The future of the high street
In May this year, I was challenged by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to undertake an independent review on the Future of the High Street – to help ‘bring back the bustle’ to our town centres.
And with town centre vacany rates doubling over the last two years, the need to take action to save our high streets has never been starker.
I am calling on business, local authorities and shoppers to contribute their ideas on how we can halt this decline in its tracks and create town centres that we can all be proud of.
If you’ve got something to say about the state of our high streets – be it an observation, insight, initiative or idea – please add your own contribution to the debate below.
Read my Telegraph article – ‘My job is to save our high streets‘
FUTURE OF THE HIGH STREET REPORT – UPDATE:
Thank you for the thousands of comments and opinions left here over the past few months. It is clear that the future of our high streets is a matter close to the hearts of many people. Mary is now in the final stages of writing her report and therefore we are no longer accepting comments/submissions. Please note that all comments made previously have been taken into consideration. Thanks again for your interest, and we look forward to sharing the report with you in the very near future.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a leisure account it. Look advanced to more brought agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?
The problem is business rates. I can’t see how this method of taxing local businesses can be justified and it is no wonder that small community shops and businesses are closing down and taking the life out of our towns and villages. If the money collected is for services provided by the local and district council how can it be that the same premises run for different purposes would incur vastly differing amounts of tax. Greengrocer’s shop versus yet another charity shop for example. It seems so arbitrary that the valuation is based on premises and business type and not on turn over or profit. The vast majority of local taxes must be generated from housing not business so surely there must be capacity for a more enlightened system. One that doesn’t drive people out of business when spending power is on the decline. Would it be too difficult to raise the tax on company profits. These are obviously figures that have to be filed with government so are known, it would then just be down to the local authority (or national government) to set the rate of local tax take.
And don’t get me started on architecture – look above street level in many town high streets and you see the character of the original buildings, at street level they are all the same sheets of glass and no window displays. How on earth have the planners allowed it.
High Street Shoppers Need Car Parks
Shoppers need easy access to free car parking. Otherwise town centre and suburban shops will have no prospect of competing with other retail opportunities.
Council officials should ask themselves how often they pay £4 to park before popping into a few local shops. We can be sure they more regularly order on the Web, visit a large supermarket, the local retail park, or an increasing choice of shopping malls.
Can we imagine Waitrose or Bluewater insisting that customers ring up and pay for parking before shopping? That would be patent nonsense. Retailers and developers fully appreciate the competitive strength they have from accessibility.
As surveyors we visit numerous high streets and experience radically different approaches to car park management. Some schemes work. A declining number of towns have free parking, although there are many examples of vibrant shopping areas, with free parking close by. Some locations have residents-only parking for limited hours or time restricted free parking. This dissuades commuters leaving their cars in a suburban shoppers’ parking space and makes sense.
Other parking measures radically detract from the vitality of a town. We have noticed increasing rates for pay and display. Other schemes require drivers to pay by phone, or at local shops. This cannot encourage customers to support local businesses.
There are counter-arguments for raising revenue and preserving parking for residents. Equally public transport should be encouraged for sustainability. Can it be sustainable to have rows of empty buildings at the heart of our communities? A balance needs to be achieved.
I think there are so many contributing factors to the decline of the high street only a truly collaborative approach will work. From a personal point of view, I live near two thriving high streets – Newport Pagnell and Olney. Both fought tooth and nail recently against the introduction of Tescos to their High Street – both lost. Tesco in Olney is a relatively small convenience store, directly adjacent to a long established convenience store, which begs the question why allow it and why site it in that location? The range of shops, along with weekly markets and events, plus the restrictions placed on Tesco mean Olney is still a successful High Street. Newport Pagnell has just lost it’s fight and the proposed Tesco here is a much larger format. I am unsure if any restriction will be placed on this store and fear for the impact it will have on our butcher, grocer, two bakerys etc. There are two smaller convenience style Co-op supermarkets in NP, and should you need to visit a large supermarket the nearest one is only 4 miles away and is, surprise surprise, a Tesco. The contradiction between desire to rejuvinnate our high streets and permission for large retailers whose occupancy will kill of indpependant traders astounds me. Give the independants a fighting chance by not pitting them against neighbours they simply cannot compete with. Then we get onto parking, variety, charity shops, all mentioned in previous posts. As a shopper, we can buy online but we shop for ‘experience’ and all stores need to provide that – whether it’s the treasure trove of trinkets in a gift shop, or visual splendor of product and packaging in a delicatessen, visual theatre helps – its what the shopping mall chain retailers do so well. Maybe if retail advice and design services where available more cost effectively to the independant retailer it would encourage more experiential store formats? The new House of Fraser ‘Buy and Collect’ concept could bring high end shopping in a smaller footprint / format back to the High Street. Street furniture or concierge services could allow shoppers to ‘park’ their shopping, or have it deliverd to their car? We need ‘outside of the box’ thinking and a truly collaborative approach to put life back into our High Streets.
The high street is being ruined by: 1. poor planning control for out of town developments (too many). 2. High rents and general lack of capitalisation of high street retailers (I am not referring to the the big chains) 3. Charity shops who get free product and free labour!! (and special rental deals by all account). If you look at the history of any market town – trading was controlled by a Royal Charter and trading could only occur in a market town. We now have a free for all and I think you will have an uphill battle to persuade Tories that regulation makes thing work properly. If the current situation continues many historic market towns will increasingly decay while the population shop in out of town “sheds”. Brain dead Brits get it all wrong again.
Roland
Do some if the feedbacker here actually read why the blog exists??
