Buying on-line

[rjb]

Thanks for that link Mick, I don't recall the James Street vaults being quite so roomy inside, guess they have extended it internally. The surrounding area was still a bomb site (relic from ww2) and used as a car park. It's very close to Portland square which most residents of Plymouth will know as the air raid shelter there took a direct hit during the war. Talk was that the bomb went down the stairs and straight in. Just looked on Google maps and can see how much new development has taken place. I would have difficulty now finding my way around.

[pete75]

We were in Truro yesterday, and popped into a particular shop to see the price of something. We would have bought it, but at 70odd quid, it seemed a bit expensive.
Just been surfing the 'net and found the self same thing and ordered it. £59.99 with free P+P saving £15 or more.

Should we have paid the extra in the real shop?

We're as guilty as the next man in causing the death of the high street, maybe.

There's no guilt in a retail transaction. The retailer is merely the means of getting goods to you. For many years shops or face to face traders were the only means to do that. Then mail order started and took some business. Needed you to get a catalogue and order by post. Not always quick or convenient so only minor competition to retailers perhaps but a boon to working class folk as the likes of Freemans and Kays offered interest free credit with weekly payments. Most parents round our way got us our bikes from Empire Stores or Kays. Then online started. A website is a good shop window, ordering is quick and easy, overheads low so prices are low. Old fashioned retail models often meant goods passed through several hands importers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers with each taking a profit but adding no value.

No business is owed a living. The irony is many owners of small retail and other businesses being hit by the web are keen Tory supporters with a firm belief in market forces - at least when they were causing others to lose their livelihoods. Not so keen on them when they're being hit themselves though.

[Mick F]

As for Debenhams and the like ............ I'll be surprised if department stores are still with us in ten years time. The days of Grace Brothers are gone.

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Who's next?
Are there any left?

[reohn2]

As for Debenhams and the like ............ I'll be surprised if department stores are still with us in ten years time. The days of Grace Brothers are gone.

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Who's next?
Are there any left?

I think things are changing fast because we've now entered the world of time poor so the internet steps in.
I dislike shopping intensely,time in a shopping mall or dept store is a frustrating experience for me,crowds and traipsing up and down to find what I want only to find that they don't have my size is just so much wasted energy,and I'm retired,so I can fully understand people who are working finding it even more frustrating.
The only thing I go to a mall or large town/city for these days are clothes or shoes and it's a rare event.

Story alert:-
Mrs R2 and I were in Lytham St Annes last year and went on the High St for a picnic lunch too take on the prom to eat.
We past a Clarks shoe shop and as I was looking for some open trainer type sandelly type shoes we looked in and I saw what I liked.
They had two colour options available but only had my size in the colour I didn't want.
The lady assistant said to try on the the colour I didn't want and she could order the colour I did want and they would be there in a couple of days.I explained we were only there for the day and not bother,whereupon she said "I can see if we can post them to you at no extra cost and they should be with you in a few days" she made a phone call to confirm.
When she checked the price the colour I wanted were discounted by £15.
Result!
On our way out I asked her if she liked chocolate,she said "yes",
She nearly fainted when I returned 10 minutes later with a box of Thorntons chocs for her and the other two ladies
They cost me a fiver and saved endless walking and traipsing about,and I was still a tenner up on the deal

[fausto copy]

Well done that man.
That's the occasional type of shopping I like.

Living rather remotely down here and with very limited shopping opportunities locally, the internet is a boon to people like me.
It's a first choice option and makes life a lot easier.
When we first moved here over 40 years ago there were even less shopping options and unless we wanted to drive 70 miles to Swansea or 100 miles to Cardiff, we were stuck. What we used to do was compile a list of things we needed and the next time we visited relatives 'oop North, we pop along to Warrington and do a shop.
Now, the thought of visiting that new metropolis fills me with dread, so much so that I'll just go on t'internet anyway.
And saves me from buying choccies for helpful store assistants

fausto.

[horizon]

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Don't you mean House of Fraser?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ish-stores

[horizon]

There's no guilt in a retail transaction. The retailer is merely the means of getting goods to you. For many years shops or face to face traders were the only means to do that. Then mail order started and took some business. Needed you to get a catalogue and order by post. . . . . Then online started. A website is a good shop window, ordering is quick and easy, overheads low so prices are low.

I'm just wondering why mail order didn't have such an impact as on-line, apart from some obvious reasons. The illustrations and descriptions on-line are often no better than a catalogue and mail order had the same price advantage (no shops). There must have been quite a specialist trade in cycling goods during that time. I'm trying to remember whether SJS started on-line (advertising in Cycle magazine) or had traded as mail order before that.

[Mick F]

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Don't you mean House of Fraser?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ish-stores

I said I hear.
I heard it on R4 this morning.

[mjr]

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Don't you mean House of Fraser?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ish-stores

But where's the fun in that? I think most people in this country would much rather see a worker-owned business like John Lewis in trouble, to prove their choice not to join one.

[Mick F]

Just listening to the noon news on R4.
They're saying House of Fraser now.

[rjb]

I'm trying to remember whether SJS started on-line (advertising in Cycle magazine) or had traded as mail order before that.

SJS started as an old fashioned cycle shop in St. john street in Bridgwater about 1970. When I first started using them they were cash only no credit cards accepted. Robin was shrewd enough to see where things were moving and built his empire to where it is today, just across the same street from his original shop.

[horizon]

But did he have mail/telephone order before he had on-line?

[Paulatic]

But did he have mail/telephone order before he had on-line?

Yes they had telephone ordering. Their downfall regarding any further custom from me I stuck to Spa and Settle Cycles after one call to SJS.

[Ben@Forest]

Shopping is seriously tiring, expensive and very environmentally unfriendly. Better on-line methinks.

I was told recently (completely in cafe stop conversation and no proof) that there are 1.5 million vans doing delivery work for internet shopping. I've just checked and there were more than 4 million vans in the UK in 2016 so the figure seems possible. They all run on diesel - the new environmental no-no - so online shopping is not without its costs.

The other thing is that a lot of shopping by personal car is done as part of another journey. Most of the shopping I do is on the way home from work, when I am in a car anyway and adding less than four miles. It's entirely possible my wife, who does a lot more shopping than me could order items online that come from 4 suppliers and have 4 dirty diesels come out to a relatively remote location - is that better than one small blue motion petrol engine going to one town?

[horizon]

is that better than one small blue motion petrol engine going to one town?

You have a point. But the shoppers' car parks tell us that there are an awful lot of cars out there. Hopefully one van (aka Royal Mail) would do it all. But those days are over. Distributing goods is the problem so anything produced locally is a bonus.