Bye Bye BHS and Austin Reed?
Discussion
So Austin Reed are now going.
Still waiting for announcement regarding BHS. However yesterday I happened to wander into my local branch of BHS to look at some photo frames. I looked at quite a few on the shelves and every single one had some sort of damage on them. If this is normal for things they have in stock am not surprised they are in trouble.
Still waiting for announcement regarding BHS. However yesterday I happened to wander into my local branch of BHS to look at some photo frames. I looked at quite a few on the shelves and every single one had some sort of damage on them. If this is normal for things they have in stock am not surprised they are in trouble.
Welshbeef said:
So will the public accept helping out with Austin Reed pension fund or is it just TATA steel?
I was in Austin Reed at Christmas and the lady in there said it would happen.The way she explained was they had nice expensive stores in city centres that basically get used as collection and returns points because everyone orders off the internet.
I wouldn't claim to understand the TATA situation particularly well to know quite where the line should be drawn, but there's a difference between whole areas and industries being decimated vs. another clothing retailer going bust.
b
hstewie said:
hstewie said: I was in Austin Reed at Christmas and the lady in there said it would happen.
The way she explained was they had nice expensive stores in city centres that basically get used as collection and returns points because everyone orders off the internet.
I wouldn't claim to understand the TATA situation particularly well to know quite where the line should be drawn, but there's a difference between whole areas and industries being decimated vs. another clothing retailer going bust.
We've lostThe way she explained was they had nice expensive stores in city centres that basically get used as collection and returns points because everyone orders off the internet.
I wouldn't claim to understand the TATA situation particularly well to know quite where the line should be drawn, but there's a difference between whole areas and industries being decimated vs. another clothing retailer going bust.
1. C&A
2. BHS
3.Austin Reed
4. Dorothy Perkins
5. Burtons
6. Le Sanza
The list goes on and on.
It's hard working low paid individuals who work in these establishments not highly paid Steel workers.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: The way she explained was they had nice expensive stores in city centres that basically get used as collection and returns points because everyone orders off the internet.
Which is precisely why the brand and a few concessions have been sold on, but not the stores. The strongest brands will maintain a high street presence for collections and returns simply to offer the best customer service possible. TankRizzo said:
Welshbeef said:
We've lost
1. C&A
2. BHS
3.Austin Reed
4. Dorothy Perkins
5. Burtons
6. Le Sanza
The list goes on and on.
It's hard working low paid individuals who work in these establishments not highly paid Steel workers.
?? Dorothy Perkins and Burton are still going aren't they?1. C&A
2. BHS
3.Austin Reed
4. Dorothy Perkins
5. Burtons
6. Le Sanza
The list goes on and on.
It's hard working low paid individuals who work in these establishments not highly paid Steel workers.
Welshbeef said:
We've lost
1. C&A
2. BHS
3.Austin Reed
4. Dorothy Perkins
5. Burtons
6. Le Sanza
The list goes on and on.
It's hard working low paid individuals who work in these establishments not highly paid Steel workers.
C&A closed 15 years ago, and were arguably already losing ground to BHS at that point, who have subsequently lost ground to Next, H&M, Debenhams etc. There's a lot of choice on the high street now between those stores and the likes of Zara, House of Fraser, Primark, Peacocks etc. That's before you even consider the patrons of ASOS and Vertbaudet who shop online.1. C&A
2. BHS
3.Austin Reed
4. Dorothy Perkins
5. Burtons
6. Le Sanza
The list goes on and on.
It's hard working low paid individuals who work in these establishments not highly paid Steel workers.
Some have said people no longer go to the shops.
I disagree entirely.
Shopping, IE going to the shops is virtually a national pastime!
I tried to do it on the recent bank holiday and turned back as the queue to get in the local retail park was over half a mile long, so be under no illusions that people are visiting shops.
What's changed massively is the way people shop. High streets aren't what they were due to high rents, parking charges and the general faff that goes with visiting. This has led, in many cases to the town centre retail offering declining.
In it's place have sprung up retail parks, on the outskirts of town, free parking, massive stores and leisure activities that make them for many a day out. As well as this you have the malls (shopping centres) that are palaces of retail excess visited by people in their droves.
So whilst some shop groups have gone I think that is because they've not changed, BHS has been woeful for years, it isn't a sudden thing. Likewise Austin Reed, their image was high priced clothes for more mature people, Charles Tyrwhitt as an example was killing them along with others.
The writing was on the wall long ago.
Of course the internet has changed things too but people love to get out and shop.
The above are generalisations because I know many will say they can't stand going to the shops and do it all online but most don't.
I disagree entirely.
Shopping, IE going to the shops is virtually a national pastime!
I tried to do it on the recent bank holiday and turned back as the queue to get in the local retail park was over half a mile long, so be under no illusions that people are visiting shops.
What's changed massively is the way people shop. High streets aren't what they were due to high rents, parking charges and the general faff that goes with visiting. This has led, in many cases to the town centre retail offering declining.
