Obiturtary of the high street and other companies - UPDATED

Please follow the link to see updated list of high street and companies that have gone in administration since January 2008

Obituary of the high street and other companies

Obiturtary of the high street and other companies - UPDATED

Please follow the link to see updated list of high street and companies that have gone in administration since January 2008

Obituary of the high street and other companies

NEW blog in development

[caption id="attachment_571" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="allaboutgrub"][/caption]

Hi all, I have been developing a new blog please come and visit it

allaboutgrub.wordpress.com

 - this blog is all about food, ingredients and where to buy good quality food from - add a marker to my allaboutgrub map to tell others about great places to eat out or places to buy great food from -

"go on share your food experiences with others" 

NEW blog in development

[caption id="attachment_571" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="allaboutgrub"][/caption]

Hi all, I have been developing a new blog please come and visit it

allaboutgrub.wordpress.com

 - this blog is all about food, ingredients and where to buy good quality food from - add a marker to my allaboutgrub map to tell others about great places to eat out or places to buy great food from -

"go on share your food experiences with others" 

UK retail sales 'rose in January'

The January sales saw heavy discounting by many retailers Sales of retail goods rose in January, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said, after shops cut prices to encourage consumers to keep spending. On a like-for-like basis, retail sales rose 1.1% compared with a year earlier, the biggest increase since May 2008. The strong overall performance was driven by food sales, which rose 5.1%. Sales of non-food items fell by 1.6%. However, the BRC warned that economic conditions remained weak, and January's sales rise could be "just a blip". By the end of January, sales growth had weakened as clearances ended, the BRC said. Sales of clothing, footwear, homewares, and health and beauty products all fell. Overall sales, which include the impact of new stores, rose by 3.2%, with food sales up 6.8% and non-food sales rising 0.8%. Results 'skewed' "These surprisingly good figures give some reason for optimism," said Stephen Robertson at the BRC, before sounding a more cautionary note. "But the fundamentals haven't changed. Job fears are mounting. Consumer confidence is at record lows. It remains to be seen whether January's discount driven growth was just a blip." Helen Dickenson at consultancy firm KPMG, which compiles the figures in conjunction with the BRC, also emphasised the impact of discounts. "The results are heavily skewed by the continuation of a short-lived pick up in spending immediately after Christmas," she said. The BRC/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor covers the four weeks between 4 January and 31 January.

Link to blog about recession

Please follow the link below to view a blog relating to the current economic situation

(redirected to a blogger blog)

 

Downturn and Recession

Link to blog about recession

Please follow the link below to view a blog relating to the current economic situation

Recession2009

Obituary of the high street

I have created this page as a kind of joke, but I will update this as other high street shops fall into administration.

Let me know if you know of any other shops no longer operating - regardless of how big or small.

Obituary of the high street list

Changing High street

As we see some of the most well known high street stores closing - are we seeing a new high street emerging. Will small independent shops start opening or will the high street be full of boarded up shops and for sale signs.

I am not that surprised that the high street is starting to showing of downturn. We have lived for best part of 10 years in a consumer fuel enviroment. As high streets up and the country were all starting to look the same. Do we need all these shops selling very simarly things and as we are all starting to do more amd more shopping on the internet, why do we need still high street outlets.

Recession in the news

Videos from around the internet relating to recession

British jobs for British workers

Deal hope in foreign workers row

Workers say the action is not racist, but about discrimination against Britons

A possible deal to end the row over the use of foreign labour at Lincolnshire's Lindsey Oil Refinery will be put to local union leaders and workers later.

The proposal emerged after talks chaired by Acas.

A GMB union source told the BBC the deal could see half of the disputed 200 jobs offered to British workers, but the Unite leader has denied this.

Hope that new 'half-and-half' deal in foreign workers row could end wildcat strikes

A proposed deal that could end the bitter row over foreign workers at an oil refinery will be put to unions today.

Marathon talks aimed at ending a series of wildcat strikes at Lindsey plant in Lincolnshire ended last night with the outline of a possible deal.

Union sources said it involved offering half the jobs of the disputed recruitment contract to UK workers.

Downturn will bring big fall in migrant workers, says CBI

Companies facing decline in demand for goods and services will reduce their use of agency staff, MPs are told

The use of migrant labour in Britain will decline abruptly as companies face a sharp fall in demand for their goods and services, the Confederation of British Industry told MPs yesterday. John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director general, told the Commons home affairs committee that the first response of many firms to the downturn was to reduce their dependency on agency staff, many of whom are migrant workers.

