Next have transitioned quite well into the online world and click and collect etc.
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No chance it will be Next.
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Or fairly tax and charge those running online businesses and trading from offshore safe havens. Make it a fair playing field. Granted too many of these dinosaur companies are too slow in transitioning to an online model or just blind to the need for it. Although one of the biggest winners of all Primark has no online presence so maybe thereās more to it.
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Completely agree.
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Excellent points. I hate the Tories (wait thereās more to this sentence) ongoing plan to cut the government grant that goes towards councils and instead force councils to raise their own funds/keep all of their council tax and business rates (whilst tying their hands behind their back and stopping them from doing anything too enterprisng like setting up new local public transport companies).
The deprived areas are that are being hit hard, like Blackpool, never have any chance of getting a serious amount of cash in, even less so with the death of the high street. The way it was before, with redistribution from thriving areas to deprived areas was far kinderā¦ which is likely why they hated it.
(Hereās a rancid document explaining it - https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.40_01_Finance%20publication_WEB_0.pdf - it was stupid when it was proposed, itās outright dangerous and irresponsible with business rates revenue likely to nose dive)
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I agree, but long-term reliance on central grants is also unsustainable.
We need to give more autonomy for localities to innovate in tax policy and create a system that works in each place.
I like the restributive model to direct funds to the places that need it most. The idea of council areas competing against each other with their own tax policies fills me with dread. It makes me think of the situation in the US with all the states having different tax regimes and trying to undercut each other/give away subsidies to attract jobs from the likes of Amazon.
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That localised model should definitely have a short-term insurance policy (or stop-loss to use an investing analogy) to ensure losers arenāt taken out for good.
But it would certainly lead to more efficiencies in my mind, a better incentive structure and eventually create an overall better system through renormalisation based on replication of most efficient system.
Redistributive grants is like putting a plaster on a deep wound. It might work for a time but eventually the limb will have to come off.
Marks and Spencer food shops if full with all sorts of demographics shopping. 20 something couples love to go there and buy pre-made meals. Itās families shopping at Aldi and Lidl for cheap horrible knocks offs for the kids.
I donāt think thatās fair, Iād say the quality is just as good as other supermarkets (except Whole Foods, but they are rare in London and non-existent outside it). Middle-class 20-somethings are definitely discovering Aldi.
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Next has pushed online the past few years and admits themselves that the store struggles but online has kept them compative.
The problem with the a lot of old/ traditional high street stores they donāt give you a reason to go. Why would I go to a department store to shop for pots, pans, curtains, cookers, clothes etcā¦when I can go to a retail park and shop at individual stores. Why didnāt department stores move to retails parks when they became popular.
The city centre has changed. You go to a big city centre like Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and at a weekend itās full of people, drinking, eating, enjoying the latest thing put on by the city. Christmas markets, light shows, sporting events, shows, they are not there to particular shop at a department store. You have group of women shopping for high end clothes and doing bottomless lunches.
JD sports realised people wanted to spend money on trainers and exclusive trainers and then put them in a display case after a couple of wears.
Games workshop realised that having Warhammer was the biggest draw to the company.
HMV realised too late the records could save them.
Lego have realised that buying into the pop culture years of nostalgia is making them money from adults .
My point is retail needs to adapt and some of them arenāt and thatās why they are struggling and going under.
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Can agree. Iām a twenty-something and I love our Lidl / Aldi shops
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And now letās go with Bonmarche.
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My money is on Ted Baker being one of the next ones to go
Mid 30s, just barely a millenial and Iām not fond of Aldi but will shop there occasionally. They sometimes have one or two items that I canāt find elsewhere.
Iāll be honest - I thought it already had. Definitely not going to survive another year.
I think itās going to be another national chain of tasteless restaurants that reheats food shipped in from a central supplier - but I canāt think which ones are left!
Frankie & Bennies and Chiquitos are gone for good right? Maybe Prezzo.
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Prezzo were profitable before coronavirus hit. I wonder what shape they are in now? I would be more worried about Pizza Express as they were debt laden before corona so i can only assume the sitaution is quite dire for them unless they did an exceptional deal with their creditors.
I thought of Smiths too (despite them having outlets at airports, etc).
I thought they were supposed to have had an upturn in fortunes after putting pizza express pizzas/doughballs in supermarkets. If they have revenue from those sales maybe it helps lessen the impact of closed restaurants. In a way it puts them in a better position than other restaurant chains.