Maplins in trouble

[Sherwood]

Amazon have go shops in USA and are bringing them here for food. No queuing or using a till. Smart shopping it's called

I wasn't aware of this so I guess I am more prophetic than I realised!

[Jazid]

We've got a Wholefoods (Amazon owned) on our high street. Pricey and very good quality, but one thing you do have to do is queue, there's always a queue.

I agree with Macca, most high streets are doomed until business rates are slashed, and that isn't going to occur any time soon. Of course some chains and boutique offerings will survive, but boarded shop windows are a feature everywhere these days.

More of a worry than obsolete business models going under is what is the next generation going to do for work? We're in a rush to make the technology that will render our skills and hence utility redundant. What is the vision for them?

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[Macca]

Hardly, if you were out in some pokey frontier town or rural hamlet in Pokeytown, Nowheresville! The catalogue and free to the door delivery (facilitated through the US Postal Service free rural delivery initiative) made it more cost-effective and convenient than going into the local general store in town. Amazon is very much in the mould of Sears Roebuck albeit separated by more than a century.

Geoff

Yes but my point is that environment doesn't exist anymore. Amazon/internet retaining in general is not the same as Sears in 1911 or whatever. The methods of selection, delivery and payment are completely different and in terms of ease and convenience they far surpass anything seen previously. And the most lucrative slice of the customer base have substantially different priorities to someone in a frontier town at the turn of the last century.

The comparison with Sears is loose one.

Also given that food is one of the few things that is unlikely to move solely on line it does sort of make sense that Amazon would want to get into the retail food sector too. Always make sure you are harvesting every sector you can. Look out for the Amazon Hair and Beauty Parlours opening near you.

[mikmas]

There's a whole new generation out there who regard buying on the internet as normal and going to a physical shop as unusual,

Agree with the first bit - completely disagree with the second. You underestimate the social power of the 'real' shopping experience - and that includes it's impact on the 'new generation' (who still flood our high street as soon as school is done for the day and every weekend).

The nature of 'shops' and what they offer (and for how much) is changing radically but the urge to throng, see and be seen will remain. The winners will be those who know how to tap into that, which will never include the list of vendors you mentioned with their quaint 20th century concepts.

Of course all of this is moot re. employability; at some point the problems with Flippy the Burger Flipper will be sorted .. and we will all be doomed ....

[Len Co]

Almost every time a shop closes in Staines (upon Thames) a restaurant or fast-food outlet opens up in it's place. The future is ......... EATING!

[spendorman]

Many decades ago I used to visit an electronics shop in London Road Southend, think this may have been the first Maplins, can anybody confirm, or otherwise?

[Minstrel SE]

In a way its interesting to see the shops come and go. When I say I will give a new shop six months I am usually right.

Town centres are not developing fast enough into a places I want to keep visiting. I dont particularly want to go to a restaurant on a grotty high street.

They need to develop into a mix of living space, natural features and business premesis. If that means knocking down rows of old shops then so be it. Its also a mix of a greedy landlords who have no real forward looking plans or wish to spend anything much. Its time those parasites felt the pinch until we have areas that people really want to thong to.

In most cases I havent enjoyed walking round shops for a long time now. I dont think I ever really did. I just want the thing bought and the internet is great for shopping. I dont need to put up with limited stock and the BS from small shop owners anymore. In most cases they add nothing to the shopping experience but over inflated prices.

I am very careful where I spend my money now and I wont put up with the poor service and staff at Currys for example. Its a nice feeling knowing I will never shop there again as long as I live. Halfords was a vacuous experience the other day and I was just browsing their rapidy diminishing stock levels

I dont buy big things on the net so I will need physical shops for that. High street shops are in trouble and they need to step up their game

Im not sure if some ever can though. There is a local guy selling vinyl. I really want to like him because he is local but he has a slighly abrupt manner and he never really has anything in stock that I ask for. Oh he can get it but sometimes £10 more than its on the internet for. He has no real value to me as a shop so I stopped going. If I know the vinyl will be safely packaged the internet wins every time