Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[Crossover]

Something of a smaller scale but WH Smith’s closed their land standing Dewsbury branch in the last year or so too

 

[richw]

Our Croydon branch of WHSmith has closed its upstairs half. Several signs of roof leaks in the ceiling and buckets upstairs gave away the innevitable (this is the Whitgift Shopping Centre with its planning blight). I was no longer going upstairs much as the doors into the shopping centre on that floor where permanently locked - I wonder if that meant there was no fire exit from the first floor.

Meanwhile Sainsburys in the Whitgift Centre also closes next weekend. I am beginning to notice how many Lidl and Aldi stores there are dotted around Croydon etc. So is Sainsburys feeling the pinch ?. Our Morrisons has definitely gone down hill - looks un-cared for building and stock wise.

Sounds like it could be an issue with the Whitgift centre operators rather than the tenants

 

[birchesgreen]

I was in Nantwich at the weekend, i see they still have two WHS branches virtually opposite each other on the same small high street (ok one is dedicated to stationery). But it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

[SuspectUsual]

stationery). But it doesn't seem to be going anywhere

Jason Manford has made a career out of stuff like this

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I went into Central Manchester earlier today and the main WHSmiths store on Market St (part of the Arndale) is already preparing to close it’s doors with signs up saying the nearest branch will be at the Trafford Centre.

Believe that the Manchester outlet to which you refer only opened in 2017, replacing a much larger store. Last day of trading there'll be Saturday 2nd December 2023.

Whether this is indirectly referring to the Piccadilly WHS is also at risk of closing too? It seems WHS are still streamlining their locations, but to close a key flagship branch in one of the UK’s largest cities is a little surprising.

Reckon they'll be continuing to re-focus on, what they describe as, the global travel 'essential retail' segment (rather than the High Street), where, with a more captive audience, they can get away with charging a lot more.

Understand that "InMotion" is a WH Smith sub-brand so you may not even realise that you've been shopping with them.

 

[Blindtraveler]

WHSmith tend to do better I find in small town high Street locations where there are perhaps less alternatives particularly in the stationary market, certainly in Dumfries the w h s and Waterstones stores complement each other according to my mum

 

[Peter Sarf]

Sounds like it could be an issue with the Whitgift centre operators rather than the tenants

Yes the Whitgift is supposed to be being replaced (by a Westfield on and off over about ten years three times) and it really shows. I suspect that could be the reason Sainsburys are going and WHSmith shrinking. Sainsburys in Whitgift did half their branch in in size possibly a decade ago. However the Morrisons (local to us) is not in the demising Shopping Centre but out of town in a convenient for cars location.

 

[skyhigh]

Reckon they'll be continuing to re-focus on, what they describe as, the global travel 'essential retail' segment (rather than the High Street), where, with a more captive audience, they can get away with charging a lot more.

Understand that "InMotion" is a WH Smith sub-brand so you may not even realise that you've been shopping with them.

WHS won't be going anywhere. I'm not an accountant but looking at the most recent accounts available it appears they made a profit of £63m on a total revenue of £1.4bn.

They have a strategy of reducing costs to the bone where profit is low - if at the end of a lease the landlord won't negotiate what they consider to be favourable terms they will simply close the store. As you say Travel is where the money is, which is why they are refurbing Travel stores while cutting investment on the high street.

 

[Peter Sarf]

WHS won't be going anywhere. I'm not an accountant but looking at the most recent accounts available it appears they made a profit of £63m on a total revenue of £1.4bn.

They have a strategy of reducing costs to the bone where profit is low - if at the end of a lease the landlord won't negotiate what they consider to be favourable terms they will simply close the store. As you say Travel is where the money is, which is why they are refurbing Travel stores while cutting investment on the high street.

I have a feeling the saving of rents is what a few retail outlets are trying. My local Wetherspoons closed after almost 20 years and allowing for the time to set up it was very likely a twenty year lease. Subsequently I have learnt that a number of small shops have gone in South Croydon because the rents are so high. This actually covers the High Street and "South End" road as the main shopping area is to the North of the high street (towards "West Croydon" so should be cheaper.