I suggest Mary’s review also looks at the rents charity shops pay as I think this will demonstrate how damaging the rate concession is to town centre vitality. As a retailer, I recall at last rent review that rents were being artificially inflated by the local charity shops. It seemed they could outbid the commercial sector for new leases. This distortion of market rents tends to inflate average rents in due course. If the rate concession were removed, would charity shops be so willing to pay silly money? Rents would eventually return to actual market levels, and attract a range of (rate-paying) specialist retailers back into our towns.
As a Planner I am constantly struggling to protect the high street with constant developer pressure to increase retail development in out of town centre sites. Please speak to the RTPI re the Draft National Planning Policy Framework which is a weakening of retail planning policy. It puts more pressure on Local Authorities to make a case against developers and with dwindling resources we are no competition for large retailers. For an example of where out of town retail sites are causing a chronic decline in the town centre you need look no further than Slough. Please help to bring this to the attention of the Prime Minister.
Hi,
Agree with the issue of charity shops. Many people don’t realise that from a retailer’s point of view, the charity shops are actually directly harmful to business.
Let’s look at the reality of the situation: a shop on the High Street that doesn’t pay most of its staff and pays reduced business rates is going to have an advantage over those who don’t. In the old days, this used to be accepted by, for example, second hand and antiques dealers (the sorts of independent specialists who really bring a High Street to life) because they could themselves buy items out of the charity shops and sell them on. Whether you agree or disagree with the morality of that, that was the reality of the situation. It was a win-win. The charity shops turned over more quickly, and the dealers put their mark-up on top.
However, the professionalisation of charity shops means that they are now in direct competition with other retailers. An Oxfam manager I spoke to recently told me that her area manager put it thus: “If a dealer comes into this shop and finds it too expensive, then the price is right.”
This professionalisation doesn’t only apply to antiques and vintage clothing. I recently walked past a Sue Ryder shop that was selling brand new acoustic guitars, made in China. Yes, they were not of great quality – but they were also ridiculously cheap. A music business could not compete on the High Street with this offering because of the overheads they have to cover, which are completely absent from charity shops. Charity shops are directly competing with other retailers now, and it basically isn’t fair. Other retailers close down, and then more low grade charity shops open and the downward spiral goes on. Look at Ross On Wye for what that does to a town.
There should be a means to address this: possibly a review of rates, for a start. At the same time, vendors need to get imaginative. Realistically, they can’t compete with the likes of Tesco or Walmart in sourcing goods cheaply, so they need to start looking more carefully for unique and unusual stock. That is the way to pull in more customers to a town – to counteract the depressing “clone-town” feel of so many High Streets with their dull offerings that might as well be bought off the net because the shop doesn’t offer anything over and above the home shopping experience.
I am not sure that government can make that happen. A grass-roots movement needs to be encouraged to help local producers have an outlet. Variety and individuality will revive the High Street, not another Subway, or House of Fraser.
That might involve designating certain businesses as “Local Sourcing” businesses bringing money into the local economy by holding stock with a certain percentage of locally produced products, and giving those businesses a rates rebate. It might involve active promotion of local small businesses, or a policy of specialisation, as with the experience of Hay On Wye, just up the rive from Ross.
These policies might be actionable at a Local Government level, but I find it unlikely. Which means setting up localised business fora to start identifying the USPs of particular towns and cities. Questions these fora might ask include: “What are we strong at? How do we project and promote that specialism?” Businesses could work with their council to begin to promote that angle. Is it food? Is it arts and crafts?
Setting up regular markets in High Streets can also draw people in – and ensuring that an element of entertainment and interaction will make a visit to the market so much more interesting and rewarding than sitting at home. Fairground rides for kids, street theatre, arts projects – all these can add to the mix for a market, which can become a celebration of “localness”. Ensuring the streets are clean and well presented will help that, too. Constraining “charity muggers” might also be a good idea, since they can often be a nuisance, though how you would do that I have no idea. Having cafes with outdoor terraces helps to give a bustley, “people-watching” vibe to a street, Promoting a clear sense of identity will help draw people in.
So, not one thing, but many, in a mix, will be useful to the High Street. We have a road in my home town of Southsea called Albert Road which used to run a day called “Love Albert Road Day” twice a year. It was essentially an open air festival. The first time it was held, it attracted 5,000 people. The last one pulled in over 100,000 people – and knocked the nail in the coffin of the event for policing reasons. But the point is, it put the road on the map. People associate Albert Road with a slightly “alternative” sensibility, and so it is vibrant.
Well, there are a few thoughts to be going on with…
You could certainly see your skills within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart.
Mary is wrong about wanting to curtail the numbers of charity shops. High Streets are brought alive by charity shops, not harmed. Far better than shops being boarded up, streets left without any life. If a viable commercial business takes over a shop unit and it works, great! But if not, what on earth is wrong with charity shops using that space?
Some people travel to streets where charity shops cluster, for a grand ‘vintage’ day out – Stockbridge in Edinburgh (about dozen shops), West End lane in West Hampstead (6-7 shops). There are empty shops there too – alongside delicatessens, mini-supermarkets and other local businesses – I’m sure new businesses moving in would be welcomed, but there’s no evidence that charity shops closing would improve things – killing off what works doesn’t bring to life businesses that don’t exist.
I’d rather see a cap on pawnbrokers and betting shops than on charity shops if we want to improve an area’s image.
i love your clothes line but unfortunately for some people they can’t afford to pay £150 for your fabulous Aurora dress or £200 for the Antonio Dress. i don’t particularly want to wait for the sales for it due to it still might being a bit pricey and of your clothes this season coming out of fashion, i know you have to make money some how but i feel not everyone that are in my age range are still going to either dress like a granny or like a teenager. i’m 47 now and i’m always skeptical about my clothes i have in my wardrobe and would love to have your clothes, shoes and more but simply can’t because its all over priced for women like me who don’t get a lot of money coming in.
