The demise of Wilko's in 2023 vs the demise of Woolworth's in 2008

[Lencoboy]

You are right darksky. It is 300 stores. I correct myself.
The article I read was slightly misleading.

Must be Boots' least profitable stores, which kind of makes sense.

Another possible reason why people don't seem to express the same shock, horror and indignation at retailers and firms in general going bust like they once did could well be down to becoming more desensitised to hearing about such things, so they therefore obviously think 'meh, just another firm/chain going the way of the dodo, what's the point in getting our knickers in a knot over it when we've seen and heard of such events umpteen times before without Armageddon coming to pass', etc.

Although I'm not advocating nor gagging for a repeat of such things per se, would Miners' Strike and Poll Tax Riot-like events have the same profound and far-reaching impact now among the general public in 2020s Britain like they did back in 1984 and 1990 respectively? I very much doubt it as most people would probably discuss such events for a couple of days 'in the heat of the moment', then be 'onto the next mega event' and inadvertently regarding the former events as 'water under the bridge' thereafter.

[.Poppy.]

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.

[Lencoboy]

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.

So not strictly a UK-specific phenomenon then, by the sound of it.

Ditto for shoplifting and shop crime in general which is also looking like a worldwide trend, again not just specific to the UK right now.

But many people have gleefully revelled in Britain-bashing for several years now and assuming we have the worst track record for almost everything one can point a stick at, and I bet one's life that many who have done so (and still do) are the ones who fanatically worship unscrupulous politicians and various other shady 'figures' like Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), etc, etc, etc.

They're the ones who are really breaking Britain and 'insert whatever other country here'!

[BlueIris]

Having a rough time right now, Lenco?

[Lencoboy]

Having a rough time right now, Lenco?

I am a little bit.

But I just read your latest thread in the 'Generalised Anxiety Disorder' subsection to learn that you're having a bit of a rough time yourself right now, so we both have something in common.

Needless to say I hope things improve for you soon (and of course others on here going through similar issues right now).

[BlueIris]

Hope things work out for you, too.

I don't have quite the same stress with my parents as you do, but they're getting incredibly frail and it's a massive source of worry.

Sorry to derail.

[FrankT]

I see it as a sign that another Great Depression is coming. History is repeating itself - different details, but the story's the same.

[Lencoboy]

I see it as a sign that another Great Depression is coming. History is repeating itself - different details, but the story's the same.

Not quite sure if it's quite as extreme as that, but most people I know (plus my dad) tend to believe it's more to do with people's changes in shopping habits (especially heavy competition from online) and indeed a sign of the times with many conventional high street stores in town centres in particular becoming less viable, rather than a full-on second 'Great Depression' on the horizon, which quite a few 'alarmists' were predicting back in 2008 and even on and off back in 70s and the first half of the 80s, which fortunately never came to pass.

But then again (and for better or worse), most people seem to be more blase about such things nowadays compared to most past decades.

[Lencoboy]

I've just having a little pang of nostalgia about Woolies, in spite of it having been gone exactly 15 years next month and never really missing it that much before up until now, nor am I actually pining for said chain to make a comeback as it had its day for a reason at the time it went the way of the dodo and probably wouldn't be viable in the present-day context.

It was because there was a bit of a conversation going on today at my day centre about how fragmented popular culture seems to have become since the latter half of the 2000s, and how many of us would eagerly anticipate the arrival of new TV series, films, music releases, printed publications, live events, etc, and the collective 'buzz' that seemed to come with it all, which has since sadly been diminishing, which I guess is largely due to the advent of the Internet and particularly the likes of YouTube and social media. Of course Woolies was brought up in said conversation about how it was one of the main 'go-tos' on the high street for CDs, cassette tapes, vinyl records, etc back in its heyday, and of course, not forgetting its legendary pick 'n' mix confectionery section.

Most ironically, Woolies had already stopped selling music CDs by mid 2008, which of course many were increasingly turning their backs on by then in favour of digital downloading and streaming, plus this was also just before the onset of the vinyl revival, which was kind of unprecedented and indeed seemingly far-fetched at the time.

Of course, the other stalwarts Boots and WHSmith had also ditched music CDs and the like themselves a good few years prior to then.

[BlueIris]

I used to love Woolworths for buying music, especially cassettes. So much less intimidating than record shops for a shy teen.

I never go into Smiths these days, they moved the main city post office there and the crowds make me nervous.