I learnt the disappointing news last week that the Ashton Branch of Argos is due to close in January when their lease expires
I also read that Peacocks, the ailing fashion retailer, is considering closing up to 200 stores, as it seeks to reduce its debt burden. The group, which has 611 Peacocks stores and 394 Bonmarché shops, has debts of £240m with a syndicate of banks, including Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland. A Peacocks spokesman said: "We continue to progress our restructuring discussions and plans, with no decisions taken at this point.Peacocks faces a huge rent bill on 25 December. Hopefully the Ashton store will stay open.
At the same time Amazon sold 3 million items in 'Cyber Monday' frenzy last Monday making it the firm’s busiest day ever and John Lewis, recorded sales of £113.6 million in the week to December 3, a 9.6 per cent increase on the same week last year and a 15.1 per cent rise on the previous week.
I would welcome readers comments about what is happening and will happen to shops on the high streets, especially in small towns such as Ashton.
13 comments:
nigel
whats wrong with the vacant lad adjoining princess rd ? is this land subject to any development plans / or sale plans as of yet ?
The problem with the land adjacent to Princess Road is that it was the site of the old gas works and is contaminated. Any developer would have to spend a lot of money decontaminating the area before any building could be done. In this financial climate I doubt whether this is an attractive prospect.
I thought it WAS decontaminated some years ago - at the time of the proposal to double the size of the Gerard Centre by extending it onto the present car park and use the gas works area to replace the lost parking space. Certainly a lot of excavation and removal of ground and replacement of it by clean gravel was done over a period of many months.
But the council would have to pay out money for the Princess road site or the PCT were as selling the old town hall wigan council will make money. When will you people stand up for the town that voted you in Largest Bourough in Wigan MBC and gets second hand treatment unlike all the others Hindley, Goldborne, Platt Bridge , Pemberton, Orrell just to mention a few all with big new health centres but Ashton second hand small unusable private sector building. May will come quick and councillors who will fight for Ashton will hopefully be voted on. Not YES men to a M.P. who has no intrest in Ashton so is not bothered.
Argos closing, Co-op closing and people in suits with clipboards interested in Boots Chemist.
Heard that Tesco are having the whole site.
This is an easy one. The reason the town centre shops are closing is that they can't compete with the out-of-centre stores, with Tesco being the prime example. Keep giving planning consent to these and you'll keep seeing the small stores close. No footfall > No income > No future.
Tesco is an absolute rip off shop - with very very limited stock given the size of the stores, aldi, heron, home bargains all the way. plus - with the investment in the haydock store - why would they open a similar sized shop less than a mile away ??
Reason the stores are closing is more likely the buildings owners are putting up rents - and with sales deminishing it is becoming harder to justify having it open. I can see somerfield, boots and the restaurant closing soon, as the prices are just ridiculous. But it might give smaller local traders a boost - like the butchers & veg shop near the market. The christmas markets in Manc created a lot of interest, if ashtons market was given a rejuvination and had more stalls offering a variety of foods / services, im certain it would create a bit of buzz about the town
You misunderstand my point. I didn't say Tesco were moving into Ashton. But the footfall in the Haydock shop clearly suggests people are shopping there. And the reason? Well, everything under one roof, parking, brand reputation etc. I quite agree that its expensive, and this is the strategy : open the store, wipeout the competition, charge what you want. B & Q have the same method - ridiculously expensive as many of the local shops are now closed. And while you're at B & Q, well theres ASDA nextdoor, Boots, Wickes, Smyths, all with free parking. Is parking in town centre Wigan free? And thats high street stores close - blame the planners who couldn't spot the blindingly obvious if it slapped them in the face
*EDIT : And thats *why* high street stores close
Timely post on another another forum. School moves to new site, Tesco want to build opposite:
http://www.tescopoly.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=91&Itemid=107
Glad to see you are opposing The Oddfellows becoming another Tesco. I know you were not in the photograph in The WEP, as you were behind the camera. Come on Nigel as Labour councilors go, you are in the top ten. Stand with all the other councilors who oppose this onward march of Tesco. People would respect you even more if you were shown to put party behind you and Ashton/Bryn before you. tesco opposes The COOP at every opportunity, The COOP supported 28 Labour MP's at the last election, that is where your loyalty should be with an ethical retailer.
Best Regards Alan
Alan
Sorry to disappoint you but I believe it is Sainsburys who want to develop this site not Tescos
but I do agree with your comments about the Coop.
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