Dear Mary,
I love the concept of your show! My fashion retail dream would be to shop by shape. Walk into a store where I can immediately go to the section for my shape and buy with confidence. With a change to store layouts, I would probably buy clothes I may not normally consider and be tempted to spend more = consumer confidence in style and £. Keep up the good work X
I agree with the statement above suggesting ‘shopping by shape’ . As a size 10-12 26year old, it may be presumed by some that I may find no difficulty finding fashionable cloathes to fit. However, after training as a dancer I have very muscular thighs and calves, and have also inherited my mothers broad hips/ribcage. With most ‘fashionable’ cloathes being seemingly aimed at the waif like size 0 model, and the high street versions being the same with only more leeway to disguise a larger stomach (suitable for apples but not pears), I find it impossible to find anything that suits my physique. Sadly this leaves me feeling inadequate and ugly, just because the genes I inherited are not currently ‘in fashion’. But as a naturally exuberant stylish woman, why should I be so limited just because I don’t have stick legs? I emplore designers to become more open minded, and create pieces for a broader variety of people. For, interestingly, I recently posted on Facebook the following: “Where on earth can a woman buy classy, elegant, timeless clothing, which hints at sexy, runs a mile from frumpy, is more sophisticated Audrey Hepburn than fashionable Cheryl Cole (yet still up-to-date), which suits a curvy lady, not only leggy stick insects, and isn’t exclusively available to those who can also afford gold-plated yachts? Advice welcome!” …. the response? None could offer any suggestions whatsoever … but many young women asked for me to inform them if I came across such a place!!
Mary, you have done so much for the 30+ market, which was in dire need of assistance for all the reasons you pointed out in your series (all of which I had already noted, and agreed with). Now is there scope for assistance for the young-but-not-anorexic-or-apple-shape market and/or for those, like myself, who are looking for a youthful but sophisticated look rather than the often tarty trash on the railes at Top Shop?!
Email if you want be to expand upon this – I could talk all day if useful!!
Best wishes to you and your team
x
Most of the debate seems to be about the quality, style and service at shops on the High Street, which is absolutely right. However, there is one essential fact that has been pretty much forgotten in the debate so far and that is transport. How people travel to and from the shops.
Historically, the High Street and town centre shops existed because that was the place where all commercial activity centred (banking etc). From the establishment of our public transport systems as horse-dawn trams in Victorian times all routes led to the centre of town.
From the 1960’s as car ownership and car use has inexorable grown, so out-of-town retail facilities have become easier for car-based customers. There’s usually much less congestion driving to out-of-town retail facilities and often they provide virtually limitless free car parking.
Sadly, many towns tried in the 1960’s and 1970’s to compete with out-of-town facilities by building more and more car parks and wider and larger inner ring roads to bring those cars into town. In the process they also ripped the heart of many historic and well-loved central streets. Making the town centre shopping experience pretty soulless.
A few places bucked this craze for trying to meeting the needs to the car-based shopper. They took a different view and improved public transport access to the city cnetre. Oxford was one of the leading lights in 1973 it established a Park&Ride service (the first in Britain). Since then the city has worked with bus operators and the highway authority (which is the county council) to improve the quantity and quality of the Park&Ride services and also absolutely crucially all the local bus network into the city centre. Bus useage over the last 20 years has increased by over 50%. At the same time Oxford has some of the lowest shop vacancy rates in the UK. In recent years other towns and cities have started to follow Oxford’s lead e.g. Cambridge, Brighton, York, Edinburgh.
One of the key answers to rejuvenating the High Street is to work very closely with bus operators (whose main business is people travelling to shop or work in retail). Buses are a great way to get to the city centre, cheap, frequent and with no parking hassle. Yet up and down the land retailers have for a long time had it in for the bus. They’ve petitioned to have buses banned from shopping streets for pedestrianisation schemes. The result is that shoppers have to walk further and further with their bags to get on the bus home. This then leads the shopper to think, “well I might as well get in the car and drive to the out of town retail park after all”.
A report by Greener Journeys (published earlier this year) showed that bus users spend on average £29.90 per visit to the city centre and make around 120-150 shopping trips to the centre each year.
More importantly, bus users shop in town centres far more frequently than car users. Half of all weekday shoppers travel to the centre by bus three or more times a week, whereas only a third of car drivers do.
So Mary, in your submission to the Government, please give serious thought to how retailers should work with their local bus operators to encourage High Street shopping. These two business sectors are linked and totally depend upon each other.
Floor Staff and the Back-Handed way some of them are employed.
Most of the time just part of the furniture, other times completely uninterested and rude.
I’m just out of Secondary school and having never had a job before, finding some part time retail work to tide me over until i start College next year is a nightmare and nearly completely impossible. No Experience? Not Interested. Don’t Know Anyone who can pull strings? Tough
Then I have the “joy” of walking into a shop and seeing people around my age and younger with jobs on tills and on the floor, doing the bare minimum and less and knowing I could do a far better job than them.
Asking them to serve me a coffee, (the job they’re being paid to do) is met with looks to heaven and tuts as I pry them away from their thoroughly more important social lives.
The Recession has cost many people their jobs, many people who have studied to work in the field they love and in an environment they thrive in, but seeing these lackluster people clinging onto a job they have no interest in makes me very angry.
Excellent initiative and well overdue.
So what do we get, short sleeved dresses/blouses that don’t consider batwings, trousers that don’t cater for 5’3″ smaller waisted pear shapes…………………………I could go on.
What is just as important to me (I have headed Customer Services teams up for more years than I care to remember) is the experience in these shops. Nobody respects people like they used to and that said, many shops just don’t employ people who really care. The ‘Customer is King’ ethos has just disappeared entirely so you have to get this right for people to enjoy shopping. Thank you for paying so much attention to this, perhaps it will make others sit up.
