High Street Administration Woes - Blockbuster enters Administration.

[Darandio]

Well, you do have that vertical pier thing (will have to have a quick look one day, never been)

Quite possibly it may open one day as well, it's standing doing nothing at the moment. However, when it does open, the view will be of 27 wind turbines.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Perhaps there should be a forum competition to name the highest number of consecutive fast food takeaway shops in a road in any town in Britain...:roll:.

21 in Lye

 

[tbtc]

I was actually talking to the manager of an Argos yesterday and she was of the opinion that the shops are slowly being reduced by about 80%.

I doubt there'll be any town centre/ city centre Argos shops open by the end of the decade - if the chain survives then it'll be about retail parks and online - they may use the demise of Comet to try and sell more "big ticket" items, but these are the kind of things where you need a car so retail parks are suited.

When I mentioned retail parks in the thread about a lack of boxing day trains (i.e. how busy they are on Boxing Day) it was pointed out that railways don't serve retail parks so that was irrelevant.

The problem is that the fixed infrastructure means that railways are going to be stuck serving a lot of town centres that are becoming an irrelevance - there may be some lines that struggle in future because they serve the British Heart Foundation/ Tanning Salon/ Ladbrokes/ Poundland/ AbraKebabra whilst all of the big shops have moved away.

Rotherham is an example of this - most big shops have moved to Parkgate retail park (or over the border into Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre), but Parkgate has no station.

 

[142094]

I doubt there'll be any town centre/ city centre Argos shops open by the end of the decade - if the chain survives then it'll be about retail parks and online - they may use the demise of Comet to try and sell more "big ticket" items, but these are the kind of things where you need a car so retail parks are suited.

When I mentioned retail parks in the thread about a lack of boxing day trains (i.e. how busy they are on Boxing Day) it was pointed out that railways don't serve retail parks so that was irrelevant.

The problem is that the fixed infrastructure means that railways are going to be stuck serving a lot of town centres that are becoming an irrelevance - there may be some lines that struggle in future because they serve the British Heart Foundation/ Tanning Salon/ Ladbrokes/ Poundland/ AbraKebabra whilst all of the big shops have moved away.

Rotherham is an example of this - most big shops have moved to Parkgate retail park (or over the border into Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre), but Parkgate has no station.

That's the curse of town planning (well, poor town planning), where thought is only given to access by car and not much else. Even York is doing this, and normally York is seen as a good model for sustainable transport.

 

[Drsatan]

That's the curse of town planning (well, poor town planning), where thought is only given to access by car and not much else. Even York is doing this, and normally York is seen as a good model for sustainable transport.

A bad example of town planning would be the construction of a big IKEA branch in the middle of Southampton. On Saturdays driving along the A33 to and from Southampton is a very slow job considering that the A33 is the main access road to West Quay and the adjacent West Quay retail park.

 

[tbtc]

That's the curse of town planning (well, poor town planning), where thought is only given to access by car and not much else. Even York is doing this, and normally York is seen as a good model for sustainable transport.

York is (Sadly) a great example - it's going to have some fantastic shopping around the ring road (from Monks Cross on one side to the Designer Outlet on the other side plus big supermarkets etc) yet none of that is handy for railways.

 

[142094]

The other problem with York is that the city council have put all their eggs in one basket for many years, with the continuing focus on bus-based park and ride, but haven't done much else with other public transport forms.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The other problem with York is that the city council have put all their eggs in one basket for many years, with the continuing focus on bus-based park and ride, but haven't done much else with other public transport forms.

Are York City Council not currently discussing some subsidised bus routes ?

 

[Heinz57]

I doubt there'll be any town centre/ city centre Argos shops open by the end of the decade - if the chain survives then it'll be about retail parks and online - they may use the demise of Comet to try and sell more "big ticket" items, but these are the kind of things where you need a car so retail parks are suited.

I totaly agree. Argos seem to be focusing the shop efforts onto out of town areas. Our Argos for example, the store moved from the town centre to a retail park. As soon as that happend, that was it for the town.

The problem we have with this is that not all people are able to get to the out of town retail parks, nor do some of them have access to the internet. These people are stuck. They have to rely on the town centres, but as we've seen the past few weeks there is little hope with this. With three chains collapsing in as many weeks.