He said that there was evidence that many nationals of new EU states were going home as unemployment rose in Britain and suggested that the flow of skilled migrants from outside Europe would also decline. He added: "I expect that, when we have the next report from the [Home Office's] migration advisory committee on the needs for skilled labour, we will not see the same need for non-EU labour in the same numbers because of the need to provide as many employment opportunities as possible for the unemployed. All I'm suggesting is that the market will correct itself, but what we cannot avoid is a significant increase in unemployment, which is a sad but inevitable consequence of recession."

read full articles Click here

British jobs for British workers

Deal hope in foreign workers row

Workers say the action is not racist, but about discrimination against Britons

A possible deal to end the row over the use of foreign labour at Lincolnshire's Lindsey Oil Refinery will be put to local union leaders and workers later.

The proposal emerged after talks chaired by Acas.

A GMB union source told the BBC the deal could see half of the disputed 200 jobs offered to British workers, but the Unite leader has denied this.

Hope that new 'half-and-half' deal in foreign workers row could end wildcat strikes

A proposed deal that could end the bitter row over foreign workers at an oil refinery will be put to unions today.

Marathon talks aimed at ending a series of wildcat strikes at Lindsey plant in Lincolnshire ended last night with the outline of a possible deal.

Union sources said it involved offering half the jobs of the disputed recruitment contract to UK workers.

Downturn will bring big fall in migrant workers, says CBI

Companies facing decline in demand for goods and services will reduce their use of agency staff, MPs are told

The use of migrant labour in Britain will decline abruptly as companies face a sharp fall in demand for their goods and services, the Confederation of British Industry told MPs yesterday. John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director general, told the Commons home affairs committee that the first response of many firms to the downturn was to reduce their dependency on agency staff, many of whom are migrant workers.

He said that there was evidence that many nationals of new EU states were going home as unemployment rose in Britain and suggested that the flow of skilled migrants from outside Europe would also decline. He added: "I expect that, when we have the next report from the [Home Office's] migration advisory committee on the needs for skilled labour, we will not see the same need for non-EU labour in the same numbers because of the need to provide as many employment opportunities as possible for the unemployed. All I'm suggesting is that the market will correct itself, but what we cannot avoid is a significant increase in unemployment, which is a sad but inevitable consequence of recession."

read full articles Click here

Crimes increase as a recession looms

As the recession takes hold, we can expect crime especially theft to increase. Mostly this theft will be shop lifting. As supermarkets are seeing significant increases in shop lifting, this will only increase as we get further and further into the recession.  But if someone is stealing to feed their family, should we be more lenient on them.

But will the supermarkets cover this loss or will it be passed onto the consumer.

Shoplifiting for food soars as recession looms

Shoplifting in supermarkets has increased by more than a third since the economic downturn began to bite, according to some of the biggest stores.

Essential items like baby food are among the items being stolen most often as thieves increasingly steal out of necessity rather than greed.

At stores belonging to Iceland, the frozen food specialist, the most popular product for thieves is a leg of lamb followed by cheese, bacon and coffee.

At Tesco, the country's largest retailer, thefts are up by more than a third (36 per cent) this year and at Marks & Spencer the problem is also increasing.

Retailers say shoplifting has increased in previous recessions and they are taking extra security measures this time including electronically tagging food.

Stephen Robertson, director-general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Retailers are preparing for an upsurge in offences and are extending crime prevention methods, for example, placing electronic security tags on expensive cuts of meat."

sourced from The Telegraph read full article

The recession crimewave

The recession puts police on the back foot as official figures show offences in 31 police forces are on the rise.

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent and Ben Russell, Home Affairs Correspondent.

Robbery and burglary are on the rise across the country, almost doubling in some areas, according to figures that provide the first evidence that the economic downturn is fuelling crime.

Figures obtained by The Independent from police forces across England and Wales show that cases of burglary or robbery rose in 31 of the 43 forces in the final four months of the year in comparison with the same period in 2007. In those 31 areas an extra 5,572 crimes of burglary and robbery were committed in the final months of 2008, compared with the previous year.

Forces such as Greater Manchester, Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Cumbria all saw increases of between 20 and 50 per cent. Lincolnshire police saw the biggest rise, a 97 per cent increase in robbery between September and November – the most recent three-month period collated by the force – compared with the same three-month period the previous year.

sourced from The Independent read full article

Crimes increase as a recession looms

As the recession takes hold, we can expect crime especially theft to increase. Mostly this theft will be shop lifting. As supermarkets are seeing significant increases in shop lifting, this will only increase as we get further and further into the recession.  But if someone is stealing to feed their family, should we be more lenient on them.

But will the supermarkets cover this loss or will it be passed onto the consumer.

Shoplifiting for food soars as recession looms

Shoplifting in supermarkets has increased by more than a third since the economic downturn began to bite, according to some of the biggest stores.

Essential items like baby food are among the items being stolen most often as thieves increasingly steal out of necessity rather than greed.

At stores belonging to Iceland, the frozen food specialist, the most popular product for thieves is a leg of lamb followed by cheese, bacon and coffee.

At Tesco, the country's largest retailer, thefts are up by more than a third (36 per cent) this year and at Marks & Spencer the problem is also increasing.

Retailers say shoplifting has increased in previous recessions and they are taking extra security measures this time including electronically tagging food.