Keep up go the good work.
Teresa
Watched your recent show, think your doing a fantastic job. Went to Meadowhall a couple of weeks ago, excited, hoping to try on a couple of dresses, sadly your not there yet. I’ve just reached 40 and i struggle to fing something stylish that makes me feel good. I am a size 18/20 so i’m holding my breath hoping your clothes will fit. I’ve worked in retail for 10 years and i’m hoping that you might contemplate adding a size 20 for us bigger ladies. Not all of us want to go into the ‘fat shop’ you know the one I mean on the high street, the clothes are shapeless, unflattering and dull. Not all of us what to look like a sack of spuds. Help us Mary, come on you know it makes sense!!!
x
Please don’t forget Edinburgh – but above all the larger ladies – with particular body shape problems. I am very narrow on the shoulder going to a triangular or pear shape – and just 5ft3″. I am very short waisted too. I search high and low for A Line Dresses which are roughly Empire Line. Elbow length or 3/4 sleeve to hid the bingo wings – but in the summer I just ignore that as sleeves are too hot and uncomfortable.
I have worked in Retail myself – and have never, ever disagreed with anything you have said. I am now retired – and it is good to know that I was not as mad or bad as sometimes people made me feel. However, I stuck to my guns as you do – I was not employed to be popular but to engender sales and complete cutomer satisfaction. Service is ALL and so are Standards – and stocktaking for “replenishment” should be done every two days at least.
Two days ago – I said, during a “debate” that the word Compromise (on certain issues) is the worst C word I know. I shall rememeber always your quote “That C Word is not in my Vocabularly”.
Suppliers need to wake up – as do Councils regarding Rates – or the High Street will inevitiabiley die with their Conveyor Belt Sameness, Lack Lustre Staff and Managment whose feet are set in concrete!
Best wishes you are doing a grand job.
Hi Mary,
I’m a third year student and I’m currently doing my dissertation about exactly what you’re trying to do, fix the high street essentially, it’s so funny because when I proposed my dissertation back in May I had no idea it would become a massive debate on television…all the work you’re doing is not only helping the high street but it’s also helping me with my dissertation so I thank you for that!!
Jess
Jess,
Good luck with your studies. You have bitten off a mighty topic for your degree. We’ll see you in 3 years with your phd!
If you are undertaking primary research with surveyors that deal with shops, count me in. My email can be found through our website when you click my name (above).
RICS and RTPI along with the College of Estate Management will have useful resources for you. I hope Mary consults them too…
Mary I loved your collection. It is rather pricey for me – a young 65 year old on a pension, but considered I’d try the no brainer dress. Soooo disappointed that your sizing stops at 18. I need a 20. What about we ladies who have put on the pounds. There are lots of active retired who are definately not into pleated skirts, cardies and sensible shoes. Please don’t forget us.
I am a great fan of you mary and admire what you have done. I love the way you don’t give up and strive to get things the way you want them done. And what a success it proves to be! i am 58 and agree i don’t want to look like a teenage but neither do i want to look like an old lady – cos i am not! Waiting for your collection to come to Birmingham – my nearest house of fraser shop. Keep up the good work or should i say the good fight. All the luck in the future. lynn x
What an interesting and insightful post, thanks for sharing this with us. Keep up the great work guys. Thanks.
Love the collection Mary. I am 55 years old, recently retired and having thrown out the work clothes (yeuch) I am struggling to find anything to suit my age, I gave up on M & S years ago and find that the High Street is just not for me, my wardrobe is getting less and less, but whilst your clothes are absolutely wonderful how about doing something for those of us who don’t have that kind of free cash to spend, I would expect a complete outfit for the price of one pair of your shoes.
You are an inspiration and the clothes manufacturers should stand up and take notice, the world is not full of young fashionistas there are a wealth of 50 somethings that would like to look fashionable without looking like they had raided their daughters wardrobe and certainly do not want to look like their Gran. X
I am 65 and still love buying clothes and accessories. I have often shopped thinking I prefer the ‘stuff’ I already have rather than what is actually out there, but I always manage to find something – a new accessory works wonders! I very much admire what you do and hope it goes on from success to success.
Higher rate of tax for online retailers
Online retailers are presenting a previously unprecedented attack on the traditional high
street. These firms generally employ few people, and have very low overhead costs, thus can
understandably offer lower prices to the consumer. This seems to be an unfair advantage,
compared with the traditional high street retailer, who will incur much higher costs, but
contributes much more to the life of a town than simply being a conduit for buying/selling.
It may seem like a drastic measure, but to counteract this ‘unfair advantage’ held by online
retailers The Government could perhaps implement a two-tiered system of Value Added
Tax (VAT). For example online retailers may be subject to a 25% rate whilst those which have
a presence on the high street may be subject to a reduced rate of 15%. There would need to
be certain conditions for this, for example, in order that small start-up businesses are not
priced out of the market by the higher rate of tax, it should only be implemented once the
turnover reaches a certain threshold. As well as helping to protect our high streets, which I
personally feel are amongst our most valuable assets, this will help to create a more level
playing field, and depending on the figures may in fact help to generate additional revenue
for the government.
Limiting the Expansion of Supermarkets
There is much concern within the business community that the large supermarket retailers
are taking an unfair share of the markets. It is one thing that this is happening within the
grocery market, but with supermarkets now diversifying, this is having a further detrimental
effect on smaller and more specialised retailers. The latter are exactly the kind of businesses
the government has pledged to assist; encouraging entrepreneurship. To this end, the
planning process needs to be more stringent in limiting the size of supermarket
developments.
We may find it easy to baulk at such measures and to simply rejoice at the low prices offered by the
online retailers and supermarkets. We need to realise however that continuing this trend is only
going to lead to a reduction in choice for the consumer and to ‘ghost towns’. If action is not taken
the traditional high street and the spectre of a decent, lively public realm will be lost forever!
