eBay & the Internet killed the High Street

[Kayos]

I buy a lot from Screwfix, often order online and pick it up

When I need certain boilers it’s online all the way, if they are £5-700 cheaper online and I can get a guaranteed before 10am delivery why wouldn’t I?

If I’m £500 cheaper than the bloke who uses the local merchant “because I always have” then he is going to lose out

 

[angellonewolf]

but when the shops are gone the prices can rise its why there are no local shops around tesco done this 30 years ago under priced all the local shops the went now cost £2 for grapes with nice plastic packing

 

[anto44]

It is sad to see local places going to wall due to lost sales to the internet but on the other hand my local place charges the same for 1 bandsaw blade as tuffsaws.co.uk charges me for 3 (including postage) and the blades off tuffsaw are better quality. I buy local if I can but I can't justify spending 3x the money for a lower quality product just to support my local shop.

 

[Ashley Burton]

The cost of running a High Street shop is always going to be more expensive than running an internet business. I would choose local, But they never have what you need at the right price.

 

[anto44]

I could name (but I won't for legal reasons) the name of an Irish company that supplies welding products that buys the big sets of plasma consumables off that riverweld place, rebags them into bags of 5 and makes about 2000% mark up on them. They're a dealer for a brand of plasma cutter and even though they don't actually say they're genuine consumables, the average person would be given the impression from the way the display them that what they're buying is a genuine part.

 

[Ashley Burton]

I could name (but I won't for legal reasons) the name of an Irish company that supplies welding products that buys the big sets of plasma consumables off that riverweld place, rebags them into bags of 5 and makes about 2000% mark up on them. They're a dealer for a brand of plasma cutter and even though they don't actually say they're genuine consumables, the average person would be given the impression from the way the display them that what they're buying is a genuine part.

People that do this annoy me as they are giving people a false illusion. Bit like the genuine Knipex cutters I bought without any markings on them!

 

[anto44]

People that do this annoy me as they are giving people a false illusion. Bit like the genuine Knipex cutters I bought without any markings on them!

There's a lot of honest genuine local shops out there but there's lots of places doing stuff like this. I don't mind walking into a local shop and paying a premium price to buy a product. But for that premium I expect to getting a premium product with the service,quality and guarantee that I've paid for. If I'm going to buy some random cheap Chinese product I'll buy it off ebay myself. When I bought my tig I bought it off a local shop and paid €275 more than if I'd bought it off the web. I didn't mind the €275 as the way I see it that money went towards allowing me to walk into the shop and look at it and other welders before I bought. If something goes wrong i can put it in the car and drive down there and explain what's wrong. Instead of spending days sending emails back and forth, then boxing it up and arranging couriers etc.

 

[RonA]

Councils never seem to learn either. Parking charges can end up similar to or more than on line postage. Might as well stay at home and order online. Spend enough and they will post for free. ( I know postage is wrapped up in the item cost but even that is usually cheaper than the High Street!)

Couldn’t agree more, judging by your location you’re plagued by the same councils as myself. They pedestrianise the roads round the shops, build a car park/s where it costs a fortune to park & then scratch their heads when nobody goes anymore. Come on councillors, it’s not rocket science, if you want people back in your high street shops make car parking & bus fares for non car owners reasonable. Otherwise, the Ghost towns will persist
RonA

 

[zx9]

I shall retract the statement re insert costs.
Just double checked and cheaper in store by a little.
Must have viewed a different item when checking earlier.

And you did not have to wait at least five days for the standard delivery, if Chronos had faster delivery or I lived local to them I would probably use them more often.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

And you did not have to wait at least five days for the standard delivery, if Chronos had faster delivery or I lived local to them I would probably use them more often.

Aye.
Il definetly be returning for a future visit.
Seem to get really quick delivery from them thought.1 to 2 days depending on what time ordered.

 

[daleyd]

We’ve got the same situation in Wrexham , they built at least 3 separate areas away from the town centre all the time saying they would be “an exciting addition”.

What everyone said would happen (apart from the council) did - all the big shops moved out of the town centre to the shiny new out of town areas and the centre has become full of charity shops, pound shops and vapeing stores plus quite a few empty boarded up ones. Parking in the new areas was extortionate, the whole area took a real hit and is now just somewhere we avoid at all costs if possible. The out of town areas are so far apart that they are just not convenient to walk from one to another, it’s possibly been the worst example of town planning I’ve seen in my life!

What used to be a nice vibrant market town has been trashed by bad planning, and not one person has ever been held accountable for the shoddy decisions made.

 

[rtbcomp]

It's business rates that annoy me. An arbitrary amount depending on what someone think's your property's worth with no regard as to whether you can afford it or not. Then they introduce relief schemes which cost money to implement. They should be transferred to corporation tax/self-assessment then you pay once you've earned the money and no extra admin.

