40 stores to close... (part 3)

[Boro Boy]

With over 11,000 visits to the initial thread and a further 22,000+ to Part 2, this is obviously a theme that members are interested in/concerned about...

I am sure we are witnessing a quantum change on the high street which may have negative effects on the town and city high streets but devastating effects to the smaller towns and villages.

[Constantine]

...
I am sure we are witnessing a quantum change on the high street which may have negative effects on the town and city high streets but devastating effects to the smaller towns and villages.

Yes, but quantum changes and devastating effects are nothing new. Witness the decline of independent grocery stores since RPM ended in 1964, the closure of public houses (apparently 25% have closed since 2001 = https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ns-figures), the collapse of ferriers, stables, and horse feed suppliers etc following the emergence of the motor car. Etc and so forth.

People often get upset when things change. Somehow they still happen and yet we survive.

[pabenny]

...negative effects on the town and city high streets ... devastating effects to the smaller towns and villages.

It's just nostalgia. People missing stores that they maybe shopped at in the past or were a familiar presence. Empty stores are unsightly but I don't miss Woolworths or BHS - however good they were in the past, they had become rubbish. Toys R Us was always a horrible experience and they deserved to fail. Most of us have stopped buying CDs and DVDs so no longer need HMV.

[Sarah]

It's now 10 years since Woolworths closed; this article estimates that 175,714 retail jobs have been lost since the 2008 recession:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... rmageddon/

[Boro Boy]

It's now 10 years since Woolworths closed; this article estimates that 175,714 retail jobs have been lost since the 2008 recession:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... rmageddon/

Just take it on the chin or treat it as nostalgia according to some members...!

[Constantine]

It's now 10 years since Woolworths closed; this article estimates that 175,714 retail jobs have been lost since the 2008 recession:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... rmageddon/

Just take it on the chin or treat it as nostalgia according to some members...!

And yet, as of December 2018 we have the highest employment rate since 1971 and the lowest unemployment rate since 1971.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlab ... cember2018

That's the way market capitalism works; new things come along to replace the old things.

[Chadwick]

It's now 10 years since Woolworths closed; this article estimates that 175,714 retail jobs have been lost since the 2008 recession:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... rmageddon/

Just take it on the chin or treat it as nostalgia according to some members...!

I think you're right; we are witnessing a change in the way we shop and the role of the high street retail space.

We can either adapt with it, or fight it.

I would refer you to the examples of the Luddites, King Canute and the role of the unions in the demise of British Leyland.

[pabenny]

...175,714 retail jobs have been lost since the 2008 recession

That's a slight misquote. It's the number of employees of the major retailers that have failed since 2008. Some of those retailers have continued to trade, albeit in a slimmer form (JJB Sports, HoF, Bargain Booze).

It doesn't count job losses at other retailers - such as the 1,700 job cuts announced by Tesco a year ago or the closure closure of a load of Homebase stores. It also doesn't count new jobs such as the expansion of Aldi and Lidl.

Overall, retail employment has fallen by about 10% over the last 10 years and clearly those who have lost their jobs along the way will have found that difficult or distressing.

[Sarah]

Here's the original quote from the article:

According to the Centre for Retail Research, since the worldwide economic recession in 2008, 32 major retailers have gone to the wall – taking down 12,770 stores and leaving 175,714 employees without jobs.

[pabenny]

Your right. It's actually the retail gazette article that misquotes. if you go to their source, the Centre for Retail Research (http://www.retailresearch.org) you can see the source data. This s all the larger chains that have gone bust from 2008 and their approximate workforce. As they acknowledge, it includes businesses that are still trading under new owners such as Bargain Booze and also others where some stores may have been absorbed by other retailers and rebranded.

That said, doesn't alter the fact that our changing shopping habits and retailer cost-cutting are reducing the size of the retail workforce, and will continue to do so.