 

[C J Snarzell]

Believe that the Manchester outlet to which you refer only opened in 2017, replacing a much larger store. Last day of trading there'll be Saturday 2nd December 2023.

Reckon they'll be continuing to re-focus on, what they describe as, the global travel 'essential retail' segment (rather than the High Street), where, with a more captive audience, they can get away with charging a lot more.

Understand that "InMotion" is a WH Smith sub-brand so you may not even realise that you've been shopping with them.

Some of the shelves were already looking bare yesterday, so I shudder to think what that WHSmiths store will look like come the end of November.

The Manchester Arndale branch has a basement area where they stock their books and alas there is hardly ever anyone down there on the few occasions I have had a browse.

I kind of suspect the rent on premises this size would be huge and WHS have probably made the decision to close at the end of their lease. This was the very same reason the Wigan Standishgate branch closed in 2021.

I do have sine affection for WHS so I do hope they will be around for some time to come.

CJ

 

[birchesgreen]

Problem about WHS going is that there are few other viable outlets for magazines if your interests stretch a little further than Take a Break or Closer. Since my local WHS closed a couple of years ago i've stopped buying railway and transport magazines entirely except for my MR subscription. Still it has saved me quite a lot of money...

 

[jfollows]

Believe that the Manchester outlet to which you refer only opened in 2017, replacing a much larger store. Last day of trading there'll be Saturday 2nd December 2023.

The Manchester WH Smith used to be very large, on two levels, from the opening of the Arndale Centre, or at least from when in 1980 I worked for about 1 month at ICL in the tower block (having moved from Alberton House behind Kendals). It used to be a place I could spend a good while pottering around and browsing. I guess the 2017 store was only on one level but I don't think I ever went into it to find out more.

 

[skyhigh]

Problem about WHS going is that there are few other viable outlets for magazines if your interests stretch a little further than Take a Break or Closer. Since my local WHS closed a couple of years ago i've stopped buying railway and transport magazines entirely except for my MR subscription.

I might be wrong, but do many people still choose to go into a store to buy their choice of magazine?

Looking at Rail, for example, a fortnightly issue is £4.50. You can buy an annual print subscription and get every issue delivered to your home for £99.99 - so £4 per issue. A monthly subscription is £8.60 so even with no long term tie-in you're still saving money and getting it directly. If you're not fussed about having a print copy (which I'm not) an annual subscription for the digital edition is £70 (so £2.80 per issue). An annual subscription is better for the publisher too as they get their money up front and don't have to pay the higher distribution costs from a store estate.

Lots of mags also have introductory offers too so you don't even need a store to try out a few issues of something you might be interested in - again using Rail as an example you can currently try 6 print issues for £6.

 

[birchesgreen]

I might be wrong, but do many people still choose to go into a store to buy their choice of magazine?

Looking at Rail, for example, a fortnightly issue is £4.50. You can buy an annual print subscription and get every issue delivered to your home for £99.99 - so £4 per issue. A monthly subscription is £8.60 so even with no long term tie-in you're still saving money and getting it directly. If you're not fussed about having a print copy (which I'm not) an annual subscription for the digital edition is £70 (so £2.80 per issue). An annual subscription is better for the publisher too as they get their money up front and don't have to pay the higher distribution costs from a store estate.

Lots of mags also have introductory offers too so you don't even need a store to try out a few issues of something you might be interested in - again using Rail as an example you can currently try 6 print issues for £6.

Well you can't if there is no store selling it. I only have one sub as i prefer to see whats in most magazines before i decide to buy or not, now i can't any more so i don't get any. I also can't discover new magazines as interests change or evolve.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Problem about WHS going is that there are few other viable outlets for magazines if your interests stretch a little further than Take a Break or Closer. Since my local WHS closed a couple of years ago i've stopped buying railway and transport magazines entirely except for my MR subscription. Still it has saved me quite a lot of money...

