Thursday 9 May 2019

Death of the High Street

Working on a daughter's mountain bike over last weekend. It was daughter A's bike that she had given to daughter B. Needed general clean and oil and the brakes did not work. Worn out brake blocks. Diagnosed at about 16.00 hrs.

To get into the local town to buy new ones and get home, round trip time probably 45 minutes minimum, and it was Sunday so limited choice of shops and the proper bike shop was over the other side of town, maybe an hour plus of driving.

Onto the web. Searched bike brake blocks. Did a bit of reading buyer comments. Ordered a set of new ones (from Amazon as it happens - Amazon fulfilled but sold by a specialist bike part retailer). Delivery said to be next day.

Went off and got on with other things like cutting grass.

Checked emails at about 17.00 - parts had been dispatched.

Next day - parts arrived at about lunch time. And fitted by 14.00.

Why on earth would I want to struggle through traffic and waste about an hour of my life driving to buy them myself from the High Street?

And it must be more 'green' to have them delivered like this as the van had lots of deliveries to make, rather than me making one run.

The High Street is doomed. Or maybe High Street landlords are doomed?

4 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

Well yes and no. I live ten minutes from the shops, so using the same basic logic gives me different outcomes,

Bayard said...

OTOH, if you want whatever right now and can think of other things to buy while you are in town, then it makes a trip worthwhile, even if you live in the sticks. It does depend on being able to find someone who sells what you want on the internet first.

Tim Almond said...

It's still a long way from dying, but retail is suffering and will continue to do so.

There's still things like tactile feel or advice. My wife is into sewing, knitting, crochet and all that stuff and yesterday, we bought her a new bit of machinery. We went to her local sewing shop to buy it. They could explain it all and how it worked and the features. I don't mind paying extra for that (although the best Amazon price was the same.

One thing that's happened is that there's clustering of the "high street". There's news stories showing boarded up high streets and places full of betting and charity shops, but go to Reading, Manchester, Bristol and they have more retail space than ever. It's a combination of things: more wealth, more mobility, women working and having less time, but a lot of women now would rather travel from Swindon to Bristol to do a shopping trip than do so locally when they need something that's more particular, like an outfit for an occasion, or to update their wardrobe. Because in one trip, you're more likely to find something you really like in a big place.

Lola said...

MW - yes. Agreed. But I don't!
Bayard. Fatal. Encourages you to invent stuff to buy. Oh. Wait a mo...Got it...and a good reason for why I ordered on-line.
TS. Me too (#metoo?) I am back to buying clothes locally. Luckily most of the kit I buy I can already use or I can watch a how to video on youtube. Mrs L does lots of crafty stuff and she gets pretty well all her capital equipment on line - through one or other of my accounts....ah yes. Just got it.