I hope M - S don't go as they supply a lot of my underwear and some clothes.
No chance of them going under.
I hope M - S don't go as they supply a lot of my underwear and some clothes.
How so? M&S have been struggling for yearsNo chance of them going under.
Perhaps because they've still got some turnover, as all their stores with a food court remain open? They're one of very few high street stores to have their doors open at the moment.How so? M&S have been struggling for years
How so? M&S have been struggling for years
Surely Sir Richard Branson wouldn't see his airline fold
If anything for M&S they might close some more larger stores which has a larger percentage of non-food, and either moving to smaller units within the town to just have M&S food stores. Mainly those larger stores which have high overheads meaning the profit being made is small.
Sainsbury’s own Argos, so convenient to have them in the same storeCan’t see Argos going. Low cost model and even lower now they can use floor space Sainsbury’s didn’t want in their big stores and click and collect from town centre Sainsbury’s.
This may have already been posted, but I can see WHSmith going in the next 2 years or so. Their high street stores are a mess, and feel more like a jumble sale. They have been on the decline for years. The sites at railway stations and airports are still very profitable, which is supporting the rest of the company. However with the downturn in travel expected after the pandemic, this could be the final nail in the coffin for them.
They've been a regular on this thread over the years... consensus seems to be that the travel outlets cross-subsidise the high street stores as you say. The Post Office moving into many stores also helps, and may mean they fall into the "too important to fail" category.This may have already been posted, but I can see WHSmith going in the next 2 years or so. Their high street stores are a mess, and feel more like a jumble sale. They have been on the decline for years. The sites at railway stations and airports are still very profitable, which is supporting the rest of the company. However with the downturn in travel expected after the pandemic, this could be the final nail in the coffin for them.
I very much doubt WHSmiths will go as many places now have seen their post offices merge with WHS. The general POs in Lancaster & York can both be found in WHS and the stores themselves are always busy.
There is risk to the PE folk, the banks wouldn’t be involved otherwise.
They don’t always walk away with even the cash they started with.There doesn't appear to be much risk to the PE parasites, as they always walk away with sack loads of cash. The banks get involved because their lending is secured against the assets of the business being leveraged, so there is no risk to them either.
I very much doubt WHSmiths will go as many places now have seen their post offices merge with WHS
They've been a regular on this thread over the years... consensus seems to be that the travel outlets cross-subsidise the high street stores as you say. The Post Office moving into many stores also helps, and may mean they fall into the "too important to fail" category.
Can’t see Argos going. Low cost model and even lower now they can use floor space Sainsbury’s didn’t want in their big stores and click and collect from town centre Sainsbury’s.
The Argos in my local large Sainsburys may as well not be there, they never have stock, you always reserve and it's not available till 4pm.
Now you can't do that at the moment, you have to pay there and then, guess what, 'your item will be available for collection after 4pm'
Not good when I desperately need printer ink that Sainsbury's had no stock of on their shelves. Ordered via Argos (online, their ordering screens in store are all temporarily closed), come back at 4pm, as it was 10am, do I break the 'only go out once a day' advice or what?
Order cancelled and a 20 minute walk from Sainsburys to Asda and a printer cartridge bought there, no fuss
The news today suggest that Debenhams may yet again have another reprieve but they will close another 40 stores across the country. From my neck of the woods - Altrincham & Southport were last year's casualties. I have a feeling they will maintain their larger stores in the likes of Manchester, Liverpool & the Trafford Centre - but most of the market town stores will go.
CJ
Pretty sure the basement only got closed off last year.The Guildford Debenhams was scheduled to close this year, but was given a reprieve until 2021. If my last visit on a Saturday in early March (pre-virus restrictions) was anything to go by, they needn't have bothered. There were very few customers in the store and most of those were in the Costa Coffee section. I only saw one person actually buying anything and most of the staff were chatting to each other or dusting the stock that nobody wanted. The lower ground/basement level used to be mostly for the menswear department, but that has been closed off for several years and the first floor is now shared by both the women's and men's clothing departments. Nearly half the top floor had been taken over by a Sports Direct unit, but that had all gone by my last visit and the remaining items on the floor spread out to take up the space. They must have been losing a lot of money on the store, even before coronavirus hit.
I think that they are in danger, given the way that the "lockdown" will change a lot of people's habits, but they might not be the only ones.
For example, buying a daily newspaper is a habit forming thing - people like routine - but once you've broken that routine (because you've been stuck in the house), you'll be used to getting the news from elsewhere.
Same with a lot of places selling "treats" - if you had your hair/ nails done every few weeks, but then you've accepted going without such luxuries for a couple of months, you might just accept that you can live without them - same goes for places selling breakfast/lunchtime "treats" to workers - when you've had a few weeks without your £3 coffee habit before work or fancy sandwich at lunchtime (and have possibly dealt with reduced wages for a few weeks), you're going to see demand for such things go down even if/when things go back to "normal".
Some people will flock back, sure, some people are probably craving the regular treats, but I'd be a little nervous if I was banking on everyone getting back to paying for such non-essentials (whether that's a nail bar or a coffee shop or somewhere flogging newspapers)
Pretty sure the basement only got closed off last year.
i believe the landlords offered to buy them out the lease as the site must be worth an absolute fortune for redevelopment - town centre, riverside, short walk to the station for London trains.
Just use the basement for a car parkYou're right it wasn't as long ago as I thought! I have since found a newspaper article from Feb 2019 which says it closed in late 2018. As you say, it's a great site for redevelopment, although they might need to do some work to prevent the basement from flooding again in the future.
Likewise. Maybe the rose-tinted spectacles are coming out, however the WH Smith of today is a far cry from what I remember in the 1990s. Nowadays their shops are a tip, their range appears muddled, I can buy the same magazines from supermarkets during food shopping, and everything else is massively overpriced. Wouldn't be in the slightest bit sorry to see WH Smith disappear -- in fact I try to avoid them as far as possible, preferring to use local independent newsagents instead.