I have seen a job advert looking for staff for the Carphone Warehouse on Queens retail park - well I suppose its something for dads and kids to do whilst their mothers are buying hideous things in Matalan. Just what Stafford needs - another duplication of a town shop, so people do not bother going into town. WHEN WILL THE COUNCIL UNDERSTAND WE NEED SHOPS TO STAY IN TOWN !! and on the outskirts we need something a little more special.
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Queens retail park - carphone warehouse
- Thread starter lisseylee
- Start date
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
SHOUTING
Something must be done
Something must be done
(( Ahh well.
supernova
Well-Known Forumite
To my mind, the fact that we have duplicate shops in Stafford is in itself a recognition that the town is a nightmare to get into and out of. The high st will die out because people are turned off trying to get there. I wonder how many more duplications there will be when the new retail park is opened on the old riverside site?
I personally haven't been into the town shopping for months - primarily because I can't be arsed with sitting in queues of traffic then trying to find somewhere to park. I could walk into town (about 3 miles each way) or use a bike, but carrying heavy / awkward items back all that way (either on foot or on the bus is impractical, and even more expensive if using a taxi.
These problems have, of course been discussed recently on here at length, but the discussion has not (as far as I can see) yielded any solutions. Stafford's high street will probably become a series of more drinking establishments before very long. A place for people to get off their faces and throw up all over it.
Nice.
I personally haven't been into the town shopping for months - primarily because I can't be arsed with sitting in queues of traffic then trying to find somewhere to park. I could walk into town (about 3 miles each way) or use a bike, but carrying heavy / awkward items back all that way (either on foot or on the bus is impractical, and even more expensive if using a taxi.
These problems have, of course been discussed recently on here at length, but the discussion has not (as far as I can see) yielded any solutions. Stafford's high street will probably become a series of more drinking establishments before very long. A place for people to get off their faces and throw up all over it.
Nice.
Wait a minute. Where are people going to park at the retail park? And how are they going to manage getting to and from the car park without complaining?supernova said:
"The traffic getting into town is terrible and putting me off using the town centre, so I'll go to the new retail park.....in town" Idiots
Surely if you can get to the new development, you can get to town!!?
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
On the other hand Queens Retail Park is utterly insane to get in and out of on a Saturday and Lichfield Rd is carrying a huge quantity of traffic to both Queens and Hough Retail Parks. The chaos doesn't seem to put people off going - it seems people will go to great lengths to avoid paying a quid to park when doing their shopping!!supernova said:
Town centres are suffering because of out of town retail and competition from online retail. I have mixed feelings though where some retailers are concerned both independent and chain. HMV are a complete rip off for CDs, I'm not going to go there when I can order at half the price from Amazon whilst sat in an armchair. Same goes for some other chain retailers like Jessops and Waterstones who Amazon have beaten hands down.
Where independent retailers are concerned, I'm prepared to support them but draw the line at rip off prices and crap customer service. Take Stafford Outdoor.... I never shop there as their prices are not cheap - I buy all my outdoor gear on the internet from an independent shop in Milton Keynes. They are fantastic, so if they can flog stuff at competitive prices (with the overhead of running a high street shop) so can other independents.
Unfortunately a lot of the traffic is caused by the retail parks!! If I had to have a guess, I'd say retail parks in Stafford probably get 95%+ of their custom by car. The town centre is probably something like - 2% bike, 15% walk, 23% bus, 60% car maybe?
Whilst not easy, I've taken all sorts of things home on the bus before now!! On one occasion was helping a friend with a new telly. That wouldn't go in the doors of a minibus and we had to load it through the emergency exit...
That's pretty much what's happened to Lichfield, which has very little retail out of town - though there are huge out of town places like Ventura Park not far away.
To be honest where there are large roundabouts they would be better off splitting them up into smaller ones. Having used the magic roundabout in Hemel Hempstead it works wonder for the traffic there, there's quite a lot of roads converging there.
Could do that at the end of lichfield road if there weren't so many businesses in the centre of it.
Could do that at the end of lichfield road if there weren't so many businesses in the centre of it.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
The junction where the Co-op funeral place is now. That used to be a shop, I remember that - and I thought there still was a newsagent-type place set back on the old road that runs down the side of the bridge embankment towards the ex-level crossing by the Spittal Brook..Timeflies said:
Which is/was Swinson's, I can't remember.
staffordjas
Well-Known Forumite
The Newsagents is still there.
I remember the time before the traffic lights on the Silkmore/Lichfield Road Junction.
Just a normal T-junction - you'd never get out nowadays!What happened to the plan for customer toilets in the retail park? Are they still planning on building some?
staffordjas
Well-Known Forumite
And theres me cussing someone for pressing the button as they go past for a bit of funhenryscat said:
