more store closures and job cuts ahead in uk?

This week? is store rent day,wonder how many stores won't be able to pay their rent and will have to go into adminstration?

I didn't realise that they paid quarterly. Hope there's not too many closures.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/20/rent-day-high-street-bust

'Rent day' may see further wave of high street shops go bust

Quarterly payment has spelt doom for high-profile chains in past, including Zavvi and Whittard of Chelsea

The high street could be hit by another wave of administrations as retailers prepare to stump up the latest quarterly rent payment, an insolvency expert has warned.

A wave of shops could be on the financial rack on Friday, when quarterly rents for commercial property are traditionally paid. A number of high-profile firms – including Whittard of Chelsea, clothes shop the Officer's Club and record shop Zavvi – have gone into administration shortly after "quarter day", which falls in late March, June, September and December, as they struggle to meet their rental obligations.

And with consumers cutting back on spending in the face of the worst squeeze in living standards for 40 years, Frances Coulson, president of insolvency trade body R3, believes that more businesses could follow suit this time round. The heavy snow that hit the UK during the winter may be a distant memory now, but she warned that the big freeze might still have something nasty in store for retailers.

"Trading conditions have clearly been extremely tough for many retailers since 2008, and after hanging on through the worst of the recession, the heavy snow that we all endured through the winter could well turn out to be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said. "A lot of firms would have drawn together the last of their resources to make it past the March payment date. The latest fall in retail sales shows that there has been little obvious improvement over the last three months, and we could be about to see another swathe of retailers reaching the end of the road when the quarterly rental payments fall due."

Retail sales dropped by 1.4% last month, official figures showed last week, as shoppers spent less on clothes and other non-essential items to pay for higher petrol prices. With low wage growth, high food bills and fears over job security, consumers are being squeezed from all sides. Retail administrations in the first quarter of this year rose by 30% to 60, compared with 46 in the same period last year, according to research by business advisory firm Deloitte. Notable victims this year include Focus DIY and off-licence chain Oddbins.

Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium said: "With customers reluctant to spend unless they have to and sales down on a year ago, big bills for the next three months' rent can only add to the pressures many retailers are facing. Boarded-up shops are in no one's interests. More commercial landlords should follow the example already being set by the best and offer greater flexibility on rental terms."

The BRC had been campaigning for years for landlords to switch to monthly rent payments and believes that for new leases, paying rent a month in advance has become the norm, thanks to its campaign. "We're still saying to landlords: offer this as an option for new and existing leases," said Dodd. "They would rather have the money three months in advance. We're saying it's an anachronism which has no place in the modern world of instant electronic payments."

But the British Property Federation rejected the claim. "Landlords have been very flexible during the recession and saved some significant retailers from insolvency as a result," director of policy Ian Fletcher said. "Concessions on existing leases ultimately have a cost to someone, in this case pensioners' savings in property. That is why our members feel it is better to offer help to those in need, rather than healthy businesses trying to exploit an opportunity to change their terms of trade."

R3's research found that close to a third of consumers are now doing more shopping online, with one in five admitting to buying non-essentials in supermarkets, not specialist retail chains.

Coulson said: "Landlords are usually pragmatic enough to realise that getting some of the money they're owed and having their premises occupied is better than getting none of it and having an empty store. Arrangements to delay or reduce the payments can often be reached, and the cashflow situation could also be helped by reaching new agreements with customers and suppliers."

ALEXON IS IN ADMINISTRATION,H AND M HAVING PROBLEMS

Out of Town shopping has been the death of the High Street, the Supermarkets are also to blame for selling clothes etc as well as food, and because
everyone has to budget, the likes of Primark is doing very well. It"s very sad to see well known Stores closing down and there is worse to come I fear.

I think the shock for everyone was Woolies closing down.

THERE WAS A PROGRAMME ON ITV1? ABOUT DEATH OF THE HIGH STREET.
SOME TOWN CENTRES HAVE 27/28% SHOP VACANCY RATE ESPECIALLY UP NORTH.
SKIPTON SEEMS TO BE GOING AGAINST THE TREND,IT IS IN A TOURIST AREA.

there was a programme on T.V. recently about a new shopping Mall opened in Stratford, near where the Olympic Games are to be held. It is Gigantic which caters for anything you could think of, yet again taking custom from the Town, when are City Planners going to realise the damage they are doing.

BLACK LEISURE AND C,LINTON CARDS MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE

Badboy wrote:BLACK LEISURE AND C,LINTON CARDS MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE

With the Greetings Cards free on the internet , it"s knocked a big hole in Cards bought in shops.

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:BLACK LEISURE AND C,LINTON CARDS MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE

With the Greetings Cards free on the internet , it"s knocked a big hole in Cards bought in shops.

a google search come up with 83 million search results!

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:BLACK LEISURE AND C,LINTON CARDS MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE

With the Greetings Cards free on the internet , it"s knocked a big hole in Cards bought in shops.

The small card shops will be suffering because supermarkets now sell cards for those who still want them! I hardly ever buy cards these days.

When I moved to this town 20 years ago, I used to go 'uptown,' for my shopping. At that time, there were a few small cafes on the main street and several shoe shops. If we wanted shoes, we'd start at one end of the street and try the various shops. The shoe shops have mostly gone and so have the cafes. Twenty years ago, the supermarkets closed at 5.30, apart from Thursday, when they were open until 8pm. After 5.30pm, I'd use the local shops. Now, there's a retail park round the corner and there are three other out of town supermarkets within a few minutes' drive. Two more are set to open just round the corner.

There used to be two clothes shops in town that sold the kind of clothes the chain stores didn't, but both went years ago. Now, I have chain stores or supermarkets for clothes and because the out of town supermarkets sell clothes, I think some of the chain stores in the town could be in trouble.

THE OUT OF TOWN TESCO I GO TO IS PRACTICALLY OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY OR ALMOST 24 HOURS A DAY.
EVEN THE OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING CENTRE IS SUFFERING,Q AND CLARK'S HAVE SHUT UP SHOP.

Badboy wrote:THE OUT OF TOWN TESCO I GO TO IS PRACTICALLY OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY OR ALMOST 24 HOURS A DAY.
EVEN THE OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING CENTRE IS SUFFERING,Q AND CLARK'S HAVE SHUT UP SHOP.

My local Tesco has recently been extended to include clothing. It's open 24 hours a day, until Saturday at midnight, when it opens for Sunday hours at 10am.

Our local Asda opens 24 hours and has done untold damage to all the
small shops in the town with many closed down and it makes the centre
look awful. We are still holding on because of our faithful customers
of years but I'm afraid the customers and ourselves are a dying breed.
Our saving Grace is the old fashioned sweetie jars, hundreds of them.
People still love asking for 'a quarter' or '2oz' put in a proper 'poke' [bag].

IT IS BEING SAID THAT NO RETAILER IS TOO BIG TO FAIL.

Habitat closed down recently , Clark"s shoes also, these took up a lot of store space, both Corner shops and Town is looking more and more bereft.

It"s very sad that Town Centres are starting to look like ghost towns.

Panda wrote:Habitat closed down recently , Clark"s shoes also, these took up a lot of store space, both Corner shops and Town is looking more and more bereft.

It"s very sad that Town Centres are starting to look like ghost towns.

I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT CLARK'S SHOES SHUT DOWN,I DID NOTICE THAT THE CLARK'S SHOES IN THE OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING CENTRE CLOSEED DOWN,BUT THOUGHT THEY WERE STILL GOING IN THE TOWN CENTRE.
ONCE BROUGHT SOME SLIPPERS FROM THEM.

Badboy wrote:

Panda wrote:Habitat closed down recently , Clark"s shoes also, these took up a lot of store space, both Corner shops and Town is looking more and more bereft.

It"s very sad that Town Centres are starting to look like ghost towns.

I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT CLARK'S SHOES SHUT DOWN,I DID NOTICE THAT THE CLARK'S SHOES IN THE OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING CENTRE CLOSEED DOWN,BUT THOUGHT THEY WERE STILL GOING IN THE TOWN CENTRE.
ONCE BROUGHT SOME SLIPPERS FROM THEM.

Morning Badboy,

clark"s was always known for quality but with the advent of cheap shoes, not designed to last, and of course people having to budget more upmarkets
Brands are feeling the pinch.

RECENTLY(YESTERDAY),I NOTICED IN OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING CENTRE ANOTHER SHOP WAS EMPTY,AT THIS RATE ONLY TESCO,BANK,CHARITY SHOPS,SUPERDRUG AND THE AWARD WINNING CHIPPIE ARE GOING TO BE OPEN IN A YEAR TIME.

ITS SEEMS THAT HARDLY ANY SHOPS HAVE CLOSED DOWN THIS SEPTEMBER,BUT I DID SEE AN ARTICLE HEADLINE SUGGESTING THAT 5 RETAIL CHAINS MIGHT NOT SURVIVE UNTIL NEW YEAR,HMV AND CLINTON CARDS

COMET HAS BEEN SOLD FOR £2!

MOTHERCARE IS TO CLOSE 100 UK STORES,THEY ARE OVER 80MILLION IN RED.

Badboy wrote:MOTHERCARE IS TO CLOSE 100 UK STORES,THEY ARE OVER 80MILLION IN RED.

That doesn't surprise me. When my children were little, Mothercare was the best place for children's clothes, cheaper than M&S and better designs. Now, all the supermarkets sell an extensive range of clothes and some sell buggies and everything else that Mothercare stocks, only more of it.

AnnaEsse wrote:

Badboy wrote:MOTHERCARE IS TO CLOSE 100 UK STORES,THEY ARE OVER £80MILLION IN RED.

That doesn't surprise me. When my children were little, Mothercare was the best place for children's clothes, cheaper than M&S and better designs. Now, all the supermarkets sell an extensive range of clothes and some sell buggies and everything else that Mothercare stocks, only more of it.

I THINK THAT WHAT THEY SAID THE PROBLEM WAS,ONLY THE NON-BRITISH PART OF MOTHERCARE IS THRIVING.

THOMAS COOK IS IN TROUBLE