Re: The demise of Wilko's in 2023 vs the demise of Woolworth's in 2008
I know I'm on the opposite side of the ocean from you all, but here a lot of our department stores have taken to putting the most random things (toothpaste, hair care, even canker sore medicine) into locked cases, so if you want them you have to get an associate to let you in. They say it is to prevent theft, which I'm sure is rampant, but a lot of this stuff is pretty inexpensive. I've seen a couple of people guess that it's twofold: prevent theft and also make buying that stuff in-store really inconvenient so you have to buy online OR just go ahead and use their curbside pick up. The thought is that it is cheaper for the stores to operate as warehouses than as brick and mortar stores.
Who knows. I know we've had a lot of places go bust, or just move to online selling. I imagine people are buying less somewhat as life gets so unaffordable, but I think a lot of people just decide to shop online. Amazon is awful for this, really.
It's hard too because a lot of these stores are owned by the same large corporations at the end of the day. For example, I used to buy my dog food from Petsmart because they had a monthly coupon system that made it really affordable. They are doing away with that, so the next best choice would be Chewy....who is owned by Petsmart. What a mess. I wish I could buy from the locally owned pet store but they don't carry the food I feed.
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