Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

[airbusA346]

Can Do changed the company registered address from Newcastle under Lyme to Trentham Village in March 2021. One of the directors, Matthew Richardson, was previously a director of Hood Steak House in St Mary Mews, Stafford.

Yup, both directors made the mistake of going into business with the people who ran the cafe on Parkside, The Hood and The Square.

 

[airbusA346]

David's Brasserie is closed but there must be something in its place (my memory doesn't serve me very well)...

Can Do Cocina, Tapas y Bar

 

[Cue]

Yup, both directors made the mistake of going into business with the people who ran the cafe on Parkside, The Hood and The Square.

Ah, so they were the victims then?

(Brown’s Coffee Co was the place on Parkside by the way, annoyingly it was actually quite good if you wanted a fry up to go)

 

[airbusA346]

Ah, so they were the victims then?

(Brown’s Coffee Co was the place on Parkside by the way, annoyingly it was actually quite good if you wanted a fry up to go)

As far as I am aware there were numerous victims.

 

[Cue]

Clinton Cards must be having a bad time seeing as they’re now leaflet dropping about a “Buy 1, get 1 for a penny” deal on cards.

“Are Millenials killing the greeting card industry!?”

 

[joshua]

Clinton Cards must be having a bad time seeing as they’re now leaflet dropping about a “Buy 1, get 1 for a penny” deal on cards.

“Are Millenials killing the greeting card industry!?”

Who sends a card these days, Facebook reminds you and you send best wishes via that, greeting cards are a massive rip off with a markup of nearly 80%

 

[Tumble weed]

I'm sure I read a news story last year saying the market was actually on the up.

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

Clinton Cards must be having a bad time seeing as they’re now leaflet dropping about a “Buy 1, get 1 for a penny” deal on cards.

“Are Millenials killing the greeting card industry!?”

Well card factory opposite don't seem to be struggling....

 

[Tumble weed]

Our Markets

We are the UK's leading specialist retailer of greeting cards, gifts and celebration essentials

www.cardfactoryinvestors.com

If anything, even the us markers are only predicting like a 3% decline up to 2026, but pretty sure over there there's no real big shops for cards and stuff. Think Hallmark has already closed its stand alone shops years ago.

 

[Jonah]

Clintons are old fashioned and overpriced in my opinion. With the emergence of online, deliver to your door, more modern design card retailers, it's no surprise that they may not be doing well.

 

[Jonah]

An example of a card you wouldn't get at Clintons, this is what my son gave me for Father's Day. I have blurred certain words so as not to offend people who dislike swearing.

I think it's great.

 

[Glam]

Who sends a card these days,

I do. I have 2 adult children that I haven't clapped eyes on in 18yrs. I always send birthday and Christmas cards to them.

 

[Samhill]

With all the shops standing empty and now more closing down we are turning into a ghost town at this rate.
Why is nothing being done to entice new shops to open up, if rents are to high then why don't they reduce them for a while. Surely better than having all these shops standing empty for so long!

I'm a shop in Stafford for 22 years and my family for 45 years.
Yes private landlords do hold a good percentage of the vacant shop in most towns and back when the likes of Next M and S the large Travel Agents were jostling for central positions the landlords could charge what they liked and it dictated the level of rents around the centre.
Times have changed the nucleous of the town has moved and landlords need to react accordingly to give the remaining retailers a chance of trade and newcomers a chance to get going.
It is tough and going to get tougher cheap parking would help stop people using the free retail parks.
Sam Hill Woodstock 1/2 Lichfield Rd.

 

[gilesjuk]

Cheap parking would help stop people using the free retail parks.
Sam Hill Woodstock 1/2 Lichfield Rd.

Trouble is the roads are now stupidly busy into town thanks to the lack of improvements and the number of new houses. I was going to go into town Sunday at about 2.30pm but Lichfield Road was backed up and slow moving from Queens retail park. And yeah, I could have cycled but the part of the trip was to fill up my tank for a trip this weekend.

 

[Gramaisc]

part of the trip was to fill up my tank for a trip this weekend.

That's definitely worth doing.

They're buggers to push, if you run out.

 

[staffordjas]

Trouble is the roads are now stupidly busy into town thanks to the lack of improvements and the number of new houses. I was going to go into town Sunday at about 2.30pm but Lichfield Road was backed up and slow moving from Queens retail park. And yeah, I could have cycled but the part of the trip was to fill up my tank for a trip this weekend.

I'm enjoying this new experience living in Worcester, with several retail parks within a few minutes free-flowing drive and easy free parking in city centre (usually 2hrs free, but I've got my contacts )

I went to one of those waxing/threading places the other day.She used to work in Stafford in the arcade outside Poundland.
She said she preferred Stafford, and said "Poundland is one place which will be there for ever " . She was pretty gobsmacked when I told her even that had gone . Forgot to tell her that most of the other shops in the guildhall were going/ gone as well.

Are there any left in there now?

 

[Withnail]

Trouble is the roads are now stupidly busy into town thanks to the lack of improvements and the number of new houses.

I am unconvinced that this statement is, for the most part, realistic.

Have you tried to drive anywhere else?

Getting into the centre of the town is not really any more difficult than getting to any other part of it, 'retail parks' included.

Ultimately everything is driven not by how you get there but by what you do when you're there.

If you have to drive, you have to park. That is the limiting factor.

Where is the bus stop @ Queens retail park?

 

[Wormella]

Where is the bus stop @ Queens retail park?

One is next to the Queensville stores and post office (going towards Cannock and Lichfield) and there's one on the road opposite going towards town. No.s 74, 875 and 826

The issue is there's no bus that goes North - South so you have to break your journey and swap buses, usually with a walk through town anyway.

 

[tek-monkey]

I am unconvinced that this statement is, for the most part, realistic.

Have you tried to drive anywhere else?

Getting into the centre of the town is not really any more difficult than getting to any other part of it, 'retail parks' included.

Ultimately everything is driven not by how you get there but by what you do when you're there.

If you have to drive, you have to park. That is the limiting factor.

Where is the bus stop @ Queens retail park?

I do understand what giles is saying, I usually shop in Morrisons in Stone rather than drive into Stafford itself because it is a much more pleasant experience. Both the amount of traffic and the parking. Thats true of our retail parks as well though, I use the Kingsmead one because I'm at that side of town but rarely use the Hough because I can't be bothered with all the queuing at traffic lights.

I used to walk everywhere (never bothered with buses), but having the boot of the car to fill has done my back wonders and now I have a small person to carry around it's a lot less practical! Although really I stopped using Stafford as much when I left my job in the town centre and started commuting every day.

 

[Theresa Green]

I'm a shop in Stafford for 22 years and my family for 45 years.
Yes private landlords do hold a good percentage of the vacant shop in most towns and back when the likes of Next M and S the large Travel Agents were jostling for central positions the landlords could charge what they liked and it dictated the level of rents around the centre.
Times have changed the nucleous of the town has moved and landlords need to react accordingly to give the remaining retailers a chance of trade and newcomers a chance to get going.
It is tough and going to get tougher cheap parking would help stop people using the free retail parks.
Sam Hill Woodstock 1/2 Lichfield Rd.

If your neighbours could just finish that new pub you might get some passing trade

Are they on strike?