I have just read your initial thoughts in the Telegraph and I have to say I am somewhat underwhelmed; token gestures are made to some of the causes but your proposal for the biggest economic town- centre retail issue, that of Business Rates, is potentially more damaging than helpful.
By reserving the only relief on rates to new businesses you would unfairly disadvantage existing businesses who would have to compete against in-experienced new competition (who have artificially lower like-for-like costs) but those new businesses would then be hit with a rate increase of up to 400% when the new business rate relief expires!
I was concerned that your proposals would be glossy gimmick with no real longevity and certainly in the case of your business rates proposal this appears to be the case. However I further fear that the Government will lap it up as it will be a good PR proposal at relatively low cost.
Why not address the fact that Business Rates for town centre properties are punishing for all retailers due to outdated valuation methods based on the high street of yesteryear and that are irrelevant to commerce of today? A smaller rate relief could be applied to all town centre properties (20%) within certain designated postcodes. This would equalise the business environment for all town-centre businesses new or old.
If you make the town centre a fair and viable environment to trade it has a chance of flourishing
If you tempt new businesses with misleading perceptions of costs while continuing to punish existing business you will simply delay the inevitable and make it even more difficult in the long run.
I do wonder however how many existing independent retailers you have consulted and considered – your proposals seem based upon tempting back the big boys and encouraging new business. What about everyone that’s fought adversity and survived thus far.
Seems to me you have presented a very valid argument; I hope it is taken into consideration and acted upon. Our town centres are becoming souless areas, we need individuality and character to give these locations an attraction to visit which was once taken for granted and now sadly lacking.
Hi Mary
I have absolutely strong feelings about our high street like Shirley Broadway. I own a small independent boutique in Southampton and am struggling. I have no footfall and am not a destination shop. I get very angry when I phone to ask the rent and rates of a shop that has been left standing empty on the Southampton High Street for a while to be told it’s over £20k rent and £20k rates. Because I am a small independent I don’t have the buying power of the ‘big’ names so my mark-up is smaller. There is no way I could afford to even think about it. That is why High Streets will always look the same – only the ‘big’ names can afford it. So watch out I am starting a revolution – Look Local – encouraging people to look on their own doorsteps and quickly before all the small independents disappear!
HI Mary
I’ve really enjoyed watching your television series, as an interior architect i am glad someone has realised that the design of a store DOES have an impact on the shopping experience, in a time when my industry is so short of work it would be great if other shops took note and woke up to realise that good lighting (especially in the changing rooms) good circulation routes and eye catching displays do encourage us to shop – there have been times when i have went into a shop changing room and walked out again before trying anything on as i knew i would feel bad about seeing myself half dressed in awful lighting!
As there is very little work in interiors i am working part time in retail and i would say that i would like more training, i would like to know more about the products i sell BUT i would also like to be paid to reflect that knowledge, the work i do is hard graft and there is no such thing as a break in retail but the average retail worker is taking home about £12000 a year before tax, it really isn’t a livable wage and feels like a slap in the face for the job we do! I am hoping my stint in retail will only be temporary, i do enjoy the work, but the wage is a joke. I really do think that if shops valued their staff, showed them more respect, and upped their wages, the work would be more enjoyable, and in return, the shoppers would have better experience.
Hi Mary,
I come from a town which was once known the world over…the home of Tom Jones…Pontypridd. This town centre was once a thriving, bustling town with a fantastic indoor market, department stores plus independent shops. Slowly but surely the town council has ripped the heart and soul out of the town centre and it’s now reduced to a street full of cheap and nasty shops. It’s hard to believe that this town was once the gateway to the south Wales valleys and that people actually paid to go on shopping trips there. The town council has realised that it needs a boost and has since demolished the 1960s concrete precinct to make way for some new shopping centre.
I would love nothing more than to open up a lovely boutique selling jewellery and bags but I just couldn’t afford the start up fees plus the high business rates. The government needs to help small business’ off the ground but I also think that town councils need to be more choosy about who sets up shop in their town. Don’t get me wrong, £1 shops have their place but how many does one town need? At the moment we are just about hanging on to River Island but that’s as good as it gets. Even our Marks and Spencer’s has been reduced to an Outlet shop. Pontypridd has now got a reputation of being a bit rough round the edges and a dump but I know that there are ‘tidy’ people there but they no longer use Pontypridd and travel to Cardiff instead-and who can blame them? I have myself moved away and it pains me to see the town where I grew up reduced to what it is today. As much as I hate to say this I think many of the town planners, councillors haven’t got a clue. Pontypridd has many important historical landmarks but they have been ruined. For example, we have an architecturally important single span stone bridge that crosses the River Taff but you can’t see it because in their wisdom they built another one slap bang next to it which hides it. Then they decided to erect tacky lampposts with metal bridges stuck to the top of them. To see it is to believe it! It’s no wonder that people don’t bother coming to our town anymore-it’s a joke. I suppose what I’m saying is that it’s not just the shops that draw people in but it’s the environment too.
P.S. loving the show. Keep up the good work.
Hi Mary, my friend and I so enjoyed your programme for the 40 and 50 age group, but hey!! what about the 60′s and 70′s. We are both tall and slim and very young thinking and also like to be fashionable but have limited resources. We both live in South Devon and the fashion industry here is very restricted.
It was good to see you advising your customers as to styles that would suit them even though they thought that they wouldn’t be able to wear the style.
We are both struggling these days to find the style that would suit us both and would dearly love your help on this matter.
Keep up the excellent work and service you provide and good luck for the future.
