First retail ‘name’ to pop off 2018
Discussion
Joey Deacon said:
Johnnybee said:
Eric Mc said:
Following stores going -
Altrincham, Aylesbury, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Camberley, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chichester, Cirencester, Cwmbran, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh Frasers, Epsom, Grimsby, High Wycombe, Hull, Leamington Spa, Lincoln, London Oxford Street, London King William Street, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, Skipton, Swindon, Telford, Wolverhampton, Worcester.
I'm not surprised the King William store in London is closing. It would probably take almost as much money if it only opened 12-2pm and an hour at the end of the day. Altrincham, Aylesbury, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Camberley, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chichester, Cirencester, Cwmbran, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh Frasers, Epsom, Grimsby, High Wycombe, Hull, Leamington Spa, Lincoln, London Oxford Street, London King William Street, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, Skipton, Swindon, Telford, Wolverhampton, Worcester.
I have a relative who works in the Guildford store so she will be pleased but I suspect it won't be long before they close all of them.
I don't like the King William Street store much either, but it has been handy on a few occasions. It definitely suffers from having City-based trade only, but any replacement store is going to have the same so the landlord there might have to kerb expectations a bit.
Challo said:
Fittster said:
Does anyone know why there is such reluctance to convert unused retail buildings into housing or some other form of building for which there is more demand?
I see lots of flats being built around town centers but can't think of any examples where unused shops have been flatten to create the space.
There is alot of office blocks near to me being converted into flats, but I wonder if its far more difficult to convert large retail units. I see lots of flats being built around town centers but can't think of any examples where unused shops have been flatten to create the space.
Our HoF is on the cull list but it's been widely accepted it was going to happen for some time. The building is a wreck. Converting it (should you get planning to do so) would essentially be a million pound demolition job with a steel frame probing up the old facade.
Even a million might not be enough to drop it.
Then there is the inflated value of commercial real estate, meaning whoever owns it would need to take a bath on it just to sell it at a price that would make any developer look at it.
We've already got one abandoned city centre hotel that is costing the council £X00000s as ownership has reverted to the crown estate and they simply don't want to take responsibility. So now it is falling down, who is it left to look after but the local council.
City centres may yet revert back to residential accommodation but it will take years and years of disrepair for it to happen.
Our city also has two epically sized M&Ss and a gigantic New Look. Things do not look good...
Brooking10 said:
HOF is a basket case and has been for years.
A classic case of fiddling while Rome burns, they had an opportunity to slim down the estate significantly, exit the provincial stores and focus on the anchor mall sites and major destination stores such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester but instead sat back and watched whilst competitors ate their lunch at that latter end specifically Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Instead they have acted with their heads in the sand with too many stores which are no longer relevant and which have both space and dlipapodations issues.
Personally I would be surprised if Glasgow goes but if it does it shows just how badly they have played this over the last few years.
Looks like Glasgow's survived this one - not really a huge surprise, they've been lucky that the general shift in retail in the City Centre has put Frasers in prime position at the bottom of Buchanan Street, opposite the new Hamleys in St. Enoch's centre with John Lewis at the far, far end of Buchanan Street. The one that's truly screwed in Glasgow is the M&S at the far end of Argyle Street - previously the centre of city centre shopping, it's now an island surrounded by empty units, vaping shops and beggars - I wouldn't be surprised if it closes before too long, despite being M&S's Scottish flagship for years. Frasers Glasgow is still a "destination" as well, with the Yo Sushi downstairs plus the 3 billion make-up counters, it's also surrounded by designer type shops in Princes Square and that bit of Buchanan Street.A classic case of fiddling while Rome burns, they had an opportunity to slim down the estate significantly, exit the provincial stores and focus on the anchor mall sites and major destination stores such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester but instead sat back and watched whilst competitors ate their lunch at that latter end specifically Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Instead they have acted with their heads in the sand with too many stores which are no longer relevant and which have both space and dlipapodations issues.
Personally I would be surprised if Glasgow goes but if it does it shows just how badly they have played this over the last few years.
In Edinburgh, I'm only surprised the Frasers wasn't sacrificed as soon as they bought Jenners - no sense at all in keeping both of them. Frasers was also at the far end of Princes Street while Jenners is directly opposite Waverley station. I notice Jenners at Lomond Shores in Balloch survives as well.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
City centres may yet revert back to residential accommodation but it will take years and years of disrepair for it to happen.
There was a story in our local paper that the small Air Ambulance charity shop is closing because the town is trying to extract £20k p.a. in business rates out of it.It's beyond credibility that LAs are still trying to milk business rates when the writing is so clearly on the wall. They need to lower they're expectations for that stream of funding, fast, or write it off forever. Most towns are on the brink of implosion due to shop closures and anti-car measures (crap traffic and expensive or insufficient parking).
essayer said:
Poundworld about to call in administrators, according to the PA
It's OK, they are talking to the former owner of Little Chef.https://news.sky.com/story/poundworld-on-brink-ami...
