ChatterBank1 min ago
Another Business In Trouble,
though quite honestly i can't see why, surely they do a roaring trade, especially at this time of year.
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Answers
“shame for the workers as always.” Indeed. However many workers in shops care not whether their customers live or die. To survive High Street shops must provide something that internet sellers do not. Among those things is a bit of friendly, polite and efficient customer service. I have been in shops where, so busy were the staff chatting to their...
13:39 Tue 19th Dec 2017
Their stores are nearly empty most of the year. Anywhere that's the size of, say, a big Tesco Extra, with perhaps just half a dozen customers wandering around it for most of the day, is unlikely to do well.
Smaller toy stores, such as Smyths (which has brought its Irish model into the UK and is opening lots of new stores here) stand a far better chance of succeeding on the High Street (or, more accurately, on out of town retail parks) but even they face lots of competition from the supermarkets. (The Smyths store at Stanway, on the edge of Colchester recently had a Lego set reduced from £85 to £60. However they're very close to the largest Sainsbury's store in the country, where the same set was being sold for just £40. I didn't check the price in Toys R Us but, from past experience, I wouldn't be surprised if was the full £85).
Other High Street retailers (notably Argos) have been undercutting Toys R Us by large margins for years but even they struggle to compete with Amazon.
Smaller toy stores, such as Smyths (which has brought its Irish model into the UK and is opening lots of new stores here) stand a far better chance of succeeding on the High Street (or, more accurately, on out of town retail parks) but even they face lots of competition from the supermarkets. (The Smyths store at Stanway, on the edge of Colchester recently had a Lego set reduced from £85 to £60. However they're very close to the largest Sainsbury's store in the country, where the same set was being sold for just £40. I didn't check the price in Toys R Us but, from past experience, I wouldn't be surprised if was the full £85).
Other High Street retailers (notably Argos) have been undercutting Toys R Us by large margins for years but even they struggle to compete with Amazon.
“shame for the workers as always.”
Indeed. However many workers in shops care not whether their customers live or die. To survive High Street shops must provide something that internet sellers do not. Among those things is a bit of friendly, polite and efficient customer service. I have been in shops where, so busy were the staff chatting to their colleagues about their latest hair do or the football results, that they did not notice that I was in their shop at all, let alone provide me with any service. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Toys R Us shop but if the staff in them behave as some do in other shops I’m scarcely surprised that they are struggling.
Indeed. However many workers in shops care not whether their customers live or die. To survive High Street shops must provide something that internet sellers do not. Among those things is a bit of friendly, polite and efficient customer service. I have been in shops where, so busy were the staff chatting to their colleagues about their latest hair do or the football results, that they did not notice that I was in their shop at all, let alone provide me with any service. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Toys R Us shop but if the staff in them behave as some do in other shops I’m scarcely surprised that they are struggling.
my town was bidding to be a 'City of Culture'
you couldn't make it up, honestly, the number of high street shops which have closed and so on and yardy yar ya.
I dread to think the number of workers who have since had to travel further to the retail parks, where only those with a car go.
(i'm on a downer today - ignore me)
you couldn't make it up, honestly, the number of high street shops which have closed and so on and yardy yar ya.
I dread to think the number of workers who have since had to travel further to the retail parks, where only those with a car go.
(i'm on a downer today - ignore me)
"In my town we've lost an M & S recently..."
Sad. But...
"... and yet whenever I went into it it always seemed full and the queues were long."
Maybe that's the problem. I've been into shops (M&S included) where there were queues out of the door with people waiting to part with their cash but only one or two tills open in a bank of five or six. Shoppers no longer have to put up with this. They can order their stuff from their armchair and have it delivered to their door. No searching for the stuff (often not finding it), no surly staff to contend with and no queues.
Sad. But...
"... and yet whenever I went into it it always seemed full and the queues were long."
Maybe that's the problem. I've been into shops (M&S included) where there were queues out of the door with people waiting to part with their cash but only one or two tills open in a bank of five or six. Shoppers no longer have to put up with this. They can order their stuff from their armchair and have it delivered to their door. No searching for the stuff (often not finding it), no surly staff to contend with and no queues.
I think we have to face up to the situation as it is today.
45 years ago, my home town of Swansea had a thriving town centre, with enough shops to go around. All the usual High Street names were there...W H Smith, M+S, Rymans, Boots, 2 apartment stores, one of which was a House of Frazer. We had three good record shops as well, and do knows how many shoes shops.
Plus Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, and other clothes shops. We also had 2 "boutiques" which sold some very modern "Carnaby Street" type clothes.
We even had 2 branches of Woolworths (!)
Everybody went in on a Saturday, almost all on the bus.
But over the years, the local Council gave planning permission for various out-of-town shopping areas, that gradually sucked the commercial life out of the town centre.
I suspect that this pattern was repeated by the 1000s, all over Britain. Only OAPs and children travel by bus now. Add to all that, the huge rise in internet shopping, which didn't exist at all 25 years ago, let alone 45, and we have what we have today.
The old days will never come back.
45 years ago, my home town of Swansea had a thriving town centre, with enough shops to go around. All the usual High Street names were there...W H Smith, M+S, Rymans, Boots, 2 apartment stores, one of which was a House of Frazer. We had three good record shops as well, and do knows how many shoes shops.
Plus Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, and other clothes shops. We also had 2 "boutiques" which sold some very modern "Carnaby Street" type clothes.
We even had 2 branches of Woolworths (!)
Everybody went in on a Saturday, almost all on the bus.
But over the years, the local Council gave planning permission for various out-of-town shopping areas, that gradually sucked the commercial life out of the town centre.
I suspect that this pattern was repeated by the 1000s, all over Britain. Only OAPs and children travel by bus now. Add to all that, the huge rise in internet shopping, which didn't exist at all 25 years ago, let alone 45, and we have what we have today.
The old days will never come back.
I've only once been in a Toys R Us, and that was when my son was small so must have been at least 20 years ago.
I remember my OH making a joke about the length of time he'd been waiting to pay, and the cashier scowled at us and threw our purchase to the end of the packing area.
I know you can get that in all shops, but it didn't help us in returning there.
I remember my OH making a joke about the length of time he'd been waiting to pay, and the cashier scowled at us and threw our purchase to the end of the packing area.
I know you can get that in all shops, but it didn't help us in returning there.
I agree with a lot of what's been said about the decline of the traditional town centre which started before the internet when the out of town monoliths started to be built. Recently I had reason to go into the new Smyths nearby and I was impressed, the store was bright and uncluttered, and the staff were very pleasant, none of which applied to Toys R'Us thirty years ago, I doubt it's improved.