And I fear that more high street chains will be throwing in the towel this year.

 

[JoeH]

I was also a subscriber to the Blockbuster DVD by post before later using Lovefilm. Blockbuster’s offering was so poor that they couldn’t really be compared to each other.

As with other similar services you would have to set up a rental wish list in order of priority but with Blockbuster out of a twenty title list you might expect to get, for example, your 5th, 8th and 15th highest priority items. Lovefilm seemingly had a much larger number of each title because they would usually send out your top three.

Another difference between the two is that Blockbuster always kept your disc for a few days before sending the next while Lovefilm at that time was often sending out the same day they received. This was obviously an intentional practice from Blockbuster to limit the number of DVDs their unlimited package subscribers could get in a month.

Ultimately the key problem with Blockbuster for me was the amount of discs that went missing in the post in both directions. At one point I was having more than one disc go missing a month. I remember that they had no customer service of any sort and you had to report missing discs using an automated system (maximum one per month). When I finally gave up on Blockbuster to switch to Lovefilm it took me a couple of months to cancel my subscription because I still had a backlog of missing discs that I had to report before it would let me cancel.

I never had a single disc go missing with Lovefilm so Blockbuster’s system was either broken, their staff were pocketing discs, criminal types were intercepting their discs in the post (but not those of their competitor) or maybe I just had some extraordinary bad luck.

Even if Blockbuster had managed to control the disc by post market I don't think that would have kept them in business long term. The future seems surely is in streaming.

 

[richw]

Blockbuster is no surprise, rent a DVD for a few days for a fiver, or go to Tesco and buy the DVD for a fiver.

People who mention halfords, I understand they are doing really well. Their halfords repair centres especially. Halfords autocentres are manufacturer approved by a large number of manufacturers so don't ruin a manufacturer warranty and charge 50% or less of a main dealer service. theyve also got a massive contract with one of the warranty companies who insist all warranty repairs are done at halfords autocentres.

 

[Butts]

Blockbuster is no surprise, rent a DVD for a few days for a fiver, or go to Tesco and buy the DVD for a fiver.

People who mention halfords, I understand they are doing really well. Their halfords repair centres especially. Halfords autocentres are manufacturer approved by a large number of manufacturers so don't ruin a manufacturer warranty and charge 50% or less of a main dealer service. theyve also got a massive contract with one of the warranty companies who insist all warranty repairs are done at halfords autocentres.

Why hire DVD's at all - there is no substitute for seeing a Film at the Cinema.

Luckily I have a Cineworld Pass (£14.99) per month and live within walking distance of a Cineworld Venue.

I see at least three films per week so certainy get my moneys worth

 

[Mojo]

It isn't just shopping facilities either; cinemas and hospitals are increasingly being moved out of town centres, making them very hard to reach. Inevitably as the cinema moves, other facilities such as restaurants follow and set up shop nearby. This is also unfortunate for those that work in such locations (typically on low pay) who have to rely on dangerous walkways or infrequent bus routes to get home!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Has any comment about the situation affecting the high streets of towns and cities in Britain been made recently in Parliament by any of the main political parties ?

 

[Clip]

Anyone fancy a guess at the next big chain to go. My money would be on either Boots, WH Smith or Halfords. Or how about all three......

WHSmiths are actually in pretty good health - they made £82 million profit last year - thats not the sign of a business going bust. They also have their distribution service which serves most of the big supermarkets and just about everyone with papers and magazines too - though not sure if still part of the whole business

Boots have really changed they way they operate too and their shops always seem busy.

Halfords are a joke.

And whilst Blockbuster did pioneer the dvd by post - they hardly marketed it and missed the boat on streaming services too - they made a loss last year of about £11 million - third year running too.

Businesses that are running soley on debt are all going to go. They all need to strip back , make themselves leaner and price accordingly.

Mind some help on business rates and rents wouldnt go amiss for some in some small towns.,

 

[tbtc]

WHSmiths are actually in pretty good health - they made £82 million profit last year - thats not the sign of a business going bust. They also have their distribution service which serves most of the big supermarkets and just about everyone with papers and magazines too - though not sure if still part of the whole business

I can't see the WH Smith business model lasting much longer. They aren't really a "specialist" at anything, they aren't cheapest at anything, the newspaper and magazine market is shrinking each year, they are stuck selling lots of things that are better done online (CDs, books...).

