Stafford shops opening - Turning into a boom town?

The Notorious A.N.T.

The Notorious A.N.T.

Well-Known Forumite
The concept of the 'bricks & mortar' department store is dead I am afraid. Everyone carries the world's biggest department store around in their pocket. I am typing this message on it now....
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Carole said:
But department stores exist all over the UK, and people travel to get to them.

So, they do very much work if they have town planners who have a clear overview of what makes a town viable.
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Stafford is to England what the UK is to Europe, if anyone can fail to make something work SBC will be there!
 
highguyuk

highguyuk

Well-Known Forumite
Carole said:
But department stores exist all over the UK, and people travel to get to them.

So, they do very much work if they have town planners who have a clear overview of what makes a town viable.
Click to expand...

I'm all up for bashing SBC/SCC wherever necessary, but they get far too much stick for retail matters that have nothing to do with them.

For Stafford to have a Department Store, it needs a private organisation to decide to invest £££ to create one, buy the stock, train the staff etc. There's already the space available - old Co-Op, M&S or even SportsDirect for a small one - if a company chose to do so.

But there is zero appetite for a company to invest the kind of funds required to build a Department Store, because it would soon crash and burn due to the extremely low footfall in Stafford town centre (or 99% of most towns). I know if JOE BLOGGS department store opened in Stafford I probably wouldn't visit, because I have everything I need available to buy online at likely more competitive prices.

Given John Lewis can't make it work (they've closed many more Department Stores than just Birmingham) & Debenhams went bust - there's no chance for a little town like Stafford to have a grand Department Store.

And ultimately, that's down to us as a society and our new shopping habits.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Lucy said:
I'd love a shop to come in and disrupt the market. Open from 5pm to 9pm when people have some free time.
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I used to think this, but since working from home I realised I hate going into Stafford! I use the Aldi in town but TBH thats about it nowadays, and we often go to Stone instead just to avoid the traffic.
 
Wormella

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
I've never seen the appeal of department stores where you end up with tiny concessions of shops, but I'm not hooked on specific brands, so maybe it's that. We actually have such a good range of large shops and supermarkets in Stafford (compared to other towns that I know of)
- so in the spirit of the post above.

Primark - ladies, mens, kids, home,
TkMaxx - ladies, mens, kids, home,
Tesco / Asda / Sainsbury's - ladies, mens, kids, home, cafe
 
basil

basil

don't mention the blinds
Screenshot_20231210-092857_Facebook.jpg
 
kyoto49

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
Wormella said:
I've never seen the appeal of department stores where you end up with tiny concessions of shops, but I'm not hooked on specific brands, so maybe it's that. We actually have such a good range of large shops and supermarkets in Stafford (compared to other towns that I know of)
- so in the spirit of the post above.

Primark - ladies, mens, kids, home,
TkMaxx - ladies, mens, kids, home,
Tesco / Asda / Sainsbury's - ladies, mens, kids, home, cafe
Click to expand...
Can't stand Primark, generally cheap tat and fast fashion, the supermarkets a slightly better class of fast fashion. Love TK Maxx but it hit and miss if they have what you need. What I'd love is Clarks back, quality shoes, and some more quality clothing stores. Plus a decent kids clothes store that isn't a supermarket. Just generally better quality things and the shops that sell them. Cheap stuff is total false economy.
 
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