Didn't Focus go bust in the past? I can quite understand if Bella Pasta goes under. Hardly atmospheric as a restaurant. Instead of playing some nice soothing Italian music they were blasting out hip hop or rap or something at a deafening volume and when we asked the staff politely if they would turn it down , they refused. Needless to say we ate our food quickly and didn't leave a tip.

There have been romours about Focus for years but didnt know about the rest and Bella PAsta always seems packed when ever I go in 1

Not surprised about Focus, the one near us is always empty and has no choice.

Focus is that not owned by one of the big DIY companies anyway? I'm sure I read most of there stores got a revamp in the summer.

This thread is a bit dated now unless there's a double dip recession. Most prime sites on the high street have now recovered.

Still so many Woolworths stores empty especially large ones

Some news about Focus DIY from 2009:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...nkruptcy-talks

Source: guardian.co.uk

Most prime sites are taken.

There's alot of ones still empty however Alworths will probably take over the market towns or somebody like B&M/Home Bargains will fill the void.

JJB are in trouble now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12428003

Sky News reporting 45 stores will shut right away.

That plus HMV shutting all down stores. Looks like a double dip recession is on the way.

The country never really got out of recession. The QE was just an effort to put off the inevitable. Why else do you think they fired up the printing presses before?

Gap are closing their huge Inverness store soon I think.
I thought Adams went into administration years ago. I've been hearing rumours for 2 years.

Here's an institution that I think will be all but gone as we know it in less than 2 years: The Yellow Pages

Surely WH Smith will follow suit sometime soon.

Adams went into administration a few times. I'm sure they bought some back last time and now operate a smaller number of stores.

It will change as a business, probably focussing on travel outlets and an online presence.

British Bookshops and Stationers

Bad news for peoples jobs when any of these stores go bust.

If WHS disappears, where will people go to browse/buy specialist magazines? The supermarkets only stock the most popular ones, mostly womens & gossip & tv mags.

All stores?! Gosh. After the demise of Zavvi I thought the HMV Group would be pretty safe considering the near-monopoly they have on high street music and book stores.

Adams did, look at the age of this thread.

No just about 60 stores I think.

WH Smiths will be fine, as their profit margins are huge.

JJB was always a terrible company, with debts to the hilt. They were lucky to avoid bankrupcy a few years ago, so I'm not surprised they are having to close some stores.

The High Street is changing. I'm not sure what will replace these shops in the longer term.

Well as I linked above WH Smiths have just bought a load of British Bookshops and Stationers shops when BBS went bust. So I'd certainly assume that WH Smiths are doing fine if they are acquiring more premises.

The high street really needs to concentrate on hands on services (hairdressetrs, nail bars, tanning salons, dentists), impulse buys (jewellry, chocolates, computer games) or goods that you need to try before you buy or want a good look at first (fresh food, clothes, shoes, toys and so on).

The problem is that a lot of these are luxury goods, and it's not a great time for sellers of luxury goods.

There really isn't much chance of anyone competing with on line for such things as DVDs, books, CDs, TVs and the like.

The other thing high streets could become is a portal to services, so for example shops could become sales rooms for the likes of mobile phone suppliers, digital TV suppliers, etc. Even Travel Agents could be less about selling a package deal and more about mixing and matching on line only with an adviser to hand. Many shops already are just sales fronts of course.

This could also leave room for high street portals to public services such as Social Services and the NHS.

Woolworths shut down in 2009 time flies

i don't go into our town center very often, I went yesterday to Argos to get some curtain tracks and a webcam, but most of my shopping is online now, apart from food.

there is a card called, I don't know I can't remember, it is like a local loyalty card, which helps local shops, not chain stores, but small independent ones. i think they got a coiuple of thousand people to sign up, which to be honest is not good considering how many people live here.


The city centre is dead, i went yesterday as I said to Argos and for a Thursday there was very few people.


Not bothered anymore, the whole place can burn down, then maybe we can start again, we had one major fire the end of last year, took three shops out, had another small fire in a shop in another street a couple of weeks later and last week we had another fire just across the rod from the major one. so it seems like someone is trying to burn the place down

Judging by the amount of shops that closing down I believe that the following will go soon:

Burger King
HMV
WH Smiths