I think that is the trend (online or forums). I am hungry for up to date information and although I have a MR subscription I never seem to find the time to read it properly - this year four issues still in their wrapper is very worrying/sad.

 

[Farigiraf]

Poundland is empty these days, even on busy weekends. Their business formula doesn't work anymore and now it's just a below average supermarket. Can see them drastically rebranding or giving up soon

Another company I expect to see disappear soon is whatever company is currently in where the old Ping pong parlour was in the Grafton Centre, Cambridge. It seems there's a new business there every few months

 

[birchesgreen]

I think that is the trend (online or forums). I am hungry for up to date information and although I have a MR subscription I never seem to find the time to read it properly - this year four issues still in their wrapper is very worrying/sad.

Got to admit, my latest MR is still in the wrapper too...

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Poundland is empty these days, even on busy weekends. Their business formula doesn't work anymore and now it's just a below average supermarket. Can see them drastically rebranding or giving up soon

EuroGiant stores in Ireland used to be branded as "Euro2" as everything was €2 then dropped this by going with variable pricing to compete with rivals Dealz and MrPrice.

Poundland may possibly rebrand as "every item is a pound" hasn't been the case for some time since 99p Stores & Poundworld disappeared. They might go with "Dealz" or "Pepco" as its sister companies are called overseas.

 

[Farigiraf]

EuroGiant stores in Ireland used to be branded as "Euro2" as everything was €2 then dropped this by going with variable pricing to compete with rivals Dealz and MrPrice.

Poundland may possibly rebrand as "every item is a pound" hasn't been the case for some time since 99p Stores & Poundworld disappeared. They might go with "Dealz" or "Pepco" as its sister companies are called overseas.

I was in Hungary this summer and Pepco have basically rebranded from their self proclaimed 'cheapest store in Hungary' to just an average discount supermarket and I expect Poundland to do the same

 

[birchesgreen]

Poundland may possibly rebrand as "every item is a pound" hasn't been the case for some time since 99p Stores & Poundworld disappeared. They might go with "Dealz" or "Pepco" as its sister companies are called overseas.

Ditching the very well established Poundland brand would be risky. I suspect they'll spend some years building the alternative in parallel first.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Poundland is empty these days, even on busy weekends. Their business formula doesn't work anymore and now it's just a below average supermarket. Can see them drastically rebranding or giving up soon

With Poundland being a strong brand name I’d be surprised if it changed. TBF there isn’t much for a pound in there these days but Three Poundland doesn’t have the same ring.
As for magazine’s I’m guilty of browsing in WHS and only buy if there’s an article that interests me which is seldom.

 

[dgl]

one thing to remember is that pound shops/discount shops don't have to be cheap necessarily, they just have to appear that they are cheap. The fact that poundland are no longer a pound shop means and haven't changed the name to reflect it helps them appear cheap, so I doubt they'll be changing the name anytime soon.

 

[Merle Haggard]

one thing to remember is that pound shops/discount shops don't have to be cheap necessarily, they just have to appear that they are cheap. The fact that poundland are no longer a pound shop means and haven't changed the name to reflect it helps them appear cheap, so I doubt they'll be changing the name anytime soon.

(my bold) I remember a segment on the local T.V. news about shopping at Pound xxx (can't remember which one). One shopper had only one item that she wanted, when she went in the shop but was interviewed leaving, having bought about 10. The thing she wanted might have been a bargain but she bought a whole lot of 'things she didn't know she wanted' the last of which was a small packet of very flimsy-looking cable ties. They were about 20 times the price of a diy warehouse and I doubt she would know which way round the end went in the holder (it confuses me sometimes )

B & M in their original form did a variation; there was a smell number of food items (canned, particularly) that were quality branded at a really cheap price, deluding the naive shopper into the idea that all the other stuff was a similar bargain; it wasn't, it was overpriced and poor quality. The classic 'loss-leader' principle. They don't seem to have the real bargains now - probably too many people gamed the system by only buying the real bargains and nothing else - I did!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Something of a smaller scale but WH Smith’s closed their land standing Dewsbury branch in the last year or so too

That Dewsbury branch was in a sorry state for years, but Dewsbury as a whole is basically a ghost town now. Even the Poundland closed this summer, just a few weeks after the Batley branch closed with posters directing customers to Dewsbury instead. Now the nearest one is on the retail park at Ravensthorpe (unless that one went too, it's a while since I've been there).

