Goodbye toys and cards. Hello loans and bookies

[marmar]

Goodbye toys and cards. Hello loans and bookies
Britain's chain stores are shutting up shop, and changing the character of the high street

Charlie Cooper Thursday 18 October 2012


(Independent UK) There was a time when you could get everything you needed on your local high street – from groceries and appliances to children's toys and computer games. Nowadays, you are better off staying at home and doing it online.

The British high street has become the domain of the bookmaker and the pawnbroker – at the expense of the gift shop, the specialist store and, shoppers fear, local character.

Four years after the collapse of Woolworths, town centre chain stores are closing at a rate of 20 shops a day, as declining consumer spending and soaring commercial rents combine with the rise of internet shopping to marginalise town centre shopping precincts.

A recent snapshot of 500 UK town centres makes for worrying reading for anyone who prefers a Saturday afternoon shop to hours spent on Amazon. There have been more than 3,600 chain shop closures in the first half of this year, most of them resulting from insolvencies of major brands such as Peacocks, JJB Sports and Clintons. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goodbye-toys-and-cards-hello-loans-and-bookies-8215751.html

[xchrom]

1. Sameness. I fuckin hate it. Nt