In it's place have sprung up retail parks, on the outskirts of town, free parking, massive stores and leisure activities that make them for many a day out. As well as this you have the malls (shopping centres) that are palaces of retail excess visited by people in their droves.
So whilst some shop groups have gone I think that is because they've not changed, BHS has been woeful for years, it isn't a sudden thing. Likewise Austin Reed, their image was high priced clothes for more mature people, Charles Tyrwhitt as an example was killing them along with others.
The writing was on the wall long ago.
Of course the internet has changed things too but people love to get out and shop.
The above are generalisations because I know many will say they can't stand going to the shops and do it all online but most don't.
Puggit said:
Looks like BHS rescue failed
Which wouldn't be surprising if they had no interest, but apparently there were at least 3 interested groups wanting to buy it. Looks like the administrators in these situations are happy to still play hardball, however these are 11,000 peoples jobs they are playing with. Will the whole sorry state including the fat cat owner be investigated?EagleMoto4-2 said:
Which wouldn't be surprising if they had no interest, but apparently there were at least 3 interested groups wanting to buy it. Looks like the administrators in these situations are happy to still play hardball, however these are 11,000 peoples jobs they are playing with. Will the whole sorry state including the fat cat owner be investigated?
The administrator's job is to get the best deal for the creditors not the employees sadly.So if the offer for the business is below what you would get for winding it up and selling the assets then you have to wind it up - there is no choice in the matter, unfortunately.
Retail Acquisitions CEO is in front of MPs next week and Philip Green the week after so yes, I suspect there will be months/years of investigating.
Jockman said:
walm said:
Retail Acquisitions CEO is in front of MPs next week and Philip Green the week after so yes, I suspect there will be months/years of investigating.
I'm assuming he will face Frank Field? Should be interesting.MPs usually have a very shallow understanding of the actual issues and just take the opportunity to grandstand without resolving anything, but generating the odd tasty soundbite for the next 24hr news-cycle.
The pension fund issue here and how much money was extracted from which business when is incredibly complex.
It's not the kind of thing that can be settled by non-professionals ranting and raving.
walm said:
Jockman said:
walm said:
Retail Acquisitions CEO is in front of MPs next week and Philip Green the week after so yes, I suspect there will be months/years of investigating.
I'm assuming he will face Frank Field? Should be interesting.MPs usually have a very shallow understanding of the actual issues and just take the opportunity to grandstand without resolving anything, but generating the odd tasty soundbite for the next 24hr news-cycle.
The pension fund issue here and how much money was extracted from which business when is incredibly complex.
It's not the kind of thing that can be settled by non-professionals ranting and raving.
It's a sorry situation for those involved. I visited BHS over the past few months. They had some good home products, curtains and that type of thing. We bought a few things from them including light fittings and curtains. The lighting department seemed quite imaginative. The fabrics department had some good value/quality bits here and there. However I didn't get the feeling they had the edge anywhere and in the case of many of the furniture items they were displaying I felt that there were many other outlets offering better quality and better designs OR the same type of thing at a lesser price. Even forgetting the internet there is a sea of retailers who sell the same things. Run of the mill curtains can be had at Dunelm, B&Q, supermarkets, discount chains, Next, M&S...........that's before even thinking of specialists and interior designers. That pretty much applies to most that they sell. People who say the market is in a race to the bottom though, that's certainly true of the mainstream. There seems to be a gulf growing between retailers, where many are turning to flogging cheap tat that is just worthless or they're selling very expensive made-to-order items. Who occupied the middle ground where it's possible to buy something of a nice quality, be given good service and pay a realistic price?
EagleMoto4-2 said:
Puggit said:
Looks like BHS rescue failed
Which wouldn't be surprising if they had no interest, but apparently there were at least 3 interested groups wanting to buy it. Looks like the administrators in these situations are happy to still play hardball, however these are 11,000 peoples jobs they are playing with. Will the whole sorry state including the fat cat owner be investigated?James P said:
Bidders are just as capable of playing hardball - if you were a creditor would you want the administrator to give in and sell below its worth purely to save jobs?
But what about those creditors to some they themselves could go out of business due to the debt write off / let alone the ongoing loss of trade. What will the 11,000 people now do? It's not a dissimilar number to the Br Steel loss of jobs. Who will replace BHS? More gaps on the high street more coffee shops?
Welshbeef said:
Who will replace BHS? More gaps on the high street more coffee shops?
Judging by their plans and the existing replacement we have seen for the old Woolworths stores it will be a combo of:- Fast fashion (Zara, H&M, Primark).
- Pound stores.
- Yes, we can all drink more coffee too!
- Any other growing high street retailer (e.g. Superdry who just put up some incredibly strong growth numbers +30%!!)
- And finally some not-dead-yet stores like M&S and Next.
Oh and probably some resi conversions too.
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