High Street chain collapse sweepstake

thegeek
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 12.35

There's nothing like an enticing shopfront. And this is nothing like an enticing shopfront.

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bilky asko
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sat 08 Nov, 2008 19.48

I thought my nearest one was bad (next door to an ex-Comet that's never been filled).
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Philip
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Joined: Fri 22 Feb, 2008 21.23
Location: Merseyside
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thegeek wrote: Sun 02 Aug, 2020 21.01 There's nothing like an enticing shopfront. And this is nothing like an enticing shopfront.

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Are they anticipating another toilet roll run?
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JAS84
Posts: 585
Joined: Fri 12 Aug, 2011 10.23
Location: Hull, UK

thegeek
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 12.35

Pizza Express shutting 70 restaurants, some threads on Twitter:


Continues: https://twitter.com/i/events/1181590293029806081
gottago
Posts: 260
Joined: Thu 29 Jan, 2009 19.50

It's taking itsu a remarkably long time to reopen their stores, so far 15 out of 70. They seem to be the last of the major(ish) lunchy places to be reopening. I guess their ingredients are more expensive and don't last very long but it still feels very slow, especially with furlough as it was ending last week.
Martin Phillp
Posts: 1469
Joined: Wed 11 May, 2011 01.28

Travelex UK went into a pre-pack administration, to be acquired by Travelex Acquisitionco Limited.

https://www.lbcnews.co.uk/business/trav ... scue-deal/
TVF's London Lite.
cwathen
Posts: 1309
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 17.28

Is Argos done for as a standalone operation I wonder? Obviously following the Sainsbury's acquisition rationalisation of the store estate was inevitable (and indeed well underway, with a number of high street locations being closed and 'moved' to a Sainsbury's several miles away) but their actions during the lockdown and indeed now are notable for how much further down the road of turning Argos into a brand within Sainsbury's they seem to be.

They could have kept standalone units open as an essential retailer, instead they closed the entire estate and operated only from within Sainsbury's. But even now, over 2 months after general retail reopened they still seem to have the bulk of their store estate shut (with those stores that have reopened being heavily skewed towards out of town retail parks). It was claimed that they would open a standalone store where there wasn't a Sainsbury's concession nearby but there are numerous cases where this hasn't happened either.

I am beginning to believe that the bulk of these still-closed Argos stores will never reopen and apart from a very small estate of out of town locations, Argos is essentially finished as a standalone store format.
bilky asko
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sat 08 Nov, 2008 19.48

cwathen wrote: Thu 20 Aug, 2020 11.14 Is Argos done for as a standalone operation I wonder? Obviously following the Sainsbury's acquisition rationalisation of the store estate was inevitable (and indeed well underway, with a number of high street locations being closed and 'moved' to a Sainsbury's several miles away) but their actions during the lockdown and indeed now are notable for how much further down the road of turning Argos into a brand within Sainsbury's they seem to be.

They could have kept standalone units open as an essential retailer, instead they closed the entire estate and operated only from within Sainsbury's. But even now, over 2 months after general retail reopened they still seem to have the bulk of their store estate shut (with those stores that have reopened being heavily skewed towards out of town retail parks). It was claimed that they would open a standalone store where there wasn't a Sainsbury's concession nearby but there are numerous cases where this hasn't happened either.

I am beginning to believe that the bulk of these still-closed Argos stores will never reopen and apart from a very small estate of out of town locations, Argos is essentially finished as a standalone store format.
Out of the four (relatively) locally that aren't in a Sainsbury's, all of them are open.

One of the Argoses does fit into the definition of not having a Sainsbury's concession nearby (you'd need to travel 20 miles to reach the nearest). It's a town-centre branch within a shopping centre in Bridlington.

Two of the others are in Hull so would also seem to serve a purpose, as the only Sainsbury's nearby with a concession is in Hessle.

The final one is in York, which is well-served by Sainsbury's stores with concessions, but it is indeed in an out-of-town retail park.
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cwathen
Posts: 1309
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 17.28

Possibly depends on area then? In Bristol they have no standalone stores open. And in fact at a Sainsbury's on a retail park which also has a standalone Argos on it, rather than reopen the Argos they have instead started running a pop up Argos click & collect operation (with Argos staff - or in Argos uniforms anyway) from the (still closed) deli counter in Sainsbury's. Obviously that particular store was almost certainly destined to become a concession, but it looks to me like they never intend to reopen the standalone store even with no proper concession in place yet.

Elsewhere around the South West they list only two stores in Devon (both on retail parks) and three in Somerset as being open, with all the rest being Sainsbury's-based.

They have also left stores in towns which do have a standalone Argos but do not have Sainsbury's in any form (such as Minehead) closed which goes against what they said they would do.
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WillPS
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Location: Carlton
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Argos 'hub' stores are currently staying where they are, regardless of proximity to Sainsbury's. (These are typically out-of-town retail parks, and would have been manned throughout lockdown even if they were not open.)

Other stores in areas without a JS nearby are likely to keep their standalone Argos too - if you see a branch with a Sainsbury's cash machine installed, you can take that as a pretty good sign that store has a future.
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