 

[Crossover]

That Dewsbury branch was in a sorry state for years, but Dewsbury as a whole is basically a ghost town now. Even the Poundland closed this summer, just a few weeks after the Batley branch closed with posters directing customers to Dewsbury instead. Now the nearest one is on the retail park at Ravensthorpe (unless that one went too, it's a while since I've been there).

Digressing, but can't disagree with any of that. I think the Ravensthorpe one is still there. It comes to something when Dewsbury even lost its' Spoons! Edit: and of course, Wilko's has gone now too (which incidentally is on the site of the old Mecca Bingo, which moved to Railway Street, but has also since closed down)

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Anyone with Nationwide? I've been with them since 2012.

Going by their rebrand, I really hope they are not turning into a bank as "building society" has been dropped from the new logo. Also, the name now being lowercase.

We know what happened to Abbey National when they became "abbey" only to be swallowed up by Santander.

Should we Nationwide customers be worried?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Not exactly a company, but this is pretty much certain isn't it...?





Text version of picture: Image of a thread coupling where the companies you expect to disappear soon thread is directly above the Rishi Sunak / Conservative thread.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Got to admit, my latest MR is still in the wrapper too...

One thing I do struggle with is the font size vs my 63 year old eyes. Many times the maps are unreadable - I have used a magnifying glass and the print quality cannot handle it so that is not my eyes. So the map becomes a useless waste of paper - which is a shame because I like maps and diagrams. I then tend to skip the whole article as its meaningless. Another thing that turns me off with maps/diagrams is when the key gets left off. Risk with modern railways is it is getting bigger and bigger (more pages) so I tend to not read it cover to cover, leading me to reading less and less of it than when it had less pages.

Ditching the very well established Poundland brand would be risky. I suspect they'll spend some years building the alternative in parallel first.

How about Poundsland" ?. Just sneak the s in there.

one thing to remember is that pound shops/discount shops don't have to be cheap necessarily, they just have to appear that they are cheap. The fact that poundland are no longer a pound shop means and haven't changed the name to reflect it helps them appear cheap, so I doubt they'll be changing the name anytime soon.

I always remember to check as some items that are a pound in a poundshop are actually less than a pound in other shops !.

Anyone with Nationwide? I've been with them since 2012.

Going by their rebrand, I really hope they are not turning into a bank as "building society" has been dropped from the new logo. Also, the name now being lowercase.

We know what happened to Abbey National when they became "abbey" only to be swallowed up by Santander.

Should we Nationwide customers be worried?

There seems to be a fashion for shorter lower case names - I would not worry too much except that it possibly indicates that they are getting distracted from more important issues. The fact they are a Building Society is unfortunately lost on 99% of the population anyway.

 

[Blindtraveler]

As far as I'm concerned customers of any conventional high Street bank or building society should be worried, banking is going through a bit of a revolution and they are almost all behind the times and quite a few of them really don't care whether you bank with them or not

 

[Bald Rick]

Anyone with Nationwide? I've been with them since 2012.

Going by their rebrand, I really hope they are not turning into a bank as "building society" has been dropped from the new logo. Also, the name now being lowercase.

We know what happened to Abbey National when they became "abbey" only to be swallowed up by Santander.

Should we Nationwide customers be worried?

Why shoudl ee be worried? its a changed logo, thats all. The old logo is on my flex account chequebook from 1988! (with the addition of the word ‘Anglia’)