Author Topic: Is This The End Of Retail?  (Read 64791 times)

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #250 on: 01 February, 2019, 12:37:05 pm »
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47085479

Oddbins in administration.    They closed their two central Liverpool branches ages ago, but there is still one in Allerton .  When every Tesco Metro is flogging cheap plonk a specialist shop is going to struggle.
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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #251 on: 01 February, 2019, 12:43:51 pm »
They could have followed the Majestic model, but going bust in 2011 left then too small to make an impact that way. One of my first proper wine buying experiences was in an Oddbins in Glasgow, and at that time the racks were raw timber, and that staff real enthusiasts.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #252 on: 01 February, 2019, 12:46:10 pm »
We have an excellent specialist shop. They are local, independent, affordable, but not cheap to the point of selling the crap usually found in Tesco Metro. They know their wines. You walk in, tell them what you are having for dinner and they provide a recommendation they have actually drunk. Most importantly they are not snobs, they will welcome a Lambrini drinker (although they won't sell the stuff but would know where to start with them) as much as a real wine collector.

I don't think I've seen an Oddbins for 15 years here down south but if they were worried their competition was Tesco to the point they sold the same stuff then what's the point going to a 'specialist'. The owners of my local shop know what's good for them, they have one branch a good customer base, no further great plans for expanding into every high street (in fact they aren't even on our high street but down a side road some distance away) but have online presence and nation wide deliveries if you want.

Stand out, be different, or fail.
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Jaded

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #253 on: 01 February, 2019, 12:58:07 pm »
^ wot 'e said.

We have a similar one. They will sell you a 6.95 bottle of wine or a 50.00 one, without airs or graces.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #254 on: 01 February, 2019, 01:02:27 pm »
We have this chap (who is ex Oddbins).  Runs a very friendly shop & supplies several local independent restaurants as well.   https://randhfinewines.co.uk/

I must pop in on my way home,  it's too easy to just pick something up in the supermarket.  I've been getting a bit of stuff from Aldi lately & would say they are better than Tesco. 
Not fast & rarely furious

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #255 on: 01 February, 2019, 02:08:41 pm »
Although my father and I turned up at my sisters with identical bottles at Christmas, mine came from the shop I mention above, his had an Aldi label!!

I've never tried it but he swears by the 'special selection' wines in Aldi or Lidl and says you can get some real bargains. l I guess they go around the world buying bin ends from the exporters and my bottle ended up in such a bin.

He's not the only person who has told me to shop in Lidl or Aldi for wine
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ElyDave

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #256 on: 01 February, 2019, 08:24:17 pm »
Our local independent has just closed down. Was never busy, but was very knowledgeable and had so e unusual selections
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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #257 on: 27 April, 2019, 04:14:24 pm »
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2019/04/26/cotswold-outdoor-parent-company-seeks-costs-cut-with-voluntary-arrangement


Cotswold, Snow & Rock, Cycle Surgery, Runners Need.  All owned by the same firm, which is ultimately owned by a private equity mob.
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Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #258 on: 27 April, 2019, 04:23:14 pm »
Cotswold are useful because of their 15% CTC discount. It makes them the cheapest place to buy Kendal Mint Cake!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #259 on: 27 April, 2019, 05:24:38 pm »
Our local independent has just closed down. Was never busy, but was very knowledgeable and had so e unusual selections

We remarked on the window display when we stayed in Ely for a long weekend a year it two ago - along with the eclectic bookshop a few doors down.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #260 on: 24 July, 2019, 03:39:32 pm »
I've learnt from a big USA real estate investment fund* that while large malls are suffering from competition with e-commerce, smaller developments and "power centers" are not. Their explanation is sensible (that smaller stores sell things which are necessities not comparison purchases, that they are benefiting from e-commerce by functioning as pick-up points, and that some sell things - services - which simply cannot be delivered online) but that is the USA and what an investment fund wants its investors to hear.

*They clearly don't trust a real Usanian to get the spellings correct, so use a Ukanian editor.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #261 on: 24 July, 2019, 04:00:56 pm »
A demonstration of differences between Leftpond and Rightpond property markets might be that they put a premium on being in coastal markets.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #262 on: 24 July, 2019, 04:58:51 pm »
They're also predicting in the medium-term a slowdown in e-commerce as at some point consumers will be forced to pay the true costs of delivery; this has to happen at some point because most retailers are not making much money from e-commerce, including - they say - Amazon.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Jaded

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #263 on: 24 July, 2019, 05:08:10 pm »
The question is whether this happens before or after bricks & mortar retailing is seriously damaged.

