Originally Posted by
Inkblot:
“Good article by Mary Portas about how she would have changed BHS: http://www.theguardian.com/business/...have-saved-bhs
She makes the point that Woolworths has been replaced in the marketplace by the pound shops - the former Woolworth shops may have turned into other stores but the job of Woolworths is now done by the pound shops. Likewise BHS will be replaced by shops that do what BHS used to do in a way that works in the current market, but if they'd had the vision to do it themselves they could have survived.”
The thing with Mary Portas is seeing it from the outside like we are. She did previously say similar with Woolworths but that was in hindsight what she would have done. If she wanted to she could have helped. Companies in general close down and new ones open, if you look at your high street 10,20,30 etc. years you would see many shops long forgotten which have been taken over, renamed and some just closed.
It is rare that a company lasts for more than a few decades and those companies aren't as they originally were and those that did close had a good innings, BHS is now 88 years old. Allders was 151 years old when the last store closed in 2013 and Woolworths was just over 99 years. Allders was sold by the Allders family in 1908 when the company was 46 years but the company acquired many other stores and was acquired it's self.
Originally Posted by Maxatoria:
“Woolworths lost its purpose, i remember the final boss saying that they had a load of different pencil cases but no ladies tights for sale which his mum always went into woolies for. At the end it was basically known for piling up chocolate and pick & mix to the ceiling and kids clothing and both are low profit items as fashions in kids clothing change and food has an expiry date.
The motto should be that you have to evolve along with your customers wants and expectations as I doubt Grace bro's would still be in business today using its old methods even if Mr Humpreys will measure your inside leg.”
I disagree it lost it's purpose, Woolworths owned brands such as Ladybird, Chad Valley and 2Entertain as well as their entertainment distribution company EUK. In the late 1980s / early 1990s when Woolworths restructured they stopped selling adult clothing because it wasn't making as much money as the departments they kept. Woolworths also used to own B&Q, Comet and Superdrug so Woolworths stores stopped selling many of those departments to focus on smaller stores and better selling products.
By having sweets it made them an easy choice for people to buy Easter eggs and Christmas sweets and also put them in a good position for better deals with confectionary companies and children's clothes are easier to sell than adult clothing, all they need to do is get licencing to print a cartoon character on the clothing and it will sell. Ladybird was one of the top 3 children's clothing companies in the UK.
Grace brothers would've been acquired by Allders, Debenhams or House of Fraser as many department stores did although in the TV programme the department store closed when Mr. Grace died. Moss Bros. measure for suits still and there are many independents that still do.
Originally Posted by blueisthecolour:
“Some retailers are destined to go out of business due to changes in fashion and tastes. There's nothing you could do to stop it.
The increase in car ownership in the 70s and 80s lead to a growth in out of town supermarkets - which quickly worked out that if they had regular customers then why not try to sell them as much stuff as possible - which lead to many other stores that supplied specific items no longer being able to compete. Overall this was good for the consumer as margins and prices fell considerably. People no longer have to pay WH Smith prices for stationary or HMV prices for CDs.”
There are different things that can lead to companies going out of business so none are safe. The end of gas manufacturing and minimum wage made it too expensive for some companies to manufacture in the UK leaving large spaces vacant and allowed many out of town retail parks to open. As I mentioned before the reason many shops in high streets are vacant is due to the stores being too small for modern companies and due to being out of town the price per square foot is much lower in retail parks.
Supermarkets don't have as large range of products as a supermarket would. HMV and WHSmith would pay more rent on a high street than an out of town supermarket so their prices will be higher.
Originally Posted by Inkblot:
“The sad thing is that Mr Humphries was a professional with many years' experience of measuring inside legs, but the public has decided that it would rather be served by teenagers on minimum wage if that means cheaper trousers.”
It's probably more the case that no one really wanted to be measured for clothes and if you can get a cheaper pair of ready made trousers you can take home the same day.
Originally Posted by Ovalteenie:
“Nowadays people seem to just buy clothes and shoes off the rack to try on and see, and the staff simply go in the back to get the size you want.”
It costs less to have all the shoes out and you can take them to the till and pay than to have one of each shoe and having to have staff get the shoes. A problem is if they don't have enough staff to get the shoes they will lose business because some people don't like waiting for a free staff member.
Originally Posted by hazydayz:
“The irony is it's people buying their clothes online at fault.
Soon all we will have in shops is just a newspaper stand with some bread and milk and an ATM. All of our meat and veg and clothes will be bought online and delivered daily by Argos and Asda vans. Our cities will just be full of tenement buildings and roads with very little grass or anything green.”
As I mentioned before the internet is like the story of the Emperor's new clothes, people say it's amazing but really it's nothing and isn't as good as some people say.
Vending machines won't be able to replace shops. There would be a possibility they could automate Argos stores but these wouldn't be a small machine but a large store. Some dry cleaners have automated collections. There are interesting vending machines selling fresh popcorn, helium balloons and umbrellas but you probably wouldn't get clothes vending machines but it would be interesting if there were machines that knitted you a jumper on a cold day. Photo booths didn't put photographers or camera companies go out of business.
Originally Posted by CappySpectrum:
“Not just that, it is everything. They all want dirt cheap.
Is it, all I see is betting shops, loan and pawn shops. I've also seen a few banks and ATM's close in my area.
I also see many shops in my high street always sitting waiting for customers.”
Not everyone wants things cheap, if that were true there would be no designer brands. Most people choose brands over price, companies like Aldi and New Day show this in their adverts. Most people go for brands than price, even M&S now sale known brands because more people want known brands and if people shopped for price supermarkets would only sell their own low range products.
I felt slightly numb with shock when I read the news about their demise.
