The Joy of CEX (and other brick 'n' mortar establishments)
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Bob wrote:Parking in town here is ridiculously expensive. it's £2.20 for an hour. No change given. Bastards.
Similar in my local town centre. Maybe slightly less. So I avoid going by car to do any shopping if I can. That kind of thing doesn’t help the shops I’m sure.I am a FREE. I am not MAN. A NUMBER. -
I remember first time we went to Cardiff. I thought it was expensive at £2.20 an hour. It wasn't until we got back I realised it was £2.20 per twenty minutes. NCP bastards. Park and ride ever since. -
My council offer 2 hours free parking on weekends which I think is perfect.
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My other issue with shops is that they all shut when I want them. If I need electrical bits and bats, I can either wait until Amazon deliver the next day, or head for B&Q or Big Asda. Maplin isn't an option.
And rarely do I purchase Cat 5e Cabling on a whim. -
Liveinadive wrote:My council offer 2 hours free parking on weekends which I think is perfect.
We get that on Sunday. Used to be free all day many moons ago. Then it was fully paid for a bit which people probably complained about. Then they changed it to free for first 3 hours and it’s still that way. At one point, they introduced having to enter car number plate when getting the ticket so you couldn’t pass it onto someone else if you leave early. That’s thankfully gone too.I am a FREE. I am not MAN. A NUMBER. -
When I worked retail I used to argue we should open and close an hour or two later.
Very few people are shopping at 9am that couldn't be doing it at 10 or 11. -
hylian_elf wrote:
Similar in my local town centre. Maybe slightly less. So I avoid going by car to do any shopping if I can. That kind of thing doesn’t help the shops I’m sure.Bob wrote:Parking in town here is ridiculously expensive. it's £2.20 for an hour. No change given. Bastards.
Yeah I used to walk but it limits how much shopping you can carry as does a two year old.The Forum Herald™ -
Workid wrote:Mobile phone shops mystify me. Swindon high street has about ten. And there's a Virgin shop AND one of them wee stall things. Who buys Broadband in a shop? I had an issue with my Bb once and went in to see if they could help, literally they sat me on the sofa, dialled, and passed the phone over so I could speak to the call centre.
My sister used to work for Virgin, they are set up solely as places to sell. If you have any issues, the shops can't do anything. It's a really shit setup for customers.
Quite a lot of people will buy Broadband in the shop as well. People go in to see if they live in a cable area, and sign up there. They also go in to see the difference between their BT line and cable, although hilariously, not all stores are cabled as they're city centre.
As for phones though, people like to have a place they can go back to if things go wrong. One of the things I hear most often with Talk Talk is "Can I not just take it to a shop?" A place like CPW is vital for many, particularly older people, but anyone who isn't confident with technology. This doesn't really apply to anyone on here though. -
My grandparents know the local phone shop staff quite well cos they're always in asking questions
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There's a shop in town that mostly sells t-shirts, energy drinks and Pop Vinyl tat, but also does a sideline in computer games. Almost exclusively well over online shops' pricing though.
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o/poprock wrote:
Yeah, we had a brilliant place right in the city centre called Crockets. Small hardware, kitchen gear, and (bizarrely) shooting and hunting stuff. Founded in the 1870s. Closed down a couple of years ago and I’m still not really over it.Liveinadive wrote:@Pop We have a great little hardware shop here called Goldings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-41362495/how-a-family-shop-has-survived-150-years-on-the-high-streetCome with g if you want to live... -
I’ve got a photo somewhere of the posters they put in the window when closing down, advertising FORK HANDLES. They were good guys to the last. -
Aye, loved that store.Come with g if you want to live...
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All of yous should shop at DUNELMS -
Do they sell glue by the pound?
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Funny how Smyths with a near identical business model have beaten out Toys R us.
They do seem to be always popping up on HUKDs, I can only assume they have better buyers and are sharper with deals.
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Smaller stores. Focus on toys. Don't flog all the baby shite too. Pay tax in Ireland.
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WorKid wrote:Pay tax in Ireland.
Bingo.
I have only ever been to the larger, retail park type stores, forgot they had smaller stores. -
WorKid wrote:In fact in a world that has Amazon, nobody needs Maplin.
It’s pretty much been said already, but you’re wrong.
For the most part, I’m indifferent to the death of the high street. We find it unthinkable, because the city centre chock-full of shops is all we’ve ever known but, in the grand scheme of things, being on the scale we’re seeing it is a recent phenomenon, and one that encourages some of our worst traits. For the most part, we’ll adapt. New services and employment opportunities will crop up (the world is currently begging for a large scale improvement to domestic deliveries) until they too are replaced by whatever comes after that.
