Hey party people oaf12 here and welcome to The Man Den!
I have wanted to write this blog post for a while but haven’t found the time. I was reading Game of Thrones on my way too / from work which is my usual blogging time, but then disaster struck and I left my book at home 
I honestly cannot describe how distraught I was (on the way to work as I wrote this) but thought I would make myself feel better by ‘penning’ a blog 
It seems that every time I go to my nearest town now, there is a whole load of new empty shops. Some are where former big brands were but they are now just empty shells. Even the big shopping centre that used to be packed with people on a Saturday seems to be gaining more empty plots than new tenants.
Some brands only have themselves to blame in my opinion, I mean take HMV for example, they were at the top of their industry ladder and should have seen how the internet was changing things and they should have adapted. They should have been the ones with the ‘iStore’ interface yet they allowed themselves to be eaten from all sides during a recession….from the internet and from supermarkets.
The same could be said about Blockbuster in relation to sites such as LoveFilm and NetFlix – Blockbuster should have released a site like this years ago.
With increasing pattern of people buying stuff from home, is the high street dead? If someone wants a piece of music they can own and start playing it in an instant, if you want a new book you can buy and start reading it in seconds – and even if you want a game you can download it and you’re away – all without leaving the comfort of your own home. Plus there is no physical storage to worry about as there are no books and no music or games CDs to worry about. If I remember rightly downloads are going up and CD sales are going down!
If you’re hungry you can contact one of the many businesses that ‘cottoned’ on to this process of delivering the service to the customers home years ago – order a take away! You don’t even need to call them nowadays as a lot of them (especially pizza places) take online orders!
In the last few days it has been reported that Morrison’s will start offering online shopping next year…..what took them so long? I worked in home shopping for Tesco about 12 years ago whilst at college and can’t see how any large supermarket can be so far behind!
My question is, do we like this change? We are the ones changing it, but do we like the thought of having no shops to browse in the future and simply having everything delivered? From a business perspective there are obviously majorly less property and staffing costs, while from the consumer angle there is a lot less effort involved, but there is also less ‘experience’ involved to.
I personally like going to GAME and browsing through the latest titles and the pre-owned stand hunting a bargain, yet I have to admit I am guilty of buying one of my latest games online….it’s just so easy!
I also like visiting Waterstones when I want a new book, especially when I have no idea what I want to read – I can just mosey (didn’t think that was a real word but spell-checker hasn’t judged me for using it) around checking out a few before making the decision. However, I fear I have purchased my last physical book as I now own a Kindle (well a Kindle Fire HD to be exact lol).
So…..I’m someone who would make an argument for these places to stay open, yet I am also someone who has started the journey towards even buying these items online….what chance does the high street have?
One thing it (the high street) can’t be beaten on, yet, is speed of delivery and by delivery I mean purchased goods being in the possession of the consumer – i.e. I go to a shop, I purchase an item, I then usually have that item and don’t need to wait for it to be delivered. By that I mean physical goods such as clothes…..
So, do I think the high street is dead? No. Do I think the high street is dying? Yes. Do I think it will die? No, I hope not anyway!
In a way my opinion is similar to my opinion of the tie (as in shirt and tie). It’s not dead, if anything it has been elevated. It might not be there for everyday needs like it once was, but it is saved for the special occasions when you need something more.
An example might be jewellery or a suit. Then again if someone at work came in with a quality suit on that they picked up from some new website at a lower cost than retail…..I’d probably give it a go!
Will we see a return of trusted, small’ local businesses? Will people buy most things online but revert to going to the butchers for meat or the bakers for bread? It’s a nice thought but the problem is (and probably always will be) that the masses don’t prioritise quality and service enough, although this may again become a differentiator (spell-checker has now judged me) that people are willing to pay for. They (I should probably say ‘we’ rather than ‘they’) would much rather it cost less and do almost the same job.
I suppose part of the reason I like going online is that I don’t have to face overcrowding (I’m wedged on a train like a sardine a I type this – £3k well spent??? I think not!). Nothing annoys me quite as much as lots of stupid people all in one place. People that just stop in front of you while you are walking…..grrrr lol
Anyway that goes into another whole subject re population growth – that’s for another day and another blog!
Let me know what you think about the high street. Is it dead? Would you buy a suit online? What about groceries?
Cheers all
oaf out
