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I wonder how much of this comes down to people working longer and less social hours, and the decline in multigenerational households providing childcare to work

by bb123 5y ago

I wonder how much of this comes down to people working longer and less social hours, and the decline in multigenerational households providing childcare to working age parents. Having the time to browse through a department store at your leisure is a massive luxury that I suspect many people simply can’t do.

tempest_ 5y ago
Nah most of it is people buying things online and the failure of these older establishments to successfully transition. They lose revenue and the stores start to look dated and because they have to pay rent they cant compete with a big warehouse. Eventually everything looks dated and costs more so people stop going.
- bb123 5y ago
  Yes, but why are people buying online? My argument is that less free times makes the convenience aspect of online shopping more compelling.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Even if people had free time, why would they want to spend it in a store if they can get the same result without having to travel to the store and spending time in the store? Obviously, many people enjoy shopping, but even they will probably reduce the time they spend in a store and/or spread their purchases between in store and online, so the physical stores have to resize for the new demand.
  - sys_64738 5y ago
    Mixture of things: cost, convenience, variety. You gotta understand that the majority of dept stores in Britain offered high prices, poor quality, and low variety. They were also inconvenient as you couldn't park your car in the lot outside the store. British authority has this obsession of trying to keep your car as inconvenient to you as possible to force you onto public transport. But public aren't having that so since the 90s the rise of the retail park has occurred. Retail parks offer parking outside like strip malls and stores offer cheaper prices than the likes of BHS. Basically as somebody else said supermarkets and the new dept stores. Also, variety online means you can finally find what you want and not have to make do with the near equivalent in model at a high price in a dept store. A lot of these dept stores only existed in Britain due to the limited selection. They'd have died a long time ago if the internet was a thing back then. I didn't ever shop in BHS so can't say I'd ever see the loss myself.

by bb123 5y ago

tempest_ 5y ago

Nah most of it is people buying things online and the failure of these older establishments to successfully transition. They lose revenue and the stores start to look dated and because they have to pay rent they cant compete with a big warehouse. Eventually everything looks dated and costs more so people stop going.

bb123 5y ago
Yes, but why are people buying online? My argument is that less free times makes the convenience aspect of online shopping more compelling.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Even if people had free time, why would they want to spend it in a store if they can get the same result without having to travel to the store and spending time in the store? Obviously, many people enjoy shopping, but even they will probably reduce the time they spend in a store and/or spread their purchases between in store and online, so the physical stores have to resize for the new demand.
- sys_64738 5y ago
  Mixture of things: cost, convenience, variety. You gotta understand that the majority of dept stores in Britain offered high prices, poor quality, and low variety. They were also inconvenient as you couldn't park your car in the lot outside the store. British authority has this obsession of trying to keep your car as inconvenient to you as possible to force you onto public transport. But public aren't having that so since the 90s the rise of the retail park has occurred. Retail parks offer parking outside like strip malls and stores offer cheaper prices than the likes of BHS. Basically as somebody else said supermarkets and the new dept stores. Also, variety online means you can finally find what you want and not have to make do with the near equivalent in model at a high price in a dept store. A lot of these dept stores only existed in Britain due to the limited selection. They'd have died a long time ago if the internet was a thing back then. I didn't ever shop in BHS so can't say I'd ever see the loss myself.