Oh hold on......
Joey Deacon said:
essayer said:
Poundworld about to call in administrators, according to the PA
It's OK, they are talking to the former owner of Little Chef.https://news.sky.com/story/poundworld-on-brink-ami...
Oh hold on......
In short that means they have very few options available to them but see the glimmer of a possibility of a deal of some sort with a certain party or parties if they can keep creditors from enforcing and this gives them protection against that eventuality. It’s very much squeaky bum time when this happens.
Digga said:
There was a story in our local paper that the small Air Ambulance charity shop is closing because the town is trying to extract £20k p.a. in business rates out of it.
It's beyond credibility that LAs are still trying to milk business rates when the writing is so clearly on the wall. They need to lower they're expectations for that stream of funding, fast, or write it off forever. Most towns are on the brink of implosion due to shop closures and anti-car measures (crap traffic and expensive or insufficient parking).
Rates are crippling us all. It's beyond credibility that LAs are still trying to milk business rates when the writing is so clearly on the wall. They need to lower they're expectations for that stream of funding, fast, or write it off forever. Most towns are on the brink of implosion due to shop closures and anti-car measures (crap traffic and expensive or insufficient parking).
Property prices are shooting up based on the fact the residential prices are shooting up, however, the reality is business owners would not even consider starting the business today with the silly rates.
If I bought my property for £300,000 20 years ago, it doesn't mean I could run the same business in the same property if I had to pay £2m for it today.
So many of the shops I supplied have gone because of this.
Like many of them say, only the big boys can afford the new rates and rents, but even they are seeing that it is not making financial sense.
Todays rates and rents simply do not make sense with the margins the high street works on. It really is that simple.
Digga said:
There was a story in our local paper that the small Air Ambulance charity shop is closing because the town is trying to extract £20k p.a. in business rates out of it.
It's beyond credibility that LAs are still trying to milk business rates when the writing is so clearly on the wall. They need to lower they're expectations for that stream of funding, fast, or write it off forever. Most towns are on the brink of implosion due to shop closures and anti-car measures (crap traffic and expensive or insufficient parking).
Charity shops get 80%-100% business rate relief, that's the main reason why there are so many of them and why they often outbid other retailers, thus increasing rental values in the locality and making it even worse for non-charity retailers. It's beyond credibility that LAs are still trying to milk business rates when the writing is so clearly on the wall. They need to lower they're expectations for that stream of funding, fast, or write it off forever. Most towns are on the brink of implosion due to shop closures and anti-car measures (crap traffic and expensive or insufficient parking).
I work in commercial property and I don't see a death of retail, just a change in the profile of retailers. At the smaller end of the market there's still a healthy number of smaller retailers that are opening or expanding, these have been supported by the increase in the small business rate relief threshold.
Retail rents in the majority of areas fell in 2009-2011 so even those leases with later expiry & review dates should either by now or soon be seeing rents fall in line with the market level (as set by the market by way of demand and supply, not set by landlords and automatically agreed by tenants). Likewise, the rates revaluation has also seen a number of rateable values fall. I don't think there should be blame for failure due to increases in rents and rates, but I can see that rent and rates will be a fair proportion of the costs for many of these larger retailers due to the sheer amount of floorspace they have - this has however always been the case. There is perhaps an argument about whether business rates themselves are still relevant in the face of online retailers, but that's another topic.
Of the high street stores that are having issues, there always seem to be two common themes:
1. A type of business that nobody would choose to set up these days.
2. The involvement of VCs.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
It's simply down to cost, the money most these units would eat up make it completely unviable.
Our HoF is on the cull list but it's been widely accepted it was going to happen for some time. The building is a wreck. Converting it (should you get planning to do so) would essentially be a million pound demolition job with a steel frame probing up the old facade.
Even a million might not be enough to drop it.
Then there is the inflated value of commercial real estate, meaning whoever owns it would need to take a bath on it just to sell it at a price that would make any developer look at it.
We've already got one abandoned city centre hotel that is costing the council £X00000s as ownership has reverted to the crown estate and they simply don't want to take responsibility. So now it is falling down, who is it left to look after but the local council.
City centres may yet revert back to residential accommodation but it will take years and years of disrepair for it to happen.
Our city also has two epically sized M&Ss and a gigantic New Look. Things do not look good...
Sounds like Carlisle.Our HoF is on the cull list but it's been widely accepted it was going to happen for some time. The building is a wreck. Converting it (should you get planning to do so) would essentially be a million pound demolition job with a steel frame probing up the old facade.
Even a million might not be enough to drop it.
Then there is the inflated value of commercial real estate, meaning whoever owns it would need to take a bath on it just to sell it at a price that would make any developer look at it.
