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Why do I need the opportunity to shop for 15 hours per day in non essential shops?

It's probably just me not paying attention, but I do get a 'massive' sense of ambivalence around Covid here on pfm. One minute it's 'OMG we're all gonna die close everything, stay inside, keep away from crowds, the government must ACT NOW!'; the next minute it's 'Those bastard police stopping people from going out and gathering in crowds, it's a fascist state thing!'
 
Thorn said:
And in York.
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That’s a shocker, feels as though it’s only just opened (had to check, 8 years it’s been open), saw all that new development being built (I work round the corner).

Obviously it’s serious times for them, very hard decision I would imagine as there’s the new stadium/cinema/restaurant development too in recent times.

Such a shame.
 
PhilofCas said:
That’s a shocker, feels as though it’s only just opened (had to check, 8 years it’s been open), saw all that new development being built (I work round the corner).

Obviously it’s serious times for them, very hard decision I would imagine as there’s the new stadium/cinema/restaurant development too in recent times.

Such a shame.
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JL closing dept stores in : Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York.
And smaller At Home stores in : Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells.
This is in addition to several closures last year.
 
JL’s customer service has gone downhill over the last 20 years, probably coinciding with their expansion. I rarely use them.
 
wacko said:
JL closing dept stores in : Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York.
And smaller At Home stores in : Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells.
This is in addition to several closures last year.
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JL has been a feature of the Queensgate Centre in P'boro since it opened in '81, in fact it was the biggest shop by floorspace taking up effectively one end of the shopping centre. Things must be bad if they're shutting that one and will leave massive hole in the centre that will be a bugger to fill.
 
I used to work in a JL department store. It as very different back in the late 80's. A couple of years ago I went in looking for a bag for my computer. All they had were a couple of bottom of the range Samsonite and the rest were cheap knockoffs. The computer department next door had hardly anything of interest, it was very much the bottom of the range.
And my old favourite, the lighting department. All cheap Chinese copies of things that you used to source from Italy. There was a tiny display of Artemide lights but the rest was very much what you'd find at an electrical wholesaler these days.
If they are selling cheap stuff in their stores then they don't offer much that you can't buy online. And without looking for a parking space.
 
Never liked the crowds on Oxford St but now I suspect we may miss them as all these shops close/shrink. Shudder to think what High Streets across the UK will look like from next year.
 
wacko said:
Never liked the crowds on Oxford St but now I suspect we may miss them as all these shops close/shrink. Shudder to think what High Streets across the UK will look like from next year.
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Less space for retail, for sure. But the answer is housing. Round the corner from me in suburban Leeds there used to be a parade of shops. Nothing high rent, usual hairdresser, estate agent, I don't remember a grocers, there are others nearby. They closed and sat empty until they were converted to housing. It's not a luxury redevelopment, they still have to make do with a tarmac garden. But they all have people in. It's a nice area, on a bus route, railway station a mile away, local shops and schools, life moves on.
 
Not far from us there's a nice house that, until a couple of years ago, was a pub. But that wasn't the 'original' pub, which was a few yards further down the road, and which itself changed usage to housing some time in the 1950s.
 
JL is a cautionary tale. You can’t stand still in retail, always something new coming along. The high street should never be about shops, people want to socialise, most modern shopping centres have a compelling range of eateries.

I despair about the constant moaning in Sheffield, always going on about Leeds & Manchester. Every city has its problems & successes; ultimately my home city is a great place to live. There’s more to life than restaurants & shopping but everything just becomes so polarised.

It’s a strange place where people moan about the costly parking in the city centre & the free parking in Meadowhall. The sooner we stop looking at everything in the context of the car the better.
 
I’d fully support a move to extend shop opening hours. As someone who largely works 9-5 Monday to Friday, I don’t have much of an opportunity during the week to go out onto the high street. I would if the shops were open later.

I think in places such as Manchester where I live you’d get a lot more out and about still than say a small town, so something else to maybe consider in all of this.
 
Deejay said:
I’d fully support a move to extend shop opening hours. As someone who largely works 9-5 Monday to Friday, I don’t have much of an opportunity during the week to go out onto the high street. I would if the shops were open later.

I think in places such as Manchester where I live you’d get a lot more out and about still than say a small town, so something else to maybe consider in all of this.
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Has something changed? 20 years ago I used to go clothes shopping on weekday evenings. Maybe it was only a day or so a week, but it was enough. Weekends then were for climbing and biking, I didn't waste them in shops, I was in a tent somewhere with my mates.
 
I've always avoided shops whenever possible. I have terrible memories of going shopping with my daughters when they were looking for new clothes, but were too young to buy them unaccompanied. One of them would spend ages checking stuff out but never buying anything, the other would grab a load of things and then disappear into the changing rooms, while I stood around feeling, and no doubt looking, like a prat. (Mrs H worked Saturdays at this time, which was a wise move on her part).
 
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