Regards
Anne Ball and Sylvia Sweeting
Dear Mary
I hope you will tackle the issue of the invasion by Charity shops, the level of help they get from Government, the impact on local retailers and the point made by Julie Lucas below re the modern opportunity for legit rates-tax-paying, jobs-providing business dealing in second hand goods.
I have met the problem through Rochester High Street, Medway. I use a second hand bookshop. Bob, the owner, used to be a strong spporter of charity shops. No longer – having felt their baleful impact.
They have become big businesses. They are into everything – books – which hits him – cards, fashion, nicknaks, musical instruments etc. Local retailers are angry/worried – but with the exception of a few people like Bob, they feel GAGGEDbecause they fear that if they speak up against the charity shops the public will become hostile.
The Charities exploit this CHARITY SYMPATHY SYNDROME – which is based on good heart, naivete, not knowing the shambles of tax re Charities and the lack of adequate Gov regulation..
EXAMPLES OF IMPACT. 1) One shop sells prints, frames. The charity shop across the road to Ken (the owner) started selling new silver gilt frames identical to the ones he had on sale – at a 1/3rd of the price. How could he compete? He had to discontinue that line. He is so upset at the state of things that he is getting out. UK’s loss.
It is high time that Charity shops have to pay tax on sale of new items. BHS sell new items in their furnitre and electrical shops – and get away with it (pay no tax). Charities have their own branded greeting/christmas cards – and get away with it.
2) The big charities can use their financial resources to offer more than locals when a new property is up for rent. A startling case of this in Rochester High Street. The property next to “Hometown” (quilting, sewing and other related items) came free. The proprietor put in her offer. She was gazumped by “Demelza” to the tune of some £6000! It is A MORAL SCANDAL that a Charity that has such resources as Demelza (Lottery, significant support from groups like the Masons, support from celebrities, their own fundraising, a website) should feel free to invade (the word applies) this High Street to make life more difficult for locals. This is simply GREED. The fact that Demelza does brilliant work for children does not justify this amorality. They have no moral right to follow the newest bright fundraising idea from their Director of Income Generation irrespective of their effect on local retailers. Of course they can do with more money. So could the retailers. No reason to act unethically, with lack of CHARITABLE concern for legit tax paying businesses. A RUTHLESS BUSINESS ETHOShas clearly got into Charities by their use of professional fundraisers.
3) Further. The owner of “Hometown” had hoped to expand into the property. She would, doing this, have provided one extra full time job, increased sales, increased the UK’s tax take.The proprietors (the Cathedral in this case claim they were forced to take that offer, being a charity, irrespective of whatever ethical business morality might be involved). In disgust I cancelled my subscription to the Demelza Lottery and wrote to them. I received what I call a self-righteous reply.
A further scandal. HMRC in their advice to Charities propose what is in effect A TAX DODGE scam. Verbatim:”However, if your trading activities aren’t covered by tax exemption, your charity may want to consider conducting all or part of these activities through a subsidiary trading company and transferring some or all of the profits of that company back to your charity as a donation.” UNBELIEVABLE?! Cf HMRC website under “Tax relief on trading profits”.
I ask: What is THE COST TO THE TAXPAYER for the Government to subsidise Charities to the tune of 80% of their rates bill and for local Councils to pay as much of the remaining 20% as they choose?( BHS alone , one of the worst offenders in my book, have 560 shops and 120 retail outlets and a long list of target towns they want to get into.) The 1995-1996 figures were that it cost the Gov (ie the tax payer) £435 million in rates relief – to enable the charities to make £95 million profit! (See: Joint Committee on the Draft Charities Bill Minutes of Evidence, Examination of Witnesses, evidence of Mr Alambritis Questions 420 – 440
Disadvantaged local retailers(most of whom are keen supporters of the Charity ideal) have the bitterness of knowing that their taxes help to support and fatten the Charities who, as far as the present UK tax regime goes, have become ECONOMIC PARASITES.
Julie Lucas owner of “Just 4 Kids”, is concerned at the proliferation of Ch Shops (up to 10 in a very short High Street). She made AN INTERESTING COMMENT/SUGGESTION.”We are now no longer a throw away society and there is a massive opportunity for people to run legit businesses selling second hand clothing,(there is a demand), providing jobs for others, making a living themselves, paying rates and taxes.” She knows this from experience: she has been selling 2nd-hand for some 10 years in addition to her new stuff. The unregulated plethora of Charities negates this opportunity in the real economy.
Looking forward to your report. Followed by Gov ACTION as opposed to INACTION or ADULTERATION.
Sincerely.John Abrami
At last an insightful, considered and thorough observation of one of the problems of high-street retail. Well done John! Hopefully this will be well considered and debated alongside some of the other real issues…or maybe we’ll just get hundreds more compliments of Mary’s bold new clothing range – I am sure that will help!
David,
I agree John has some interesting ideas, although I don’t really accept that charity shops are the right battle ground for the debate. With changing retail patterns, it is hard to criticise any shop attracts customers to a high street and sells goods rather than services.
I thoroughly support your observation that there are too many features on Mary’s new clothing range. It is somewhat ironic to consider department stores as the first nail in the coffin for independent retailers and other high street shops.
Hi Mary, I’m an ex retail manager – looking for a job (!) anyway, I think your collection is fantastic – but even better is your mission statement- we don’t want to dress like our daughters!! Even at a relatively young ish 35 I sometimes walk in and straight back out again in Topshop etc. Only points I would like to make are I think its important to bare in mind, especially where store design is concerned, that alot of older women sadly lose some confidence, self esteem and self belief (a viscious circle where retail is concerned). For example my lovely mum said she would feel too imtimidated to come to your store, and lots of people don’t like to be approached by staff instead prefer to do thier own thing. Its a fine balance I know. Also a more affordable range would be very welcome – the majority of people really don’t have the money you think they do. Apart from that, LOVE IT!!
