Is retail dead? Are department stores particularly dead?
On Saturday myself and The Current Mrs R visited Norwich. The city centre was very busy despite House of Fraser and Debenhams having closed down. Departments stores are dead dinosaurs aren't they?
Almost by accident we found ourselves
HERE, an independent department store with a long history, the shop was very busy. We fought through the crowds to the basement food court and plonked ourselves on bar stools where a pleasant young chap handed us wine list and a menu of their toothy comestibles; the homemade scotch eggs with a rocket garnish, fresh bread, delicious looking balsamic and sundried tomatoes were duly ordered. We also selected large glasses of red and white, both local and £12 a pop. We were having a smashing time, chatting to the staff, people watching, eating and drinking fine fare. We ordered another round and some rosemary almonds - lovely!
We now had an awkward choice. Do we stay for the afternoon, risk being carried out only to find we were too pissed to find the bus back to our caravan or should we settle up and move on. We decided on the latter. Our bill was £64 and the lady who wafted the machine under my card told me she'd worked for Jarrold's for 15 years and loved it. As we'd spent more than £60 she gave me a £10 voucher which encouraged TCMR to spend a further £101.64 (less a tenner) in the food hall!
So it seems to me that if you understand your customers, offer them the experience they are asking for, look after your staff properly so they are ambassadors for your business then retail in general and department stores in particular are far from dead