Another month, another announcement of a retailer in trouble. Possible shop closures, job losses, one more blow for our high streets.
Most recently has come the news that one of Britain’s oldest department stores has collapsed into administration. Beales has 23 stores, including at Lowestoft, Diss, and Beccles, and staff as well as shoppers are waiting and watching for news of what will happen next.
At Great Yarmouth, Beales is a relatively new name to the town – in November 2018 it bought the Palmers department store which has had a presence in the Market Place for 183 years. The announcement of Beales’ administration came as a double blow to the town as its Debenhams store, in the Market Gates shopping centre, closed in January. The Market Place Bonmarché clothes shop is also awaiting an announcement on its future. And it’s a similar scenario in so many towns around our region – longstanding pillars of our shopping centres facing difficult times and worse. Think of the fate of Mothercare, British Home Stores, Thomas Cook, Jessops, HMV . . .
The Centre for Retail Research has forecast that more than 17,000 UK shops will close in 2020, through a combination of difficult trading times, high business rates and falling sales.
In our ‘online age’, the internet is, of course, impacting on the way we shop – even if you have never bought online and are determined that you never will, there are millions of people who do. Research into the way we shopped for Christmas 2019 had Amazon running neck-and-neck with the traditional high street as the first place customers look for presents. And for the first time ever, Christmas Day online spending was expected to top £1bn . . . on Christmas Day!
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2020 من Let's Talk.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2020 من Let's Talk.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
STOP ME AND BUY ONE: Nigel's on the way with his 1981 Bedford
It’s something we all recall with delight. “Mum, it’s the ice cream man!” Let’s Talk’s motoring man David Clayton meets someone happy to be the owner of a Bedford ice cream van. Bring on the Strawberry Mivvis, choc ices and 99s ...
Beautiful Hill: Normandy Origin For A Name Meaning
Let’s Talk’s surnames expert Derek Palgrave, from Suffolk, researches three more of our readers’ names, the first of which probably stems from the geographical presence of a beautiful hill.
Words of wisdom about a hobby so many of us love
Let’s Talk’s gardening expert Charlotte Philcox has been trawling through some books to find words of wisdom from so many people about gardening and farming. Here she shares just a few.
Vicki remains so positive despite missing her panto
For actress Vicki Michelle, Christmas usually means performing in panto. But, due the coronavirus pandemic, this year will be different. Vicki speaks to Rachel Banham about her plans for the festive season, her outlook on life and her fond memories of filming in East Anglia.
Two centuries on Thomas would be DELIGHTED WITH HIS SUCCESS
He was a man without sight but with such vision. Derek James remembers Thomas Tawell who died 200 years ago.
TURNING 50
Here at Let’s Talk we recognise that our magazine is targeted at those aged 50 and older. So we hope we are always fair to our readers and to the older generation in general. But it seems many believe other media and businesses do not treat older people in the best way.
THE CHASE COULD BE ON FOR a Norfolk home for Bradley Walsh
He is one of the most popular celebrities on television at the moment. He’s a comedian, singer, actor, personality and probably the best quiz show host doing the rounds. David Clayton looks back to when Bradley Walsh came to Cromer.
The calendar is rolling around to the WINTER SOLSTICE
Claire Manion, of Norfolk-based Broadsky Astrology, looks at how we have always honoured the winter solstice, our shortest day.
PEACE, GOODWILL AND PROSPERITY must surely follow
In view of such uncertainty hanging over the rest of this year – and possibly well beyond – it was hard to come up with a suitable offering for December in his usual style, says Keith Skipper. So, he has decided to settle for a festive story set in 1951, that he wrote some time ago.
Friends
Readers of our short stories don’t have to have long memories to recall work by Anne Maxwell, who had a previous short story entry published in the summer.
