What would you like to see happen to all the empty shops?

[Wormella]

Oh - And charity shops are often given favourable / free rates to keep an empty shop open.

 

[MISS T]

I drive up to Highfields for my meat, which was a mammoth trek whilst Newport Rd was closed, but the quality is top notch.

It's sad to see the town dying on it's arse, but I don't see it improving in the near future.

 

[Mrs M]

Hey - I'm a newcomer here, I'm not talking about what used to be. From what I see now you still have butchers, fishmongers, bakeries, veg shops in the centre of town - not to mention the market. A art supply shop, framing shops, haberdashery, camping shops.

I lived in the centre of Liverpool for 3 years - there was none of this - we had to use the little Tesco or Sainsbury in the town (the expensive ones full of ready meals and no actual ingredients). There was a market but primarily it sold trainers and hand bags - not much in the way of food. There was one or two delicatessents but they increasingly sold faddy things (multi coloured pasta and £8 a bar chocolates etc), not proper food or ingredients.

It is possible to do your weekly shop in town - but Tek Monkey does raise a good point when he says it's inconvenient if you work 9-5, but town is bustling on a Saturday, especially if it's a farmers market (2nd Saturday of the month) - but it will only stay that way if people use it. We do use Supermarkets too - but we try and balance what we buy. If we can get it in town, then we will.

I'm quite aware that things change and we have to move on with the times but Stafford isn't doing anything. By looking at what we had we can see how bad things are now. The town is fast becoming a ghost town. We may have some decent trade still left in the town but how long will it stay, everything is closing down fast. It's okay to say we're lucky to have these shops but for how long. Even with the farmers market. The indoor market is slowly disappearing too, have you seen the empty stalls there? Apart from the market butcher I cannot think of a town centre butcher either, just some that are local to certain areas. You may not have had these things where you come from but we have had them and we want to keep them.

 

[Brendan]

The former TSB branch on Gaolgate St is opening as Three Mobile, cos we need another phone shop. The other half of the unit is to be converted for a new Betfred shop.

I couldn't beleive it when I walked past on the way to work and they were putting up the 3 mobile sign!?! Eh?

So what's missing? Stafford has most major high street clothes retailers? A Schuh perhaps?? There's not much going in the line of footwear. As Al Bundy said "People will always need shoes!".

 

[Mrs M]

Sorry, just re-read my last reply and it seems a bit harsh. I am not trying to get at you wormella but as you said in your reply when you lived in the centre of Liverpool,

'....There was a market but primarily it sold trainers and hand bags - not much in the way of food. There was one or two delicatessents but they increasingly sold faddy things (multi coloured pasta and £8 a bar chocolates etc), not proper food or ingredients.'

If nothing is done about Stafford soon it will end up the same way, if not worse.

I did know about the charity shops being given free rates, but had forgotten. Again, what does that tell you, even more shops needing to be filled.

 

[Doctor]

If nothing is done about Stafford soon it will end up the same way, if not worse.

The main thing to do and the thing we can all do is actually shop at the local shops. It's all very well saying this and that needs to be done by the council or the lease holders or who ever else but the main reason why the independent shops are failing is that people don't buy from them. If you want them here then you need to go and support them. Yes you might have to pay a bit more but the cost of not doing is a shopping ghost town serviced by supermarkets.

Stafford Market might have lost it's character but there is a great range of stalls in there and the food is super fresh and it's not expensive - if you've not been in get yourself in there and explore. We have some great indipenent shops around so use them or, as te saying goes, loose them. Once the money you spend there strats staying local rather than going into the pockets of big bussines then more small shops will open too. Even using local Co-ops is better than the big supermarkets - and they do alot more ethical and Fairtrade stuff.

 

[rich upsetter]

The main thing to do and the thing we can all do is actually shop at the local shops. It's all very well saying this and that needs to be done by the council or the lease holders or who ever else but the main reason why the independent shops are failing is that people don't buy from them. If you want them here then you need to go and support them.

sorry but talking from expererience i disagree - people would shop at them if they were more central. basically people dont want to have to work hard to try and find/walk a distance to a shop...thats just human nature.
if independents could afford, or had help to be able to afford to be closer to town then they would thrive.
there are literally a handful of independent shops in the town centre, and most of them either close within 2 years or really struggle, which is why we have such a homogenised high street.