The downside of internet shopping for me is delivery times - "up to 5 days" means I can't really plan to go out for 5 days just in case a delivery turns up. Click and Collect is my preferred option, at least you know you won't have a wasted journey to the shops.

 

[brightspark]

trouble is with rates its the local council that get the cash . there building thousands of expensive houses round our aria and causing traffic problems but the council are rubbing there hands at extra revenue they don't care how many shops go out of business because of it

 

[wookie]

its the same when you go shopping which isle do you pick the one with a cashier or the one where you scan it yourself

I know what you mean but I deliberately pick the cashier even if I have to queue and the work for the supermarket for free scan it yourself has empty spaces, once when a cashier pointed out the empty DIY tills I replied "No thanks I'm keeping you in a job" only to receive a puzzled look, made me wonder why I bother.

 

[armalites]

We’ve got the same situation in Wrexham , they built at least 3 separate areas away from the town centre all the time saying they would be “an exciting addition”.

What everyone said would happen (apart from the council) did - all the big shops moved out of the town centre to the shiny new out of town areas and the centre has become full of charity shops, pound shops and vapeing stores plus quite a few empty boarded up ones. Parking in the new areas was extortionate, the whole area took a real hit and is now just somewhere we avoid at all costs if possible. The out of town areas are so far apart that they are just not convenient to walk from one to another, it’s possibly been the worst example of town planning I’ve seen in my life!

What used to be a nice vibrant market town has been trashed by bad planning, and not one person has ever been held accountable for the shoddy decisions made.

The Old Market development has done the same to Hereford even though it is still in the town centre.

 

[rtbcomp]

trouble is with rates its the local council that get the cash . there building thousands of expensive houses round our aria and causing traffic problems but the council are rubbing there hands at extra revenue they don't care how many shops go out of business because of it

The Council don't get the cash (except in a few experimental cases) from business rates, they collect it and pass it on to the Treasury and get paid for doing so. There are plans afoot to allow Councils to set the rates and keep the money.

 

[Welderpaul]

Road bike parts is a good example - go to local bike shop, as you 'should', can chat about what you need, look at whats on offer and pay, say £100 for it...when it comes into stock because, perhaps understandably, he doesn't want to keep £1,000's of gear in stock just in case it sells so buys in what you want.

Or....Go online on Wiggle, always in stock, pay £79.99, order before 10pm and you get it next day. Get it delivered to work so I'm not going to miss the delivery.

No brainer really.

 

[Ashley Burton]

The downside of internet shopping for me is delivery times - "up to 5 days" means I can't really plan to go out for 5 days just in case a delivery turns up. Click and Collect is my preferred option, at least you know you won't have a wasted journey to the shops.

I have no problem with delivery times personally, Always get stuff within a few days. Always have stuff delivered to my place of work if they won't fit through the letter box.

I know what you mean but I deliberately pick the cashier even if I have to queue and the work for the supermarket for free scan it yourself has empty spaces, once when a cashier pointed out the empty DIY tills I replied "No thanks I'm keeping you in a job" only to receive a puzzled look, made me wonder why I bother.

I do exactly the same, If there is someone sat at a till I let them scan my shopping

Road bike parts is a good example - go to local bike shop, as you 'should', can chat about what you need, look at whats on offer and pay, say £100 for it...when it comes into stock because, perhaps understandably, he doesn't want to keep £1,000's of gear in stock just in case it sells so buys in what you want.

Or....Go online on Wiggle, always in stock, pay £79.99, order before 10pm and you get it next day. Get it delivered to work so I'm not going to miss the delivery.

No brainer really.

I've given up on my local bike shop, The prices are just worlds apart. I tried to stay loyal, But it just doesn't pay!

On a better note, Went into Wilko this morning & got exactly what I need at the right price. They are one of the few shops on the High Street which are doing a good job.

 

[angellonewolf]

I've given up on my local bike shop, The prices are just worlds apart. I tried to stay loyal, But it just doesn't pay!

parts in bike shops are one of the worst but you should not blame them the amount of bottem brackets etc on the market you would fill half a shop just by stocking all of them add in the fact of then they are not used in 2 years time

a mate had a bike shop and went bust trying to stock lots of bikes and meny parts

i did say at the start only do repairs stock the basics and order in the parts you need for next day if booked in order the part day before build up but hayho

 

[Kent]

I don't know about everyone else, But I've stopped bothering to use High Street shops if I'm not in any major rush.

I generally find what I need at a click of a button

Sadly local shops just can't compete & I do try to use local, But its got to the stage I'm giving up trying!

Anyone else feel the same?

Completely opposite actually. I also try and focus on independent traders. Service is worth a lot ! When your selling face to face you don't want clients Comming back telling you what you sold them is junk!