They supply the big supermarkets, but that's maybe not a strength - knowing how the "big four" like to screw over their suppliers/ change the terms of contracts retrospectively...

I'd hope not to get any WH Smith gift vouchers at Christmas, put it that way.

 

[tripleseis]

People forget that WHSmith have the train station, airports and motorway rest area markets sewn up. They rake in all that extra money they charge for food and drinks. People gotta eat...

 

[tbtc]

People forget that WHSmith have the train station, airports and motorway rest area markets sewn up. They rake in all that extra money they charge for food and drinks. People gotta eat...

True, though M&S seem to be moving into this market now

 

[All Line Rover]

WHSmiths are actually in pretty good health - they made £82 million profit last year - thats not the sign of a business going bust. They also have their distribution service which serves most of the big supermarkets and just about everyone with papers and magazines too - though not sure if still part of the whole business

Boots have really changed they way they operate too and their shops always seem busy.

I agree with others that the WHSmith business model is not sustainable and they will have financial problems in the near future, with the exception of their railway station and airport branches. There is nothing at WHSmith I can't get elsewhere for a lower price and the shopping experience is nothing special (in complete contrast to Waterstones), which is why I never visit their high street stores.

Boots, on the other hand, I agree with. You can't predict when you are going to fall ill which makes online chemists rather useless for people like me! Their inner-city stores are consistently busy and people are willing to pay a premium for the convenience. My only concern is that they have too many branches - those in smaller towns and villages can be very quiet at times.

 

[Anon Mouse]

True, though M&S seem to be moving into this market now

But M&S don't sell Newspapers, Books, Stationary & Magazines which correct me if I'm wrong, WH Smith is the only retalier that sells traveller bits & bobs at Stations, Airports & Service Stations. That has to be a selling point suerly?

 

[wintonian]

On WHSmith I seem to remember hearing that there rail station/ airport division was doing quite well, though with the latter you don't have much choice beyond Hobson's choice and is accordingly grossly overpriced. I almost want the High Street division to go to the wall as I consider their prices to be immoral, many time I have seen the "was £49.99 now "£24.99" stickers for something you can buy on-line easily for £15/ 20 without it being on offer.

However I can't see this happening too easily, not with the amount of Post Offices that are now located within WHSmith stores.

Argos has for some time just sold over priced tat and you will most likely end up taking home something that another 10 people before you have returned as faulty, and I think are a good candidate to go under, particularly as they have done very little until recently to counter the on-line competition beyond starting their own frankly terribly designed website.

the Dixons Group if it wasn't for picking up some of Comets customer base could have been a candidate, again high prices and little change in business model, with staff that would sell you an Ipad as a telephone or car satnav, or a £50 HDMI cable so you don't need to buy a HDTV.

Beales - yes they are still around, could possibly disappear without anyone noticing, but still popular amongst the older crowd but naturally sales amongst this demographic must be decreasing and they don't seem to be trying to attract anyone outside of this traditional customer base.

I haven't looked at any of the annual reports or anything so these companies may be in better shape that I suggest.

But M&S don't sell Newspapers

My local M&S does, right next to the sandwiches.

correct me if I'm wrong, WH Smith is the only retalier that sells traveller bits & bobs at Stations, Airports & Service Stations. That has to be a selling point suerly?

Nope there is Boots as well.

 

[tbtc]

Boots, on the other hand, I agree with. You can't predict when you are going to fall ill which makes online chemists rather useless for people like me! Their inner-city stores are consistently busy and people are willing to pay a premium for the convenience. My only concern is that they have too many branches - those in smaller towns and villages can be very quiet at times.

The other thing with Boots is that they have made it a nice shopping experience for people (mainly women, but blokes do this more and more) willing to pay over the odds to "pamper" themselves.

A lot of cosmetics (etc) are about brand/ experience rather than the "active ingredients" (people still buy Lemsip/ Nurofen/ when the same drugs are in Superdrug's own brand medicine) - people "trust" the big names more (rightly or wrongly) - Boots could probably sell Placebos for a fiver a time and find a market for them!