Hi Mary much congratulations with your latest successful programme , I have always followed your programmes and you give hope and sanity to young women in our 40’s,50’s etc I thank you for this. Well done for another great programme, but I need your help now please, I am desperate to have a new look and am completely rubbish at doing so, the thought of shopping in High Street places where I haven’t got the first idea is terrifying , and the thought of asking a young shop assistant if even more terrifying ! – hence I do my clothes shopping in Tesco & Asda . Your collection looks amazing but I don’t know what to put with what and worried that I will look completely wrong , I think I have lost the confidence to even try now days. If you ever need a guinea pig to restyle please remember me, best wishes.
Hi Mary,
Love your show on Channel 4 and it was stated last night that Belfast may be an option
When are you opening in Belfast? So very hard to get nice gear in the High street for the soon to be glamorous granny. Am recovering from Breast Cancer and my hair is a nice silver grey colour, but needs a sharper cut.
Need a makeover by Mary. I am an exact 12 with a very good figure. When ,oh when are you coming to Northern Ireland?
Mary
Love the range and the TV show. On your last one you were wearing a fabulous long silver skirt and navy jacket. Are these from your range? Can I get hold of them?
Sorry, I have just left a comment but forgot to add that Purleeeees Mary, can you do something about our high street ? Whether I am shopping in London’s Oxford Street, Manchester, Oxford, Leeds, Edinburgh or indeed any other part of the Country, IT’S ALL THE SAME. How I long for the days when we could pop into one of hundreds of individual boutiques and buy something different, usually down a pretty cobbled street. The giant malls that you favour ( Westfield etc. ) are ruining our shopping experience, they all have the same stock! BORING !!
I don’t want to be a clone and wear something everyone else has, Reiss, jigsaw, Hobbs, Karen Millen, etc. Etc. Yawn yawn.
Hi Mary,
I travel regularly all over Europe and shop for clothes at every opportunity. I love fashion, have a great eye, know exactly what women of my age are looking for ( 54years of age ) I have checked out your new collection and sorry to say, not impressed. Believe me Mary, I really wanted to love it but you just haven’t ‘got’ what we want.
When I am in France, I see mature women looking fabulous, fashionable but not mutton. They wear well tailored jackets, slim leg jeans, leather or suede loafers and always a fabulous scarf etc. Their shoes DO NOT look like they have come out of a ‘Clarks’ shop Yuck!.
I would love the opportunity to chat to you, although I’m sure there are millions who would like to also. You really should take us up on our offer Mary. I am constantly asked in the street where I buy my clothes, even my 17year old daughter approves and say’s her friends think I’ m cool but still think I look like a ‘proper Mum’
Just a bit of what we want Mary. Good quality pencil skirts below the knee, empire line dresses that skim the body, peasant style summer dresses in floaty fabrics also peasant style tops, sexy fitting skirts with kick out hems and dresses that float with uneven hemlines Gorgeous. Downtown Abbey style sleeves in tops and dresses, pretty and floaty.
I realise that these things are not your style Mary, you dress for your shape, ( I personally think your style is too fussy) but it suits YOU, It wouldn’t suit many of us.
Please take some advice Mary , I would love to love your collection and also see you create more competition for us on the high street.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
Shirley Broadway.
Loved the new collection and the TV show. There are a lot of women out here in your demograph that are size 16+ any thoughts on doing larger sizes? if reports are true the majority of women over 45 are size 16+ and you are aiming at that age group.
Magnificent Mary
when are you going to do the same for us blokes?
TC
I am a bloke in my early sixties and I havent bought many clothes for many years. I wear jeans mostly because the colours available in all shops are grey to black or some variant in between. All the colours and material are boring, boring, boring………depressing. The same applies to coats and suits. Why oh why does it have to be like this????
Mary, you really are an angel! Its about time the high street and retail chains took notice of women our age. I’ve recently turned 40…am not concerned about wrinkles or grey hair…its how you do it…and I would like to do it gracefully and with style and attitude…I will still be the same me when I’m 50. What I have dreaded is ‘feeling’ old and frumpy and this is where the high street and designers let women down a bagful. I have M&S and Designers at Debenhams Syndrome…every time I wander round I have the recurring urge to vomit and then the psychological symptoms kick in and I’m depressed about heading towards that age when you have no choice but to browse there because lets face it we do know when mutton is mutton. At last thanks to you we have a voice and the clothes we want. And HOF should be bloody grateful you are at all associated with their stores…and tell Mr King although they may have a name-badge ‘policy’, you are of course perfectly correct that they look awful and cheapen the outfits, get them off! We aren’t stupid, if we want to know who is serving us we will ask, don’t patronise us. I live in ROIreland and so ordered online from your store but HOF did bloody well too as I spent over £100 on Linea boots (tell Spencer) and other things from their other ranges so give up the name badges John! I would never have ordered from them as I viewed them as just another typical department store. I hope they have the insight to continue to listen to your advice. Love the range, but would respectfully request more chunky jewellery and slash neck tunics perhaps in the £50 range, that way we can buy in a range of colours.
Love the show, cried tonight when you met the woman from Guildford..we all probably feel a little like she did and we shouldn’t have to! Listen up high street! You are an inspiration..your staff are great..very personable..and Peter wandering into shot the odd time was rather heart-warming too…almost as nice to look at as your clothes. Keep up the good work and please expand the online availability. Best wishes and if you keep going girl we will back you every step of the way! x
Mary, I think you should get your own premises, I commented last week about the concessions of ‘Mary’ in Manchesters HOF, and they have done what you said on tonights show what would be your biggest nightmare – two rails of clothes with a big picture of you in the middle- at the top of the escalators where they usually have a few mannequins just to do something with the space..it does not lend to the experience of shopping that you are trying to create, rather devalues your whole vision.I almost think the boys ( I forget their names, pink badge boy) have done it just to piss you off and take the moral high ground.
