Shops You Want to See in Stafford

[Thehooperman]

And the public gets what the public wants;
But I want nothing this society's got;
I'm going underground (going underground).

That's what we need - an underground to get to the retail units.

 

[The Hawk]

That's what we need - an underground to get to the retail units.

Didn't the Newsletter announce that, one April 1st, going back quite a few years?

 

[Tilly]

Whilst that is true to a degree, there is absolutely nowhere in the town centre where I can buy certain things I want.

For example, I cannot buy Nikon photographic gear in Stafford*. Peter Rogers, for some reason, refuse to stock Nikon equipment and therefore lost out when I recently spent £2,500 on new equipment. That left me with two choices. Buy from an internet seller or visit another town/city - which is what I did.




*Yes I know PC World/Currys stock Nikon kit but not the level of equipment I want.

£2.5k on a camera!?!

You must be a dentist

 

[Gramaisc]

Didn't the Newsletter announce that, one April 1st, going back quite a few years?

I remember a monorail that was just going to run along the top of the lampposts for ease of construction and limited disruption during the construction phase.

 

[Gareth]

On the High Street I'd like to see:

H&M
Primark,
M&S
Dotty Ps' and the rest of that group
Ladies clothes shops
Mens clothes shops
A vinyl record store
HMV would be fab
Somewhere to buy underwear
Shoe shops
TK Maxx
Matalan
And lots of cool independant stores!

Think, Stafford high Street in the 1970's and 80's with a few extra big stores!


I say this after going down town on Saturday to buy some underwear and clothes and not being able to find a single thing. Is there even any clothes shops left on the High Street, certainly not High Street north!! Ended up in Asda

I do fear a sense of delusion has come upon me this morning

Sigh!!!

Bar virtually all of that is in the town or cusp of. The whole town is probably no more than 400 yards in length, certainly smaller than most larger shipping centres.

Big brands do not want nice pretty high street buildings and Stafford`s are way to small and most of those have moved into a nice shiny new build anyway.

Of course if we knocked down the grade listed buildings there would soon be uproar and one would hope planners at least have at least learnt from the crap builds of the 60/70s.

The retail offer up and down the country in towns is diminishing, that isn't going to get better it will get worse. You look at House of Fraser begging landlords currently to drip rent and Debenhams and M&S profits taking huge hits, they will be closing stores within 5 years. Shows the issues of retail in this country

There needs to alternative uses for town centres, more town centre living and leisure.

Stafford`s north end needs development but not sure retail is key. One of the town's issues over the years is the retail displacement,common issue with older high streets/ town centres.

 

[tek-monkey]

Retail is not the key, a lot of people hate shopping. The reason I use the internet so much is because I can shop at 3am, in my pants, and nobody asks if I need help with anything. Actually, maybe if I went shopping in my pants and they asked this I'd shop more often Anyway, I digress. I hate clothes shopping, I hate all shopping apart from food TBH, and I certainly hate shop assistants trying to help me when I just want to browse in my own time. For me the internet is king.

Now obviously I don't speak for all. I know that if you want a fancy outfit you want to try it on, but I don't want one in the first place so I don't care. Town is for stuff you need immediately, for everything else the internet caters better (and amazon are doing same day deliveries in some cities already).

 

[Gramaisc]

The problems of delivery are a reason to avoid mail-order shopping, however, I bought an item on behalf of an internet-averse friend from eBay at 8:15pm on Saturday night and I found it on my doorstep this morning...

 

[Jonah]

£2.5k on a camera!?!

You must be a dentist

Nope. The camera makes me money to buy more kit.

 

[Tilly]

Nope. The camera makes me money to buy more kit.

Private Dick!

 

[proactive]

Private Dick!

 

[Gramaisc]

Oooh, you are awful!

 

[Mikinton]

..... (and amazon are doing same day deliveries in some cities already).

Probably just as well.

What is Amazon Go?
Amazon Go is a new kind of store with no checkout required. We created the world’s most advanced shopping technology so you never have to wait in line. With our Just Walk Out Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout. (No, seriously.)

https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/955522688268746752

 

[Gramaisc]

Quite a few people have been practising the technique in Stafford for a few years.

 

[Tilly]

 

[pinky]

Sigh!!!

Bar virtually all of that is in the town or cusp of. The whole town is probably no more than 400 yards in length, certainly smaller than most larger shipping centres.

Big brands do not want nice pretty high street buildings and Stafford`s are way to small and most of those have moved into a nice shiny new build anyway.

Of course if we knocked down the grade listed buildings there would soon be uproar and one would hope planners at least have at least learnt from the crap builds of the 60/70s.

The retail offer up and down the country in towns is diminishing, that isn't going to get better it will get worse. You look at House of Fraser begging landlords currently to drip rent and Debenhams and M&S profits taking huge hits, they will be closing stores within 5 years. Shows the issues of retail in this country

There needs to alternative uses for town centres, more town centre living and leisure.

Stafford`s north end needs development but not sure retail is key. One of the town's issues over the years is the retail displacement,common issue with older high streets/ town centres.

I was made redundant from a brand named store using one of the pretty town buildings because they upped the rent to a price the company couldn't afford. Town rates need to be reduced.

 

[proactive]

I was made redundant from a brand named store using one of the pretty town buildings because they upped the rent to a price the company couldn't afford. Town rates need to be reduced.

Rent and rates are entirely different things.

Rent you can blame on the landlord.

Rates you can blame on Central Government.

 

[Gramaisc]

High rents "add value" to a building, in the minds of landlords and other landlords that they think they can sell it to, even if it is unoccupied for years...

 

[Noah]

And the public gets what the public wants;
But I want nothing this society's got;
I'm going underground (going underground).

Crossing over to the Earworms thread, we look after our grandson two days a week & he quite selectively watches CBeebies. The Hawk's post has brought this https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/magic-door-cave to mind.

 

[Gareth]

I think where ever you look people are always unhappy about something.

Lichfield folk having a right moan about the lack of certain things with the news of Lichfield`s 4th costa and second lidl to be built. People complaining about road, network, going to brum instead and one stating time to move out of lichfield lol
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1723046271049438&id=637018759652200