Are we building too many shops ?

[VHG]

The news is full of doom and gloom about ghost towns where many of the shops have closed down.

But are we just reaping the effect of a huge increase in the number of retail outlets in the last few years.

I live in Solihull on the edge of Birmingham. In the last 10 years we have had 5 HUGE supermarkets built within about 3 miles of us, plus a large retail park with B&Q, Homebase, Boots and so on.

We have had a massive retail development in the centre of Birmingham (Bull Ring) plus other smaller out of town retails parks and shopping centres.

Many of these have been built in place of office blocks and factories that have been knocked down.

I have been thinking for a while that soon the bubble will burst, because people have only got so much money. and of course now people have even LESS money.

Maybe the councils and government should have been doing more to encourage factories and offfices to be built, and jobs created, rather than more and more shops.

Now we have hundreds of shops and no money to spend in them.

[123everton]

To be honest with you VHG I've been saying this for years, all the way back to the M.D.C (Merseyside Development Corporation) never factories.

[jake-the-peg]

Of course almost any prediction will come true if you spend long enough saying it.

Especially in economics.

Do you remember the dot com boom (and bust)?

Everybody knew that there was nothing backing up those companies but as long as people kept buying the shares it made sense to do the same just as long as you weren't holding the baby when the music stopped.

All bubbles are like that, goint even further back in history you get the South Seas bubble and Even the mainia for Tulips in the 1600s.

This one has been a retail boom.

People kept building and running retail outlets while everybody was still spending and spending money.

Nobody's interested in long term planning while there's a possibility of a short term fortune to be made.

It's a fundamental flaw in free market capitalism and it will continue to happen for another 400 years

[Julnar]

I live on the outskirts of London and we too are constantly seeing new shops and office developments which often remain empty for the most part. I've always found this strange when there is a greater need for more housing.

[sandmaster]

Maggie Thatcher started it. She wanted a clean high tech environment. She believed that service industries would be our saviour and that factories should go to the third world. I remember an American at the time say during a radio interview "you cannot make a living opening doors for each other". How right he was.

[JimmyCooper]

I live fairly close to the merry Hill centre in the west mids.

When It opened 20 odd years ago retailers were tempted there by having to pay no business rates for 5 years. result was all the local towns suffered and now merry Hill cant fill 25% of their sq footage

The fact is local govt actively encourage these developments through backhanders whilst discouraging people from local towns by cutting transport links and ridiculous car parking prices.

The boom will soon be bust...

[jake-the-peg]

This is nothing to do with local Government Jimmy

This is the free market pure and simple.

Developers think that they can build these things and make a profit leasing them out or selling them to businesses.

Developers don't wake up and think "Hey let's build a shopping centre for a laugh"!

[Eve]

I've noticed the amount of shops going from the Manchester Arndale not that many years after the large new extension opened.

Some gone, some going and who knows who is going to fill their place, I'm sure they won't be the last either.

Loads of office space going empty too.

Then there is the crazy amount in flats being built, in the city centre and surrounds.

Why not new estates with first time buyer, key worker, low income etc... friendly houses? Good local amenities and transport links creating more jobs and better communities.