Mary Portas review of the High Street

What do you think of her proposals?

http://www.maryportas.com/news/2011/12/12/my-28-recommendations/

I think if it's used as a foundation on which to build, rather than a final end result, then towns/cities/ consumers/ traders can only benefit.

It's all moot. While people can set up online and sell for peanuts, slashing the RRP into pieces (usually to pay for a few holidays a year), genuine retail will never survive.

If the Government fixed prices to a set threshold, then that might have a decent effect on retail everywhere.

What do you think of her proposals?

I cannot see those 'surviving' retailers putting up with ever-increasing rates from Councils, when Councils would (under the proposal) permit stallholders and carbooters to gravely undermine their sales and profitability weekly or bi-weekly. Two fingers salute, with associated job losses and Council rate revenue losses, more like. Thus accelerating the high street demise, rather than curbing/solving it.

Let's face it: currently, there are ever less amounts of disposable income around, so ever less opportunities for shops to trade. So, a likely solution should not look to increase retailing floorspace/outlets to begin with

The rest is just...well...typical, wishy-washy, I'm-currently-fashionable-and-hired-to-poop-soundbites vapourware.

Move onto the next "professional celeb" redundant opinion.

I cannot see those 'surviving' retailers putting up with ever-increasing rates from Councils, when Councils would (under the proposal) permit stallholders and carbooters to gravely undermine their sales and profitability weekly or bi-weekly. Two fingers salute, with associated job losses and Council rate revenue losses, more like. Thus accelerating the high street demise, rather than curbing/solving it.

I was going to add this, but I felt 'leave it for someone else'. This is a major issue, the rents and rates are already outrageous. I have friends with stores on the high street, Abbeydale Road and Chesterfield Road and the rent + rates combo is crippling.

I don't know how most of them survive.

In a word as in a hundred: irrelevant.

 

I cannot see those 'surviving' retailers putting up with ever-increasing rates from Councils, ...

Rates are not set by the councils, so as the governments regulations stipulate that business rate charges must rise in line with inflation, it's pretty much a case of pay up or close up.

The proposals are nothing new. How much has she been paid to come up with this? City Centre markets - hmmm, just how many mobile phone covers do I need anyway?

I if I paid rent and rates on Fargate all year, I'd be livid at the market being there taking up all the space where there ought to be shoppers and making money at my expense.

Karis is right about online being a problem. High street stores need to provide things you wouldn't know to search for, and give great service.

The bit about affordable units is right, but there won't be enough. Imagine if there were 16 'affordable' units in Meadowhall. That'd be great if you had one, but it would make survival even harder for independents who didn't get one because there would be even less reason to go to the high street, and more reason to go out of town.

Rates are not set by the councils

Imagine if there were 16 'affordable' units in Meadowhall.

Meadowhall is still (so I am informed) one of the most profitable retail floorspaces in the UK, neck-and-neck with Oxford Street (London) at Xmas time year after year (1st or 2nd nationally), and unit rents reflect the fact. You can bet a non-trivial sum that British Land would never let the Gvt pass legislation that directly influences their business model and profitability.

That said, the same can be said of most other out of town mall-like units throughout the country.

Business rates are calculated and collected by your local authority. They are put in a central pool and then redistributed to local authorities to meet the needs of particular authorities. [governement link]

 

The rates are calculated by the council - the rates are calculated by reference to the rateable value (set by the Valuation Office Agency of HM Revenus and Customs) and the national rate muliplier (set by the government).[\quote]

 

So although the rates are calculated by the council, it has no control over the resulting charge.

So although the rates are calculated by the council, it has no control over the resulting charge.

Doesn't change the argument, 'though: bringing in more retail outlets (of whatever definition, even 'blanket on the pavement') would likely increase the rate of (in your words-) close-ups

It's all moot. While people can set up online and sell for peanuts, slashing the RRP into pieces (usually to pay for a few holidays a year), genuine retail will never survive.

 

If the Government fixed prices to a set threshold, then that might have a decent effect on retail everywhere.

You couldn't be more wrong about retail shops. I buy a lot of craft products from specialist craft shops. Some are in towns such as Barnsley and others in out of town shopping areas. The prices some of these charge are expensive considering the price they can buy some of the products for. I use these shops as the staff are usually the owners. They are friendly, knowledgeable and show you how to use the products you are looking at purchasing. Quite a few of these people are no longer selling on line (on a popular internet auction site) due to the price of selling on there and the market being flooded by unwanted / second hand items.

I do most of my shopping in local villages with the exception of clothing. I go to Meadowhall for clothes.

I shop on line for specialist items I can't find in the shops.

I stopped shopping in the high streets years ago as I don't like the quality of service generally provided in high street stores unless you are using a personal shopper service.

If parking was easier and service was better I would shop in towns again.

You couldn't be more wrong about retail shops.

I'm not sure how I 'couldn't be more wrong' as it seems this entire post agrees with everything I said. And, more, you're not even talking about the high street shops but about specialist shops, which is very different and cater to a different crowd, and shops like those can't compete on the high street due to much lower sales.

Thanks Chez2... I was getting a little worried about the negativity;)

I'm not looking at the High Street as one street in a city centre- I see a High Street as a main run of shops within a residential area- for example, Hillsborough, Woodseats, Chapeltown etc.

Number Six said "High street stores need to provide things you wouldn't know to search for, and give great service." I still think that's the strength of retail over internet/ catalogue shopping.

We organised a Christmas event in Hillsborough last night (along with the council Regeneration Team)- had a tree switch on, brass band, treasure hunt, Father Christmas etc. It was our first one, and (I think) it went really well. Fingers crossed we'll get more traders involved to do more stuff like this.

You can't get that experience off an internet, but it does need a lot of support from businesses/ local groups/ councils etc.

That's what I took from the review