Stephen Robertson, director-general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Retailers are preparing for an upsurge in offences and are extending crime prevention methods, for example, placing electronic security tags on expensive cuts of meat."

sourced from The Telegraph read full article

The recession crimewave

The recession puts police on the back foot as official figures show offences in 31 police forces are on the rise.

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent and Ben Russell, Home Affairs Correspondent.

Robbery and burglary are on the rise across the country, almost doubling in some areas, according to figures that provide the first evidence that the economic downturn is fuelling crime.

Figures obtained by The Independent from police forces across England and Wales show that cases of burglary or robbery rose in 31 of the 43 forces in the final four months of the year in comparison with the same period in 2007. In those 31 areas an extra 5,572 crimes of burglary and robbery were committed in the final months of 2008, compared with the previous year.

Forces such as Greater Manchester, Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Cumbria all saw increases of between 20 and 50 per cent. Lincolnshire police saw the biggest rise, a 97 per cent increase in robbery between September and November – the most recent three-month period collated by the force – compared with the same three-month period the previous year.

sourced from The Independent read full article

High street hit by Downturn

The economic downturn has seen high profile failures such as Woolworths, and High Streets across the country are worried about falling sales.

News video from the BBC

Founder on Lush talks about the downturn from the BBC

Founder of Lush Cosmetics Mark Constantine explains why British retail has taken a turn for the worse.

High street hit by Downturn

The economic downturn has seen high profile failures such as Woolworths, and High Streets across the country are worried about falling sales.

News video from the BBC

Founder on Lush talks about the downturn from the BBC

Founder of Lush Cosmetics Mark Constantine explains why British retail has taken a turn for the worse.

Sales soar at Primark

Primark sales sour over the Christmas period. As the rest of the high street suffer Primark sales increase.

Article

Primark has enjoyed another successful Christmas, with sales soaring by more than a fifth as its cut-price chic continued to appeal to shoppers.

Parent company Associated British Foods said today that total sales at the fashion store rose by 21% in the final 16 weeks of last year.

The sharp rise was partly attributed to Primark opening six new stores during the year, but the group said like-for-like sales growth, which excludes new space, was "very strong" at around 4%.

Primark's performance provides further evidence that shoppers are becoming increasingly thrifty as the recession hammers consumer confidence – a trend that sent clothing sales falling sharply at Marks & Spencer.

Primark fired several suppliers in 2008 following allegations that they were using child labour. But this week, allegations emerged that one of its UK suppliers was subjecting its workers to sweatshop conditions, with illegal immigrants receiving just half the minimum wage for 12-hour days, seven days a week.

read full article sourced from the Guardian

Sales soar at Primark

Primark sales sour over the Christmas period. As the rest of the high street suffer Primark sales increase.

Article

Primark has enjoyed another successful Christmas, with sales soaring by more than a fifth as its cut-price chic continued to appeal to shoppers.

Parent company Associated British Foods said today that total sales at the fashion store rose by 21% in the final 16 weeks of last year.

The sharp rise was partly attributed to Primark opening six new stores during the year, but the group said like-for-like sales growth, which excludes new space, was "very strong" at around 4%.

Primark's performance provides further evidence that shoppers are becoming increasingly thrifty as the recession hammers consumer confidence – a trend that sent clothing sales falling sharply at Marks & Spencer.

Primark fired several suppliers in 2008 following allegations that they were using child labour. But this week, allegations emerged that one of its UK suppliers was subjecting its workers to sweatshop conditions, with illegal immigrants receiving just half the minimum wage for 12-hour days, seven days a week.

read full article sourced from the Guardian

Sales slide at Currys and Argos

When I read this article, it really does real like the downturn is having a major effect. You would expect a lot of small retail shops to close and the odd big one like Woolworth, but here we are facing the end of Argos, Currys and PC world - so all those out of town retail parks will soon be very empty.

The article

Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown.

DSG International, which owns Currys and PC World, said like-for-like sales - which ignore new stores - had dropped 10% in the three months to 10 January.

Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales at its Argos chain had fallen 7.5% in the 18 weeks to 3 January.

DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%.

Many retailers are struggling as consumers cut back on spending amid rising jobless figures, falling house prices and recession worries.

read more sourced from the BBC

Sales slide at Currys and Argos

When I read this article, it really does real like the downturn is having a major effect. You would expect a lot of small retail shops to close and the odd big one like Woolworth, but here we are facing the end of Argos, Currys and PC world - so all those out of town retail parks will soon be very empty.

The article

Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown.

DSG International, which owns Currys and PC World, said like-for-like sales - which ignore new stores - had dropped 10% in the three months to 10 January.

Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales at its Argos chain had fallen 7.5% in the 18 weeks to 3 January.

DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%.

Many retailers are struggling as consumers cut back on spending amid rising jobless figures, falling house prices and recession worries.

read more sourced from the BBC