the entrepreneur has lost his appetite for the British high street

al78 said:
If his advice was sound then what is the problem with him giving it out, unless it was given out in a sanctimonious manner? I tire of all this "Ivory Tower" nonsense by people who can't bear to consider one or more of their lifestyle choices are sub-optimal in some way, and are driven by cognitive dissonance to try and demonise the adviser. The logical thing to do is consider the advice and if it is solid, follow it. From the little I have heard (Yahoo comments section, so could be any old rubbish), his restaurants weren't that great, but charged high prices where decent food could be got elsewhere for significantly less. If you are going to charge a premium for your products/services, you'd better make sure the product/service matches the price, shoving a high profile name on it isn't sufficient

Agreed - Oliver has tried his best to do the right thing, as far as encouraging healthier eating amongst kids and highlighting food poverty - I can't think of anyone else who has generated as much positive headlines/change in this area - seems the British way to knock someone who is trying hard to improve things though.

(can't comment about his restaurants, never eaten in one, but the guy is right about his campaigns)

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Typhoon · 22 May 2019

hexagon789 said:
I think also there are simply too many restaurant chains and they are all competing against each other, eventually more will probably go bust until the number is thinned to a more sustainable level. Then more chains will start up and the process will repeat itself.

There are only so many meals people can eat; its not like handbags or trainers or football shirts. They have bought into this 'High Street becoming a leisure destination' mentality loved of planners, it isn't in most towns, people can't afford it. Each time a new restaurant opens it means the pie is cut more thinly and, you are right, there will be more bankruptcies, more closures, and (sadly) more redundancies.

thejuggler said:
... new diners aren't prepared to pay £50-100 for a single meal for two, money is tight for most 25-30 year olds.

Its not just 25-30 year olds who would find that a struggle; the top end is special occasions only prices as far as I am concerned.

hexagon789 · 22 May 2019

Typhoon said:
There are only so many meals people can eat; its not like handbags or trainers or football shirts. They have bought into this 'High Street becoming a leisure destination' mentality loved of planners, it isn't in most towns, people can't afford it. Each time a new restaurant opens it means the pie is cut more thinly and, you are right, there will be more bankruptcies, more closures, and (sadly) more redundancies.

Well that's it, there are too many and it ends up with consumers being spread too thinly among them. The less popular ones then go bust, but surely this has always been the way?

Arglwydd Golau · 22 May 2019

jon0844 said:
I am not sure more people are going to start cooking at home, but I am absolutely sure more are using Just-eat and the like to order in than pay the higher price to eat out, with service charges and inflated costs for starters and drinks.

Have we really reached the stage now where cooking at home has become the exception rather than the rule? I'm sure this has been debated before, but good nutritious meals can be knocked up in minutes, yet all around I see a proliferation of take-aways and delivery services...probably another thread really but why do people not want to cook anymore? (I write as someone who enjoys cooking and generally only eats out if I have to....haven't had a take-away for years)

bramling · 22 May 2019

jon0844 said:
I am not sure more people are going to start cooking at home, but I am absolutely sure more are using Just-eat and the like to order in than pay the higher price to eat out, with service charges and inflated costs for starters and drinks.

The restaurants and cafes in somewhere like Hitchin appear to be absolutely thriving - even to the extent that one can walk in on a Monday evening and get a frosty look if one hasn’t booked. Meanwhile every week a new cafe opens up and immediately can be seen full to bursting during the day, seven days a week.

This may well be atypical as the town has started to become a bit of a honeypot in recent years.

Whistler40145 · 22 May 2019

Any company owned by Sir Philip Green

Iskra · 22 May 2019

al78 said:
If his advice was sound then what is the problem with him giving it out, unless it was given out in a sanctimonious manner? I tire of all this "Ivory Tower" nonsense by people who can't bear to consider one or more of their lifestyle choices are sub-optimal in some way, and are driven by cognitive dissonance to try and demonise the adviser. The logical thing to do is consider the advice and if it is solid, follow it. From the little I have heard (Yahoo comments section, so could be any old rubbish), his restaurants weren't that great, but charged high prices where decent food could be got elsewhere for significantly less. If you are going to charge a premium for your products/services, you'd better make sure the product/service matches the price, shoving a high profile name on it isn't sufficient.

Looks like British Steel has now collapsed.

Rich person, lecturing poor people on eating (expensive) fresh healthy food. His advice may have been theoretically sound, but it is naive idealism which ignores the economic reality of feeding a family in the current climate.

Whistler40145 · 22 May 2019

Iskra said:
Rich person, lecturing poor people on eating (expensive) fresh healthy food. His advice may have been theoretically sound, but it is naive idealism which ignores the economic reality of feeding a family in the current climate.

Indeed, being a quality Chef and attempting to be a good businessman certainly didn't gel together

jon0844 · 22 May 2019

bramling said:
The restaurants and cafes in somewhere like Hitchin appear to be absolutely thriving - even to the extent that one can walk in on a Monday evening and get a frosty look if one hasn’t booked. Meanwhile every week a new cafe opens up and immediately can be seen full to bursting during the day, seven days a week.

