40 stores to close... (part 3)

[Richard Frost]

Brighthouse to close 30 stores

Nice to have some good news* in this thread. Now for all of the rest of the stores in this exploitative business.

(* if not for those who work there)

A case could be made for putting Ladbrokes into the same category.

[planteria]

i'd tend to agree with that. even when areas lose the vast majority of their retail outlets the bookies seem to remain open.

[pabenny]

I’ve mixed feelings on that one.

The only winner on games of chance is the house and the players are mugs/fantasists/people with more money than sense. Betting on horse-racing, football results, etc does not appeal to me but I can appreciate that there may be an element of skill and judgement in placing bets and may be a (relatively) harmless pastime. I don’t much care about rich people losing money but sadly it is often poorer people who are seduced by the potential for riches into wasting money on games of chance. Hence the preponderance of betting shops in poorer areas.

So actually, yes, I’ll count Ladbrokes closures as good news as well.

[blythburgh]

Skill was mentioned by pabenny.

My friend gambles weekly, only very small amounts. But he often does a bet where the winning from the first race go on to the 2nd and so on to the last race. He did win a nice sum once.

Same friend also has a bet on Norwich City at the start of the season. Why? Because the odds were so good.

Will he win? Nope, the odds were so good because he bet on Norwich going down.

Not a stupid man, he has A levels and other qualifications. But in some areas as thick as a brush.

[Sarah]

I’ll count Ladbrokes closures as good news as well.

They say, however, that the Ladbrokes closures are accompanied by a greater push for their customers to switch to online betting; this could in turn make it easier for those individuals to bet and potentially lose more.

[planteria]

so two of the tales discussed here collide, with Mike Ashley and Patisserie Holdings..

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/compani ... spartandhp

[Boro Boy]

Yet another High Street "Name" retailer possibly about to vanish: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47413269

My partner says she is hardly surprised; one of those "influencers" highlighted on the web a particular blouse so she went into an L K Bennet branch as asked to see the blouse they supplied by name only to be greeted by the member of staff with "I don't know?". So attempting again she described the blouse only to realise that the member of staff was not too good at speaking English - she said it was a white silk like finish blouse - only to be shown a stripped high-neck part lace blouse...! The only available course of action at that point was to say thank you for your help and leave the store...!

Hence, when I said they are having financial issues the reply was "...so I am hardly surprised!"

That kind of puts a different angle on the fall of the British High Street Retailers! = overpriced, bad recruitment, lack of training and lack of feeding market information down the chain. If you add to this rising rents and rates along with dwindling cashflow to buy new stock, no wonder its the end of the line for some retailers...

[Boro Boy]

Ohps! Another one gone: http://www.kbbreview.com/21640/topstory ... called-in/

[pabenny]

Paperchase closing 5 out of 145 stores and 23 at risk.

Another profit warning from Debenhams, with sales down more than 5% in the last 6 months.

[Boro Boy]

The nationwide M&S branch closure plan announced the other year has started - guess I shouldn't be surprised but M&S Covent Garden has gone...

It certainly wasn't targeted for lack of sales or footfall as it was always full and queues at the checkouts but I have no idea what was happening with the business rates or lease situation...