 

[achildrasputin]

speaking of high street homogenisation, they're planning to knock down camden market.
i know, i know, it aint stafford, but im a 'fordian in london, so do us a favour and sign the online petition. check general chat for the link.
ta muchly people

 

[luke_H]

here it is for anyone who is lazy, incapacitated or of non-idealistic sexual orientation:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/camdenmarket/

 

[Andreas Rex]

I think we should have a Stafford Forum Internet Café....do we have an internet café in Stafford? You can use the PCs in the main library, but it's defo not a café.

 

[Wookie]

I think that was tried in one of the shops opposite Esprei - anybody else remember when there was an Internet/LANGamer place there? Or is my once superb memory playing silly buggers again?
Think it was still Satchmo's in those days...

Personally, I don't think there's a market, what with the rise of home internet and easy availability through the library. Unless you made it >18 only and didn't run any filters, but I would imagine there's probably laws against something like that.

 

[FooFighter]

Can't remember what the place was called but i think you could rent game time as well as purchase i.e. try before you buy.

a long time ago (20 years) there used to be something similar where the Two Fat Goblins are housed

 

[tek-monkey]

Yeah, been tried and failed

As I said before, anything that counts on daily trade is going to suffer, when the majority of people moving into the area work 9-5 (i.e. when these shops are open) and often in another town. For a fair few years now people have needed to shop outside traditional times, even in '99 when I lived in Southampton the local Tesco got my custom because it was open til midnight. At that point most were closed by 6, 8 at the latest.

However, this can't be addressed by 'normal' shops. Unless the whole town was open late, people would still use supermarkets as they can get all they need. Who would go out to the butchers at night, if you then still had to go to the supermarket to get your veg? The only compromise I could see would be to allow something like a franchise in the supermarkets, so a 'real' butcher could operate out of their. I doubt this will ever happen though, for a lot of reasons.

To be honest, I am always amazed at how many people are in the town in the week. Do they all have jobs outside standard hours, or do we have more than our fair share of people on benefits?

 

[tek-monkey]

a long time ago (20 years) there used to be something similar where the Two Fat Goblins are housed

That was Joystix, used it a lot. Closed a while ago though, Ron now works for the CPS.

 

[Wormella]

To be honest, I am always amazed at how many people are in the town in the week. Do they all have jobs outside standard hours, or do we have more than our fair share of people on benefits?

With a lot of retail jobs being 7 days a week you quite often find you have days off in the middle of the week, or at least my husband does.

Depends on where you work - I'd have thought traditional 9-5 jobs were actually in the minority these days.

 

[joshi]

some decent clothes shops, where its not chavvy(jjb an jds) and not to emo like topman can be, but to be fair topman can have some decent clothes!!!

 

[My Name is URL]

Am I right in thinking that there is going to be a shopping centre built in the place of the current Riverside sports centre? Anywhere I can see the plans online?

If this is true, i'm undecided if it'll bring better shops and more shoppers to Stafford, or if it'll just mean less people in the town centre (which is usually dead anyway)...

 

[Doctor]

I don't think the plans are available yet on line. There hasn't been an actual planning application given toe the borough council yet. There was n exhibition a while back o some draft plans. I think the word is that there will be a Debenams and some other big brands but there is no easy walking route between the town centre and the new development where you would naturally wander as you shop so I guess it will be a bit like the PC World/ TK Maxx/ Bathrooms place - you have to makje a concious decission to go there rather than just a decission to go into town and look round the shops.

 

[tek-monkey]

The way I see it, we already have plenty of empty shops. Unless the rent/rates are cheaper on these new ones, which I very much doubt, the only stores to move into them will be large chains. So once they move out of the high street, we're left with even less shops, and the town centre will start to die off even more.

 

[My Name is URL]

I noticed after a quick walk into town at the weekend that Force in the shopping centre has closed down.

The GF was gutted, bit too expensive for a tight-wad like me but they did do nice clothes.