It may become a case of pop the prices up because we aren't making any money - you haven't got anywhere else to go now!
It is simpler than it looks.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #264 on: 24 July, 2019, 06:17:20 pm »
They're talking about a move from Walmart and Gap to walmart.com and gap.com, so it probably doesn't make any difference to choice.

But if online sales are currently supported (in deliver costs) by physical shop sales, presumably the reverse could also happen. It's going to depend on a balance between property costs and delivery costs, and how much demand there is for each channel, which is quite likely to be different in the US to here.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Ben T

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #265 on: 24 July, 2019, 07:53:11 pm »
A demonstration of differences between Leftpond and Rightpond property markets might be that they put a premium on being in coastal markets.

amazon seems to have a much more physical, i.e. not just online, presence in the US than in the UK... e.g. they have got mealboxes in whole foods, and they  have also got physical shops (to be fair I didn't look closely enough to see whether they had actual staff or were just a glorified pick up point, but it did have a storefront that looked like a physical shop)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #266 on: 24 July, 2019, 08:04:55 pm »
Just to be clear, it was the real estate investment people who like coastal USA, and not just for retail but for offices, housing and industrial too. "Coastal" is a far broader term than "seaside" but still there seems to be a huge contrast between booming Florida and failing Blackpool.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Jaded

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #267 on: 24 July, 2019, 08:06:45 pm »
Blackpool (and all the other coastal towns) only have half a catchment area, so are struggling from the outset.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #268 on: 24 July, 2019, 09:08:49 pm »
And 75% of Ramsgate's hinterland is sea.

Think Penzance too.
Rust never sleeps

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #269 on: 24 July, 2019, 09:15:09 pm »
Just to be clear, it was the real estate investment people who like coastal USA, and not just for retail but for offices, housing and industrial too. "Coastal" is a far broader term than "seaside" but still there seems to be a huge contrast between booming Florida and failing Blackpool.

Hmm, Florida. A flat swamp, mostly around sea-level. I'll go out on a limb that coastal property might not be the best long term investment. I suppose you could invest away from the coast. Somewhere like Phoenix (it'll be edging up to 45 degrees over the next few days).

I'm musing on the fact that here we'll soon have three supermarkets within stumbling distance. I don't recall the current two being exactly packed. It says something of the economics of British high streets that we can support this, they're selling effectively the same things within a few pence of each other. Of course, the cost is embedded in the price and that fabulous job creation is underpinned by the taxpayer in tax credits and other corporate perks.

Anyway, it's bit pointless competing directly with the big online retailers, it's not a winnable game under the current rules.

Jaded

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #270 on: 24 July, 2019, 10:01:44 pm »
Don’t forget the benefit of out-of-town business rates.
It is simpler than it looks.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #271 on: 24 July, 2019, 10:39:24 pm »
I think they were using "coastal" in a broad enough sense to include the whole of Florida. They also talked about how the state is attracting people from the northeast due to the sunshine and the tax advantages (they didn't specify what the tax advantages are).
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #272 on: 25 July, 2019, 09:30:22 am »
Florida doesn't have state income tax and sales tax is around 6%. It's only part of the continental US that's subtropical so mostly warm (>20 degrees). The Everglades are quite nice (they have bears, for real, and alligators obvs) but the rest of the state seems to comprise mostly of low rise apartment blocks for retirees and snowbirds and skeevy bits they might have imported from the outskirts of Las Vegas connected by eight-lane highways. Miami is possibly the dullest place in the US (OK, it has competition) – there's a faux beach and the 'art deco' district is a couple of cheaply built falling-down houses that they've slapped some pastel paint on.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #273 on: 25 July, 2019, 11:04:12 am »
We've got a faux beach at the mall in Cribbs Causeway, which is a... mall... on the northern fringe of Bristol. We've also got bears and wolves in a safari park type thing. And last year, or maybe it was two years ago, a bus driver claimed that as he was driving his bus over Bedminster Bridge, he's seen a crocodile in the New Cut of the River Avon. Plus it's well over 20 degrees and sticky today and we don't have sales tax or local income tax (though we do have our own currency, the Bristol pound), so... Oh, hang on, am I making Bristol sound the Florida of Britain?  :hand: ;D
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #274 on: 25 July, 2019, 12:39:54 pm »
Using the place-that-nobody-will-be-too-upset-about-if-an-errant-rocket-blows-up logic, the BRITISH equivalent is surely the Isle of Wight...