We've already got one abandoned city centre hotel that is costing the council £X00000s as ownership has reverted to the crown estate and they simply don't want to take responsibility. So now it is falling down, who is it left to look after but the local council.
City centres may yet revert back to residential accommodation but it will take years and years of disrepair for it to happen.
Our city also has two epically sized M&Ss and a gigantic New Look. Things do not look good...
soxboy said:
Charity shops get 80%-100% business rate relief, that's the main reason why there are so many of them and why they often outbid other retailers, thus increasing rental values in the locality and making it even worse for non-charity retailers.
I work in commercial property and I don't see a death of retail, just a change in the profile of retailers. At the smaller end of the market there's still a healthy number of smaller retailers that are opening or expanding, these have been supported by the increase in the small business rate relief threshold.
Retail rents in the majority of areas fell in 2009-2011 so even those leases with later expiry & review dates should either by now or soon be seeing rents fall in line with the market level (as set by the market by way of demand and supply, not set by landlords and automatically agreed by tenants). Likewise, the rates revaluation has also seen a number of rateable values fall. I don't think there should be blame for failure due to increases in rents and rates, but I can see that rent and rates will be a fair proportion of the costs for many of these larger retailers due to the sheer amount of floorspace they have - this has however always been the case. There is perhaps an argument about whether business rates themselves are still relevant in the face of online retailers, but that's another topic.
Of the high street stores that are having issues, there always seem to be two common themes:
1. A type of business that nobody would choose to set up these days.
2. The involvement of VCs.
No PE money at HOFI work in commercial property and I don't see a death of retail, just a change in the profile of retailers. At the smaller end of the market there's still a healthy number of smaller retailers that are opening or expanding, these have been supported by the increase in the small business rate relief threshold.
Retail rents in the majority of areas fell in 2009-2011 so even those leases with later expiry & review dates should either by now or soon be seeing rents fall in line with the market level (as set by the market by way of demand and supply, not set by landlords and automatically agreed by tenants). Likewise, the rates revaluation has also seen a number of rateable values fall. I don't think there should be blame for failure due to increases in rents and rates, but I can see that rent and rates will be a fair proportion of the costs for many of these larger retailers due to the sheer amount of floorspace they have - this has however always been the case. There is perhaps an argument about whether business rates themselves are still relevant in the face of online retailers, but that's another topic.
Of the high street stores that are having issues, there always seem to be two common themes:
1. A type of business that nobody would choose to set up these days.
2. The involvement of VCs.
No PE money at M&S
No PE money at Tesco
No PE money at Jamie’s Italian
No PE money at Mothercare
No PE money at Conviviality
No PE money at Homebase.
All of whom have had to take drastic action this year.
Point being that this is a systemic issue for the industry. irrespective of ownership model.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 7th June 17:35
soxboy said:
Of the high street stores that are having issues, there always seem to be two common themes:
1. A type of business that nobody would choose to set up these days.
2. The involvement of VCs.
The problem is, there can't be that many types of business that would set up on the high street these days in the face of current rent/rates levels.1. A type of business that nobody would choose to set up these days.
2. The involvement of VCs.
In terms of department stores, it seems to be just John Lewis that are expanding their estate and how long will that last if costs keep going up?
Primark/TK Maxx area of the market seems stronger at the moment.
There don't seem to be too many chains with smaller stores that are expanding, although charity shops and vape places seem to be going well.
Robertj21a said:
threespires said:
It'll all improve when we get rid of this Tory shower and vote for JC who will lead us to Utopia.
Is that when he gets 100 virgins - or am I getting confused ? Of course there's always Diane Abbott...........ah, perhaps not.
threespires said:
It'll all improve when we get rid of this Tory shower and vote for JC who will lead us to Utopia.
You're right, upping the basic salary of those 16 year old part timers who earn the equivalent £9300 a year to £21,600 will mean everyone will have more money to spend on the high street. Then when you factor in he wants to increase corporation tax by 50% too, the UK will be buzzing once more.
Him and McDonnell are economical geniuses.
gizlaroc said:
You're right, upping the basic salary of those 16 year old part timers who earn the equivalent £9300 a year to £21,600 will mean everyone will have more money to spend on the high street.
Then when you factor in he wants to increase corporation tax by 50% too, the UK will be buzzing once more.
Him and McDonnell are economical geniuses.
You've forgotten Diane........Then when you factor in he wants to increase corporation tax by 50% too, the UK will be buzzing once more.
Him and McDonnell are economical geniuses.
gizlaroc said:
You're right, upping the basic salary of those 16 year old part timers who earn the equivalent £9300 a year to £21,600 will mean everyone will have more money to spend on the high street.
Then when you factor in he wants to increase corporation tax by 50% too, the UK will be buzzing once more.
Him and McDonnell are economical geniuses.
Well they are certainly economical with the genius.....Then when you factor in he wants to increase corporation tax by 50% too, the UK will be buzzing once more.
Him and McDonnell are economical geniuses.
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