This may well be atypical as the town has started to become a bit of a honeypot in recent years.

Chains or independent restaurants? Cafes are always popular but they're generally still quite affordable compared to many chains.

Chains like to do voucher codes for discounts in the week, so I guess high prices make these look better. As well as for those who have memberships to restaurant discount cards.

ComUtoR · 22 May 2019

Marks and Sparks closing another 100 stores

tony_mac · 22 May 2019

Iskra said:
Rich person, lecturing poor people on eating (expensive) fresh healthy food. His advice may have been theoretically sound, but it is naive idealism which ignores the economic reality of feeding a family in the current climate.

I saw some of his series about school dinners, in that he was very much considering the cost. That was the interesting thing, that they could make decent food for the same, or very similar, cost as the junk food that was being served.

thejuggler · 22 May 2019

Arglwydd Golau said:
Have we really reached the stage now where cooking at home has become the exception rather than the rule? I'm sure this has been debated before, but good nutritious meals can be knocked up in minutes, yet all around I see a proliferation of take-aways and delivery services...probably another thread really but why do people not want to cook anymore? (I write as someone who enjoys cooking and generally only eats out if I have to....haven't had a take-away for years)

In major cities cooking from scratch is probably in decline. Cooking a meal takes minutes, shopping for the ingredients doesn't.

When the offer is there for food cooked and delivered at the click of a button its quicker than shopping and cooking.

bramling · 22 May 2019

jon0844 said:
Chains or independent restaurants? Cafes are always popular but they're generally still quite affordable compared to many chains.

Chains like to do voucher codes for discounts in the week, so I guess high prices make these look better. As well as for those who have memberships to restaurant discount cards.

Everywhere. Even somewhere like Prezzo (which personally I don’t regard as cheap for what it is) is packed most nights. You may well be right about discount vouchers and the like perhaps. The recently opened Wetherspoon *always* seems to be packed no matter what time of day.

As I say, this may well be atypical - there’s been a definite shift in culture over the last few years with a heavy influx of people who have moved from London in order to upscale or because they’re fed up with aspects of London life. These people tend to be of a particular type (ie turn up with fleets of SUVs, if they were chocolate they’d pick themselves off the shelf of the chocolate shop and eat themselves!).

Iskra · 22 May 2019

thejuggler said:
In major cities cooking from scratch is probably in decline. Cooking a meal takes minutes, shopping for the ingredients doesn't.

When the offer is there for food cooked and delivered at the click of a button its quicker than shopping and cooking.

I think it's probably got more to do with more shift work and there being fewer stay at home mums.

I do online shopping, probably takes 10 minutes in total as it collates the items I frequently buy. As long as you plan what specific meals you are making from that shop, it's a very time and waste efficient way of doing things. It also removes a lot of the temptation to buy things that you don't really need when walking around a supermarket.

Still, as much as I enjoy cooking, I still always have some 'cheat' teas in that can be just thrown in the pan/oven (some that I've previously made and frozen) and the odd takeaway when I really can't be bothered, usually when I've come home after a late shift.

LOL The Irony · 22 May 2019

bramling said:
The recently opened Wetherspoon *always* seems to be packed no matter what time of day.

I've never seen an open Spoons that's empty.

ComUtoR · 23 May 2019

I tend to eat in the Spoons at very specific times. We go for a lunch and a beer before football and randomly on a Sunday for breakfast. It's cheap, quick, easy, consistent and importantly, family friendly. They even cater for Vegans (they have a vegan menu if you ask for it) Harvester is banned in my house due to so many bad experiences (they are £$!" awful)

I've been to Jamie's Italian on a couple of occasions and found the food to be good. I'd say its a little pretentious for what it is but otherwise a decent restaurant. The problem I found was that it isn't a place I can go on a regular basis. I eat out a lot. I find that the higher up the dining you go the more specific you get. You also dine out at the top end a lot less. I popped into town a couple of weeks ago and grabbed a lobster at a friends recommendation. Spent about £140 quid. It wasn't great and tbh I doubt I'm going back there. Last weekend I tried out a Miller and Carter. Spent £90 and the food was really nice and we loved it. I'm planning to go back.

Wagamama's seems to be my latest quick lunch visit. The kids like it, they have a vegan option (that's how I found them) and again, its quick, easy and family friendly. Always busy and always a queue.

Jamie's didn't ever really seem to fit. It came across as a bit middle class and poncy. Too expensive and slow for a quick lunch and too light for an evening out. For me Prezzo fits that slot too. Byrons/GBK also fit in this section too and that are struggling too I believe. It's very hard to sit in the middle tier and the middle class are a bit harder to please and a lot of this middle priced section is very dependent on the latest trend and latest food fashion.

Chains are very good down the lower end. They work well where they are quite prevalent. Anything in a shopping centre that is reasonably priced tends to be busy and reasonably successful. Jamie's also suffered (I think) because you had to go out your way to find one. You can barely throw a cat in a shopping centre without hitting a Wagamama's. Same with a Spoons, they are everywhere.

