2020 Retailers in trouble thread
Discussion
After the success of the 2019 thread, it is time to inflate it's revenue figures and sell it to a PE house, lumbering it with ridiculous management charges that will see it fold within not time at all...
Time to kick off the 2020 thread and here is a great link to a BBC article on 10 retailers that have gone forever...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834387
Time to kick off the 2020 thread and here is a great link to a BBC article on 10 retailers that have gone forever...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834387
I think the internet grim reaper has already picked most of the low hanging fruit, and the next big round of closures won't come until the next recession (which is surely in the post).
Most of Derbys shopping real estate is either clothes retailers, which people like to browse IRL or stores like HMV and Currys who have seen all their competitors go under and are the last major bricks and mortar retailers in their sectors.
WH Smith's seem to defy gravity all these years, despite being (IMHO) neither cheap nor particularly good at what they do. Almost anything you can buy at Smith's can be brought either cheaper or with more choice elsewhere.
Most of Derbys shopping real estate is either clothes retailers, which people like to browse IRL or stores like HMV and Currys who have seen all their competitors go under and are the last major bricks and mortar retailers in their sectors.
WH Smith's seem to defy gravity all these years, despite being (IMHO) neither cheap nor particularly good at what they do. Almost anything you can buy at Smith's can be brought either cheaper or with more choice elsewhere.
Comstock said:
I think the internet grim reaper has already picked most of the low hanging fruit, and the next big round of closures won't come until the next recession (which is surely in the post).
Most of Derbys shopping real estate is either clothes retailers, which people like to browse IRL or stores like HMV and Currys who have seen all their competitors go under and are the last major bricks and mortar retailers in their sectors.
WH Smith's seem to defy gravity all these years, despite being (IMHO) neither cheap nor particularly good at what they do. Almost anything you can buy at Smith's can be brought either cheaper or with more choice elsewhere.
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etcMost of Derbys shopping real estate is either clothes retailers, which people like to browse IRL or stores like HMV and Currys who have seen all their competitors go under and are the last major bricks and mortar retailers in their sectors.
WH Smith's seem to defy gravity all these years, despite being (IMHO) neither cheap nor particularly good at what they do. Almost anything you can buy at Smith's can be brought either cheaper or with more choice elsewhere.
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. Thankyou4calling said:
You’re not going to buy a bar of chocolate, newspaper or biro on line though.
Sure, but you can buy them at any number of other retailers from corner shops to supermarkets.And newspaper sales are still falling (magazines might be doing better though, not sure)
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 3rd January 19:17
jtremlett said:
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. jtremlett said:
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. (the state of the stores is documented at https://twitter.com/WHS_Carpet )
jtremlett said:
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. Robertj21a said:
kev1974 said:
Got to be time for Five Guys' magic money tree to run out surely? They had something when they were just a handful of branches but now they've opened all over the place and there's hardly anybody in them!
Possibly because there's nothing worth going in for ?jakesmith said:
jtremlett said:
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. Downward said:
jakesmith said:
jtremlett said:
jakesmith said:
On WH Smiths, they are solid, constantly perform, staffed by people who care about the company as the company is quite respectful towards the staff (For example the head office in Swindon has 50, yes 50 mental health first aiders... yes it sounds a bit snowflake but I bet if you look at the stats its a sound business move), they are headed up by a senior commercial bloke from Dixons (Carl Cowling), Travel makes them a mint, they have a lucrative venture / relationship with Post Office too. I don't think their range of magazines can be matched anywhere else, and they have fantastic promotions on stationary and books round the year. I am not a fan boy and never go in there but it is a mistake to lump them in with Clinton Cards and Oddbins etc
There must be two lots of WH Smith because the ones I go in are in a terrible state with rubbish all over the thread-bare carpet and only half the lights on hoping you won't see the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. Then when you go to buy a magazine they'll try to persuade you to buy some over-priced chocolate and dump of vouchers on you for things you don't want. The problem they have is that the stores are probably too big for the modern business mix. Things like stationary and pens are probably awful on a revenue per sq ft basis.
Comstock said:
Most of Derbys shopping real estate is either clothes retailers, which people like to browse IRL or stores like HMV and Currys who have seen all their competitors go under and are the last major bricks and mortar retailers in their sectors.
Curry’s won’t go bust....it they get in trouble like they did in the last recession they will be kept afloat buy their suppliers like they were in the mid to late 2000’s. There was a stage when the group’s profits then were smaller then the volume bonuses that their suppliers pay them....e’g’ Samsung will give them a bonus for selling 100,000 TV’s or Dyson will for selling 100,000 vacuum cleaners. So without the suppliers bonuses back then they were losing money. They’re almost a distributor rather than a retailer now...everything is sub let. Suppliers pay for the best places in the shops and also pay for website space etc. They are totally hostage to the success of their suppliers when you think about it...new iPad is a massive success its great for them....new iPad flops it’s bad for them etc.
What is bad for them is the phone business. Carphone Warehouse’s business model is pretty much dead....most people are SIM only now which isn’t something that makes them money. That merger was great for Carphone Warehouse....less great for what was Dixons.
jakesmith said:
Robertj21a said:
kev1974 said:
Got to be time for Five Guys' magic money tree to run out surely? They had something when they were just a handful of branches but now they've opened all over the place and there's hardly anybody in them!
Possibly because there's nothing worth going in for ?Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff