High Street gloom

[woolley]

47 minutes ago, Declan said:

The future model for high streets is supposed to be more homes, which then supports nightlife, coffee places, restaurants, Tesco express, niche browsy shops etc. 

By having people living there it generates footfall, which makes the businesses that remain popular and the people from the Suburbs and surrounding villages are drawn in. 

Edit to add: I struggle to see this in Strand Street, The Quay perhaps Castletown and Peel maybe  

But in "more homes, coffee places, restaurants, Tesco Express and niche shops etc." you are actually describing the suburbs. Nobody, well, very few, will bother to go into the town centre for that alone. I struggle to see it on the Island at all. In larger conurbations elsewhere around cities, it foretells of endless suburbs with black holes at the centre as far as retail is concerned. We are getting there.

[woolley]

54 minutes ago, Neil Down said:

In there quest to satisfy the finance sector, Douglas virtually chased out all the people who used to live in Central Douglas. Could that be the crux of the problem or just a contributing factor

At the very least it didn't help!

[woolley]

4 hours ago, craggy_steve said:

Peter Norris closed down a few days ago. There endeth the last proper music shop on the island. Yes, it's a very bad thing. 

Yes, saddened by this. Ken is a nice fellow. He'd tried before in his own name back in the 90s I recall. I thought he might have a chance when he took on Peter Norris's trade, but then there is always the dreaded internet! I did think he might have some government work because in the businesses I have come into contact with or been involved with over the years, IOMG did always try to put contracts the way of local operators. Maybe it didn't happen in this case for some reason, or perhaps with cutbacks they haven't been buying so many instruments for the schools.

[woolley]

1 hour ago, dilligaf said:

Supermarkets in Bavaria are limited to what they sell, so butchers, bakers and pharmacies are always busy here.

It used to be the same in Britain. Supermarkets sold groceries. Then of course they put the small grocers out of business and eventually realised the margins weren't great, so they started selling everything else under the sun and set about ruining established businesses in those markets too. Specialists who knew their trade and stocked in depth rather than just the few best selling lines were lost. Race to the bottom.

[hissingsid]

So....do you think extra parking, free for two hours would help ?    I think it might, it would not solve the problem but it may help a bit.

[Non-Believer]

10 minutes ago, woolley said:

It used to be the same in Britain. Supermarkets sold groceries. Then of course they put the small grocers out of business and eventually realised the margins weren't great, so they started selling everything else under the sun and set about ruining established businesses in those markets too. Specialists who knew their trade and stocked in depth rather than just the few best selling lines were lost. Race to the bottom.

Indeed. The internet is taking a second bite out of the same high street that the supermarkets have already given a good chewing to. But we the consumer set the demands. Supply evolves to suit. We may rue what is happening but we ourselves are driving it by our ongoing demands for price, efficiency and convenience.

[Neil Down]

2 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

Really? I thought the entire promenade, which used to be hotels hotels hotels had now turned into flats flats flats and the odd apartment.

You’re not really that clever are you?

[thesultanofsheight]

11 hours ago, hissingsid said:

So....do you think extra parking, free for two hours would help ?    I think it might, it would not solve the problem but it may help a bit.

It would definitely help but as it would cost the Corpy money it won’t be happening. Money going direct into governments pocket first is the overriding requirement of the Manx economy. 

[Donald Trumps]

1 hour ago, thesultanofsheight said:

It would definitely help but as it would cost the Corpy money it won’t be happening. Money going direct into governments pocket first is the overriding requirement of the Manx economy. 

Indeed

[Albert Tatlock]

Retail needs to change its business model. We have 30 thousand people working in offices and elsewhere - working the same hours as retail. Retail needs to shift to 10.30am to 8/9pm work patterns.

But a raft of other things need to change in parallel...such as a reduction in rents, lower business rates and much more free parking.

People do not have much spare cash due to overly priced domestic house prices and rents, with £millions leaving the IOM each month going off to UK mortgage lenders. Resident based ownership and inheritance tax also need to be considered.

The island has been raped by outsiders, and crippled by government driven artificially high property prices and stealth taxes, and local authority charges.

Little wonder we are losing nearly 1000 18-30 year olds each year.

[Donald Trumps]

Need to change the tourism model too Albert

We are now in the lunatic situation where DfE is giving taxpayers money to hoteliers who seemingly are unable to staff their own properties

[woody2]

15 hours ago, dilligaf said:

Supermarkets in Bavaria are limited to what they sell, so butchers, bakers and pharmacies are always busy here.

People also use the coffee places as meeting places and will usually go to get their bread, meat and meds then spend time in the coffee bar, before picking up their parcels from amazon, at the post office on their way home.

i have seen towns do that in the uk.......

one town tescos wasn't allowed the different counters......

town is still full of independent shops, no chain coffee shops etc........

so it can work.......

[pongo]

19 hours ago, woolley said:

The reason that coffee shops, niche eateries, art shops, etc. do reasonably well today is because there is still a rump of real traditional businesses on the streets supplying groceries, household goods, consumer durables, jewellery, etc. Maybe some people will visit the high street especially to partake in coffee shops, tapas bars and peruse art galleries, but these outlets also need footfall from the residue of people who still actually shop like their parents did

The business economy brings people into Douglas. People are in Douglas working.

No doubt a few people still pop up to M&S or Next at the w/e. But ever fewer.

I cannot even see much future for places like PC World / Currys unless they start having more stuff in stock to actually take away. It's pointless visiting a shop to be told that "we can order that for you" - whether it's shoes or TVs. Might as well just read the reviews and order online.

[doc.fixit]

17 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Indeed. The internet is taking a second bite out of the same high street that the supermarkets have already given a good chewing to. But we the consumer set the demands. Supply evolves to suit. We may rue what is happening but we ourselves are driving it by our ongoing demands for price, efficiency and convenience.

.....and eventually when the majority of shopping is done over the internet we are completely controlled by a few world businesses............they will dictate what we can and cannot buy and when...........whoever and whichever country or countries control those businesses will control the world.........talk about big brother, what are we heading for?............

[yootalkin2me]

On 1/6/2019 at 4:42 PM, doc.fixit said:

.....and eventually when the majority of shopping is done over the internet we are completely controlled by a few world businesses............they will dictate what we can and cannot buy and when...........whoever and whichever country or countries control those businesses will control the world.........talk about big brother, what are we heading for?............

And it is at that point we shall all bear the mark of the beast.