Disclaimer : My Sister used to work for Jamie Oliver.

yorksrob · 23 May 2019

bramling said:
The restaurants and cafes in somewhere like Hitchin appear to be absolutely thriving - even to the extent that one can walk in on a Monday evening and get a frosty look if one hasn’t booked. Meanwhile every week a new cafe opens up and immediately can be seen full to bursting during the day, seven days a week.

This may well be atypical as the town has started to become a bit of a honeypot in recent years.

I think that a lot of it has to do with rents being too high.

In Leeds for example, there are too many business chasing the high end of the market and too few rich people. Conversely, you have to walk a long way to find a traditional cafe doing egg and chips.

Contrast this with Wakefield, where there are a large number of such establishments in the city centre doing perfectly well.

Dai Corner · 23 May 2019

I'm not a fan of chain restaurants or coffee shops. I know the independent ones I like close to home and if I'm in a strange town I pick the busiest. It'll almost certainly be full of satisfied locals.

J-Rod · 23 May 2019

bramling said:
These people tend to be of a particular type (ie turn up with fleets of SUVs, if they were chocolate they’d pick themselves off the shelf of the chocolate shop and eat themselves!).

One of the reasons I moved from Letchworth in 2016... wasn't the place I moved to in 2007!

bramling · 23 May 2019

J-Rod said:
One of the reasons I moved from Letchworth in 2016... wasn't the place I moved to in 2007!

Yes agreed Letchworth seems to have taken on a similar vibe. It all seems to be a function of the London property market having become inflated. All of a sudden London problems have started arising, like parking wars!

sprunt · 23 May 2019

LOL The Irony said:
My sympathy lies with the staff and staff alone.

It should also be with the suppliers who'll be left high and dry while the more profitable sides of his business empire will have been carefully structured to ensure that he'll get away without paying the bills.

LOL The Irony · 24 May 2019

sprunt said:
It should also be with the suppliers who'll be left high and dry while the more profitable sides of his business empire will have been carefully structured to ensure that he'll get away without paying the bills.

Well it lies with basically anyone but oliver.

Groningen · 24 May 2019

The problems that Jamie Oliver had and has are caused mainly by rising rents in the streets and pay for its personel.

Dai Corner · 24 May 2019

Groningen said:
The problems that Jamie Oliver had and has are caused mainly by rising rents in the streets and pay for its personel.

Presumably minimum wage earners were not among his target market, or chose to spend their extra income elsewhere.

SS4 · 26 May 2019

Arglwydd Golau said:
Have we really reached the stage now where cooking at home has become the exception rather than the rule? I'm sure this has been debated before, but good nutritious meals can be knocked up in minutes, yet all around I see a proliferation of take-aways and delivery services...probably another thread really but why do people not want to cook anymore? (I write as someone who enjoys cooking and generally only eats out if I have to....haven't had a take-away for years)

It's significantly less effort to have a takeaway than it is to prepare, cook and clean food. When you come home late in the evening or after a tiring day it's understandable that you don't want to cook (and prepare, and wash up - things often forgotten when mentioning how quick cooking can be). The takeaway is there to be collected en route or delivered with no effort. Supermarket ready meals aren't that unhealthy if you pick the right ones either.

As someone who enjoys cooking you probably don't see it as a chore to cook after a full day at work but I (as someone who doesn't really like cooking) do.

Jamesrob637 · 26 Jun 2019

I believe that Bathstore have gone into administration today :frown:

DelW · 26 Jun 2019

Jamesrob637 said:
I believe that Bathstore have gone into administration today

It wouldn't surprise me - they have a showroom on the ground floor of the office where I work, and I don't think I've seen customers in there more than about twice in 2 & 1/2 years, though I go past it twice at lunchtimes and again in the late afternoon. The rest of the ground floor is an empty ex Frankie and Benny's restaurant which has been closed at least that long too.

Jamesrob637 · 26 Jun 2019

DelW said:
It wouldn't surprise me - they have a showroom on the ground floor of the office where I work, and I don't think I've seen customers in there more than about twice in 2 & 1/2 years, though I go past it twice at lunchtimes and again in the late afternoon. The rest of the ground floor is an empty ex Frankie and Benny's restaurant which has been closed at least that long too.

Frankie and Benny's might be on its way out too but not sure.

ComUtoR · 26 Jun 2019

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...inistration-hundreds-jobs-160-shops-risk.html

Challenging conditions in the UK retail sector have claimed another casualty today as the bathroom specialist Bathstore collapsed into administration.

The privately owned chain, which has 135 UK shops and employs about 530 staff, asked accountancy firm BDO to handle the administration process.

BDO said the company was continuing to trade as normal for now as they hoped to sell the company as a going concern.

Not sure about their history but in the current climate of renovation, house building, buy to let, second homes, and many people flipping houses; it seems odd to have a bathroom business going down the drain...

matacaster · 26 Jun 2019

ComUtoR said:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...inistration-hundreds-jobs-160-shops-risk.html

Not sure about their history but in the current climate of renovation, house building, buy to let, second homes, and many people flipping houses; it seems odd to have a bathroom business going down the drain...

Overpriced, oblong, chunky dross. Like a Lidl version of Villeroy & Bosch without the style or quality.

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