The High Street Crisis in Britain

BBC: WHSmith in talks to sell high street stores

My local WHSmith is due for closure any day now, along with the post office counters it houses. That will leave a major town centre with no post office at all, a real sign of the times. Just a few years ago the PO had its own store, with around 20 counters, you had to take a numbered ticket and wait to be called, now nothing! The WHSmith was also one of the oldest shops in town, been here as long as I can remember, I don't think any sale of the remaining stores will affect its closure.

There's also a WHS warehouse on the industrial estate nearby, been there for as long as I can remember, but no more, its also shutting.

The impact of their decision has hit fairly close to home & hit very hard for me personally, as I work in the local store in my area and I now face the store closing after working there for nearly 20 years. It will be a very big loss for the town I live in.

What I'm going to do next, is anyone's guess - I'm starting to kick around ideas in my head, but something tells me retail is no longer the viable, stable and secure sector of the economy it once was. and finding something completely different to do - other than retail - will be a real challenge for me.

A good 30 years ago, you could have put your hand on your heart and say that it was a safe secure sector of the economy and employment, but the Covid pandemic, Brexit, the cost of living and how the various Governments have tackled the crisis (which I thnk they failed miserably at once the furlough scheme ended) - All have all played their part - in one way or another - in the very dire, serious situation that the High Street now finds itself in along with the explosion of online shopping (which ultimately in my view - has been the biggest slayer of High Street giants).

All I know for now, is that I'm planning on taking this summer off as something of a career break to think about things - and maybe let the dust settle a little. What I feel the frightening bit will be is just how the quickly the decline will accelerate next over say, the next 18 months to two years. It's been a slow death, but I can only fear the biggest earthquake - in retail terms - is yet to come and rear it's head.

Add in to that mix that few weeks after my store closes - I turn 62 and that is in itself, going to be a very difficult age to get another job at.
I know deep down within me I stil have another good 5-6 years left in me before retirement but I know It may not be until I'm well past 70
before I can think about retirement - or not at all.
These next few weeks are going to be very difficult to get through for both me and the colleagues I work with. The support we will give each othef and what I give them in support as well, will get us all through it to it's conclusion.

(27-01-2025 10:42 )munch1917 Wrote:  My local WHSmith is due for closure any day now, along with the post office counters it houses. That will leave a major town centre with no post office at all, a real sign of the times. Just a few years ago the PO had its own store, with around 20 counters, you had to take a numbered ticket and wait to be called, now nothing! The WHSmith was also one of the oldest shops in town, been here as long as I can remember, I don't think any sale of the remaining stores will affect its closure.

There's also a WHS warehouse on the industrial estate nearby, been there for as long as I can remember, but no more, its also shutting.

It certainly looks like you've got a double whammy in both losing your WH Smith AND the Post Office in one fell swoop. The Post Office where I live went some 10 years ago or more and there was talk of the sorting office being closed here at one point but that is still open.
The Post office itself is located in a Londis store in town and there's a sub post office just up the road from my home. I usually use that store to top up my electric. Not only does my store close, we now also see our branch of Halifax closes in June, in the next town there are no bank branches at all and our closure probably does throw into doubt what will happen to shopping mall where we are based which is at my estimate probably three quarters empty and very little in the way of big name stores left in it to draw people in.

My work situation now has changed

Poundland:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/202...e-up-costs

^That's not great news fior High Street

Considering our government leader promised he'd help the workers....we are being screwed over left,right and centre.
A total cunt.

Not a great surprise about poundland. We had two in our local shopping centre, but one recently closed and merged into the other.

I feel poundland is a victim of it's own circumstance. They became so big they ate up much of the competition and became the only real player in the cheap shop arena, but then lost sight of what made them the big boys in the first place, not too disimilar to what happened with wilko.
We had an awesome 99p store here once, piled high with allsorts, typically bankrupt stock or close to sell by date foods all at 99p. Poundland bought them out and shut it down, fair enough, but a lot of the stuff the 99p store sold, they don't sell in poundland.

Poundland is too busy doing deals with brand names to make smaller versions of their products so they can sell them at a lower price.
And most tellingly of all, how much of the stuff in poundland is actually a pound anymore, it's become a joke.

We now have a couple of those 'pop-up' type cheap stores. They open up in an old empty location on a dirt cheap rent for 6 months or so, then either disappear, or move to another location on a similar deal. These shops are getting all the trade that poundland used to get, and nothing they can do to compete anymore. Because these are small time pop-up shops, they can't just buy them out.

Bottom line is, I can get my fill of cheap stuff at those pop-up shops, and I can get the same stuff that poundland sell at the same prices in B&M, or Home Bargains, or Savers, maybe even Wilko on some products, and elsewhere.
Poundland has become irrelevant as a brand, hence they are dying, they just haven't learnt the lessons from the likes of Wilko.