High Street Brands Going Bust-Who's Next?

[Nickyboy]

Smiler. said:

What??

No more laminated book of dreams!

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/end-road-argos-catalogue-105611368.html

[LaurasOtherHalf]

One of my customers works for internaçional (speeling?) & was saying that the bailiffs turned up on Monday.

Unpaid rent apparently (on two stores in our country), though they didn't end up taking stock so I'm guessing they were held off?

[Grenoble]

Judging by my inbox, TM lewin don't have long with the deals they are offering.

Lots of expensive retail space, overexpanded, now pushing at commodity (ish) prices?

[Manks]

Grenoble said:

Judging by my inbox, TM lewin don't have long with the deals they are offering.

Lots of expensive retail space, overexpanded, now pushing at commodity (ish) prices?

How's the quality now? When I was buying TM Lewin shirts in the 90s they were OK. I remember returning three and they re-collared them because the collar shape didn't suit me, would that still be a service on offer or have they just become a purveyor of cheap shirts?

[Grenoble]

Variable. I've had good and bad,no real pattern to it. Returned a few with no problems - bad collar wear (at the tips)

[Manks]

swerni said:

Grenoble said:

Variable. I've had good and bad,no real pattern to it. Returned a few with no problems - bad collar wear (at the tips)

I used to buy Pink shirts but found they were far worse for collar wear than Lewin and three times the price.

I used to find Pink to be made for someone a lot fatter than me.

[Grenoble]

swerni said:

I used to buy Pink shirts but found they were far worse for collar wear than Lewin and three times the price.

Funny you should say that... That and they were a pig to iron.

[completetangent]

I agree about Staples (mentioned above). Such poor choice instore, and completely outgunned by Viking Direct in the mail order channel.

[Deva Link]

Bit of a local thing, but a fairly iconic store in Liverpool, Rapid Hardware, went into administration today. At one time they occupied every shop along one side of a street, and then a few years ago moved in the old George Henry Lee department store when GHL relocated to the Liverpool One mall.

http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/4286...

[IroningMan]

Manks said:

Grenoble said:

Judging by my inbox, TM lewin don't have long with the deals they are offering.

Lots of expensive retail space, overexpanded, now pushing at commodity (ish) prices?

How's the quality now? When I was buying TM Lewin shirts in the 90s they were OK. I remember returning three and they re-collared them because the collar shape didn't suit me, would that still be a service on offer or have they just become a purveyor of cheap shirts?

Sadly I don't know: I have thirty Lewin's shirts, all more than five years old - the stock in stores is so poor that I've not been able to find one I like for that long.

[Kermit power]

Manks said:

I used to find Pink to be made for someone a lot fatter than me.

Ah. I suspect you may have mine then, and I may have yours.

[oyster]

Huff said:

I confess it was a canard to provoke reaction, rather than a proper dig at HB (or its employees)

It's always struck me that when a chain goes there's inevitable outcry but after a week or so, it's like they never existed. Example, Woolworths; huge upset to the many employees, but the impending failure was obvious in retrospect and I've never heard anyone express missing the chain's offer since. In a sense the the 'High Street Brand' and a couple decades of homogenisation is the problem - gutting the value /diversity of the High street to many such that mail-order (sorry, 'internet sales') became preferable.

Except Homebase is the only real competitor to B&Q. Loser Homebase and the consumer massively loses out.

[FiF]

Republic

http://www.republic.co.uk/

[Mermaid]

FiF said:

Republic

http://www.republic.co.uk/

Well spotted. 2500 jobs at risk.

[baz1985]

Mermaid said:

Well spotted. 2500 jobs at risk.

Not that hard to spot...it's been on News24 since yesterday!

[FiF]

baz1985 said:

Not that hard to spot...it's been on News24 since yesterday!

got it from Sky News ticker tape

[Mermaid]

baz1985 said:

Mermaid said:

Well spotted. 2500 jobs at risk.

Not that hard to spot...it's been on News24 since yesterday!

Must remind myself to watch the news more frequently.

[Mermaid]

Axminster -Not a retailer but a loss to the UK economy

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2013-02...

[Zyp]

Willy Nilly said:

Millets

Always discounting, though the discounts aren't that good. Their own brand stuff is rubbish. Just about everything they sell is available in Decathlon

Now is the season of their discount tents.
Everything, always, discounted.


I also regularly go past a Bang & Olufson store and very rarely see anyone in it - are these franchised?

[Manks]

Zyp said:

Now is the season of their discount tents.

You are nearly Shakespeare Zyp. But not quite.