Plus Boots did move into the "lunch" market (and whilst you are in there for your Meal Deal you might as well pick up some new moisturiser/ lippy/ deodorant... it gets people through the doors which is half of the battle.

 

[Anon Mouse]

I see the point about Smiths being overpriced, They were charging stupid amounts for printer ink and Norton. Bought both from PC World at half price, at least. I forgot about Post Offices in WH Smiths, the main one in Newcastle is upstairs in Smiths. It would be sad to see them go at the Stations but they need to bring the prices down!

Fair enough I was mistaken about M&S not selling Newspapers, but other than food they don't sell any other things that travellers usualy buy (Mags, Books, Stationary etc etc)

Boots don't sell papers, magazines and stationary either, so unless they start selling the bits and bobs WH Smith sell then they don't compete on the products ground

 

[michael769]

People forget that WHSmith have the train station, airports and motorway rest area markets sewn up. They rake in all that extra money they charge for food and drinks. People gotta eat...

I don't agree - their transport division is failing to respond to competition from Boots and M&S. While they do still mostly monopolize magazines and news - this is not a high margin business and you could not survive on that alone with their current store footprint.

Their high street retail is not doing well at all, most of their profits come from distribution, and a rapidly declining transport division (though airside is OK and is holding that side of the business up).

I could see them wanting to sell of their retail division to concentrate on distribution.

 

[tbtc]

But M&S don't sell Newspapers, Books, Stationary & Magazines which correct me if I'm wrong, WH Smith is the only retalier that sells traveller bits & bobs at Stations, Airports & Service Stations. That has to be a selling point suerly?

All of those are shrinking markets though.

People read fewer newspapers (I used to read two a day, I now read none) or can pick up a Metro at the station for free.

People have kindles so don't need to buy holiday books in the same volumes any more.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I could see them wanting to sell of their retail division to concentrate on distribution.

That's what John Menzies did - I think that this was quite a shrewd decision in hindsight

 

[wintonian]

Boots don't sell papers, magazines and stationary either, so unless they start selling the bits and bobs WH Smith sell then they don't compete on the products ground

Ah, they may not sell papers in the foodie ones at stations, I was thinking about the normal food-hall downstairs and clothing upstairs type ones. But then Smiths don't sell sandwiches and bottles or wine or bung in the oven meals when I get home from work type stuff.

 

[Anon Mouse]

All of those are shrinking markets though.

People read fewer newspapers (I used to read two a day, I now read none) or can pick up a Metro at the station for free.

People have kindles so don't need to buy holiday books in the same volumes any more.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


That's what John Menzies did - I think that this was quite a shrewd decision in hindsight

Shrinking markets yes, but those markets have not vanished yet. The Metro is fine for Commuters on the train for up to 1 hour, but longer journiesmany people will prefer a 'quality' paper or a 'red top'. Still a lot of people buy magazines and I think it will take a long time for that market to evaporate. Same goes for books, many people have Kindles & similar (including WH Smiths Kobo) but many people, especially older people will prefer to buy a book rather can being savvy with downloads and technogy. Also who else is going to sell stationary? Many people, especially those who do their work while travelling will also need to buy small stationary such as pens etc and then there is the cranks, where are we/they gonna buy their notebooks, SD cards and Combined Volumes from?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Ah, they may not sell papers in the foodie ones at stations, I was thinking about the normal food-hall downstairs and clothing upstairs type ones. But then Smiths don't sell sandwiches and bottles or wine or bung in the oven meals when I get home from work type stuff.

Exactly, different markets....If M&S however got into selling the stuff that WH Smiths does (same could be said for Boots etc) then it may be the death of Smiths...

 

[wintonian]

Exactly, different markets....If M&S however got into selling the stuff that WH Smiths does (same could be said for Boots etc) then it may be the death of Smiths...

Oh I see, maybe someone ought to suggest it to them?

 

[Anon Mouse]

Oh I see, maybe someone ought to suggest it to them?

I'm sure their accountants will be bearing all of this in mind!

 

[michael769]

Oh I see, maybe someone ought to suggest it to them?

I doubt M&S would want to shoot themselves in the foot by wasting expensive retail on such a low margin and declining sector, when they can do so well with their current travel offering.