Should you open your own premises nationwide, does this mean we are to view you as a designer now? not that I oppose this, just curious as to how this would coexist with your TV career in your field of expertise ? perhaps i am being peevish and should simply congratulate your success for the sisters – yes, I shall do that instead, very well done ( but remove yourself from HOF , the pink badge boys and poor Spencer)
Mary – get the f**k out of HOF and go for your own “Pop-Up Shops” .. this is the future and the taking back of the high street from the lackluster, bad service, same shot different label chains that you know and critise all too well….. stop working for ‘the man’ and work for YOU! You have the vision, you have the tools, you have the proof it can work. The scene in the Guildford store tonight made me cry so much! I am a designer and would LOVE to do what you have the ability and exposure to do… get in touch if you need a hand!
shot = s**t (must have changed my text)
Clare,
If Mary had high street shops, wouldn’t it become just another clone town brand?
Realistically she would only take on prime shops in big cities or units in centres. That will not save our High Streets.
Don’t s***t me for remembering what this site is about. (Shoot)
Just watched Mary, Queen of Frocks on C4 for first time and was blown away. Why is Mary having to fight to prove that people over 40 (and I am only 42!) want clothes that fit and arent like their grannies ( for Gods sake that is a 40 year age difference)! We have money, we have style (learnt on those 80s dance floors(ok, questionable!)) and we have 45 years to go (more to the bloody point!)! Why are they spending money on the 18 year old ‘fashionistas’?! I had NO money then, but I do NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THINK about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Firstly !! I would just like to congratulate you on your new venture which I have just watched on C4, I would just like to say you have just newly instored my thoughts in customer service which is NO.1, I have worked in retail for 26yrs but I am still a very young 42yr old!! yes I have admitted, what I would like to offer is my experience in customer service and also the chance to embrace your Philosophy in bringing fashion and customer service, basically a new experience in shopping for the older women, which I would love to be involved in given half the chance, I am Scottish living north of the border , but not as regimented as Paul!! Just to say Mary if you are opening any stores in the North East say Newcastle for instance would you consider me for an interview, I have no fashion experience, but do have retail experience, and I think If you can provide excellent customer service, you can sell anything. If you have any vacancies, I would greatly be interested in a NEW CHALLENGE, if not , I would like to wish your venture all the best. Thankyou
We are not on the high street but working very hard to provide good quality products with longevity and integrity to our customers. We are told we have something very special. Our mailing list is still growing in our third year of trading.
The future of the high street depends on it getting a unique selling point again. It seems to me it has been robbed by shopping centres. How can you reverse a trend that has more choice, better parking, food courts and longer trading hours to ever give the high street something unique and special as a shopping destination of choice ever again?
Hi Mary,
I live in St Andrews, which has a pretty representitive cross-section of the age spectrum of Britain, all shopping in a fairly compact high street. So what do we have gift shops and tourist shops, Tesco but not Marks, Delis and fashon shops. You spotted the gap in the fashon market, we have lots of fashon shops here selling clothes for young things and old things or desperate ladies looking for something and finding nothing. I’m a size 8-10 and the l’ve only bought one clothing item on the high street this year. Why ? I hear you ask. Well Its quite simple. Nothing fits. I’m in my 40′s, I may be a small size but older women have a very different shape from younger women, even though I’m physically fit and I do have a toned body. Surely if the high street is going to work , it has to cater for the potential customer not the false impression an individual in some far flung place thinks it might be. Remember most Europeans think Scottish women all have red hair (my ansestors were raped and pillaged by the Vikings, so I’m blond) and the men all have beards, so what do the chinese think with regards to our shape, I know it’s wrong, thats why I have such a problem buying clothes. One of our best and busiest shops is the hardwear shop, it’s great. It always has something you want so perhaps they know a thing or two the rest don’t
Hi Mary,
I came to your store last week and bought your “no brainer” dress – I’m thrilled with it. I was glad to see tonight that you now realise there is a world outside capital cities. However, in that bigger world, not everyone can afford the prices of your ranges. So now what we need are stylish clothes for “mature” women at proper “high street” prices (ie., Basildon and Milton Keynes, not just Guildford and Cheltenham). KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!
Dear Mary
Have you ever been to the provinces?
Your new fashion range for the older woman might look good on tall slim women but GET REAL!!! Most women have lumpy, dumpy figures and are usually under 5′ 4″ Put your clothes on me and my friends and we would look foolish
I challenge you to produce clothes that our ladies in our WI would be happy wearing AND at a price we can afford!!!!
I congratulate you on trying to make clothes for the older woman but you need to come down out of the clouds and look at real women and the lives they lead in the real world which is NOT London.
Hey! Just been watching your show with HoF.. I’m sat here laughing.. AT.. ”I think House of Fraser has an issue with stock replenishment”.. House of Fraser’s BIGGEST downfall. I’m laughing as my manager and I were texting each other saying, GOD it even happens to MARY! We thought we were the only ones (we work in hof on ground floor). Hopefully it’s something they will address now. If they do, we’re going to be even more thankful for you and your brand! P.S WE LOVE YOUR CLOTHES!
wow . I have enjoyed watching you through all your trials and tribulations, I am a young 51yr old, I deserted the high street a few years ago as I couldn’t find anything and shopped at Toast. I totally agree in paying a bit more for clothes that look good and last. When I saw your collection I wanted to get my hands on it and will order on line, would rather finger the frocks though. I would love to be one of your team I loved them all. I can’t remember that frosty cow that didn’t like anything and yet looked amazing in one of your dresses. Anyway fantastic, really really fantastic. X