However, there is still a place for physical retail. I was researching a still-not-even-at-the-drawing-board-stage project the other day, and looked at little speakers on Amazon. I was lost. Dozens upon dozens of possibilities. I couldn’t understand the sizes because, although I could read the measurement, I didn’t know what it was measuring. I didn’t know which cables or connectors went with which speakers. Which were suited to my needs. I need a conversation with a knowledgeable assistant the likes of which would take an age by email or chat, and would be full of misunderstandings. I’d need to be in the same physical space as the items and the assistant to fully understand his advice and my own needs.
It’s for much the same reason that I bought my camera tripod from a shop a few years ago, and not online. Amazon couldn’t tell me how hefty a tripod would feel in my hands. It couldn’t tell me how strong the leg fasteners were, what it actually felt like to use.
Sure, it cost fractionally more, but it’s like my uncle always says about tradesmen. You don’t pay the man all that money to hit the thing with the hammer. You pay him that much money because he knows where to hit the thing and how hard. -
I know of another retailer I think is highly likely to fold this year as well.
Cant say who but they are fashion and have attempted to change their target demographic 3 times in a year, have fuck all budget for anything and working on deadlines that suggest if something doesn't stick next season they are gone. -
Andy wrote:WorKid wrote:In fact in a world that has Amazon, nobody needs Maplin.
It’s pretty much been said already, but you’re wrong.
For the most part, I’m indifferent to the death of the high street. We find it unthinkable, because the city centre chock-full of shops is all we’ve ever known but, in the grand scheme of things, being on the scale we’re seeing it is a recent phenomenon, and one that encourages some of our worst traits. For the most part, we’ll adapt. New services and employment opportunities will crop up (the world is currently begging for a large scale improvement to domestic deliveries) until they too are replaced by whatever comes after that.
However, there is still a place for physical retail. I was researching a still-not-even-at-the-drawing-board-stage project the other day, and looked at little speakers on Amazon. I was lost. Dozens upon dozens of possibilities. I couldn’t understand the sizes because, although I could read the measurement, I didn’t know what it was measuring. I didn’t know which cables or connectors went with which speakers. Which were suited to my needs. I need a conversation with a knowledgeable assistant the likes of which would take an age by email or chat, and would be full of misunderstandings. I’d need to be in the same physical space as the items and the assistant to fully understand his advice and my own needs.
It’s for much the same reason that I bought my camera tripod from a shop a few years ago, and not online. Amazon couldn’t tell me how hefty a tripod would feel in my hands. It couldn’t tell me how strong the leg fasteners were, what it actually felt like to use.
Sure, it cost fractionally more, but it’s like my uncle always says about tradesmen. You don’t pay the man all that money to hit the thing with the hammer. You pay him that much money because he knows where to hit the thing and how hard.
This post inadvertently suggests to me why physical retail is in such trouble. To illustrate your point, you mention one story from the other day and one from a few years ago. If this is the frequency at which this is the best option, bricks and mortar shops are fucked. -
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Liveinadive wrote:I know of another retailer I think is highly likely to fold this year as well. Cant say who but they are fashion and have attempted to change their target demographic 3 times in a year, have fuck all budget for anything and working on deadlines that suggest if something doesn't stick next season they are gone.
New Look?The Forum Herald™ -
Shit like Primark? Meh.I am a FREE. I am not MAN. A NUMBER.
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Physical retail isn't dead it is just in a stage of transformation.
What people want from it is changing and I think Andy is right in what he says about town centres being so heavily retail focussed, it got silly before the recession with retailers having multiple units in one location. Post recession they cut staff numbers, hours and standards (via pay) but expected to sell the same amount of stuff.
Destination and experience are the words being bounded around at the moment.
Think Ikea, people don't go to "Croydon Retail Park" they "Go to Ikea", they have lunch, the kids go in the play thingy. It is a destination in of itself and provides experiences beyond picking things up and taking them to the till.
Apple stores are similar on a smaller scale, customers make a point of going to the Apple store. The footfall conversion I imagine is extremely low but they buy into the brand and make that one time big purchase of an iPhone or Macbook later down the line.
It is different for every retailer but if they can't identify why someone would want to shop there they will fold. A lot of arrogance at the top end of retail mind, baby boomers innit, peak retail was all them and absolutely nothing to do with high earnings and increased credit. -
Sorry cant do the guessing game with the retailer because it could lead back to me.
Happy to have said it wasn't Next because they had record performance last year.
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