High Street chain collapse sweepstake

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tillyoshea
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cwathen wrote: Wed 11 May, 2022 20.44 [they] are working at pace
One of my least favourite expressions, and one which seems to be everywhere in business (and the Civil Service) these days.

I’ve long imagined this to be a mishearing of the word “apace” which has become so common as to be generally accepted, but I’ve really no idea whether that’s true. Does anyone know? It seems to be a novel enough usage that it hasn’t made its way into any of the major dictionaries yet as a synonym for “quickly”.
bilky asko
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I can find nothing either. Working "at speed" is a recognised phrase, so it might be applying that construction to a similar word.
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BBC TV Centre
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tillyoshea wrote: Thu 12 May, 2022 06.32
cwathen wrote: Wed 11 May, 2022 20.44 [they] are working at pace
One of my least favourite expressions, and one which seems to be everywhere in business (and the Civil Service) these days.

I’ve long imagined this to be a mishearing of the word “apace” which has become so common as to be generally accepted, but I’ve really no idea whether that’s true. Does anyone know? It seems to be a novel enough usage that it hasn’t made its way into any of the major dictionaries yet as a synonym for “quickly”.
It's one of the Civil Service behaviours they assess on applications - "delivering at pace" so it is no wonder the term is embedded into the language of the organisation. I did apply for a job once and had to write a section about it.
Martin Phillp
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McColl's administration also affected Yodel's Click and Collect from their stores.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... qa8pnkzxj9
TVF's London Lite.
gottago
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An awful lot of shops have closed over the last month in (a still endlessly busy) Westfield Stratford. Lakeland, Currys, Victoria's Secret, Indulge Beauty, some luggage shop, Swatch, HSBC, an independent clothes shop, a probably dodgy American Candy shop and a few others I will have forgotten have all shut or are about to while the large vaccine centre and an Expresstest Covid test centre have finally gone. Is September/October some sort of significant time in terms of shop leases renewing/expiring or is this just a Westfield thing? Or a sign of things to come soon across high streets nationwide?
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WillPS
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The centre opened in 2012 so some point in 2022 is perhaps a natural expiration point for many leases. Victorias Secret standalone shops are largely being replaced by departments within Next.
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Charlie Wells
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Ref Lakeland they've also closed their Peterborough store in Queensgate shopping centre in the past few weeks. I'd suggest with them they may have other issues.
"If ass holes could fly then this place would be an airport."
thegeek
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Didn't Eastfield open around this time in 2011?

I hadn't realised Curry's had gone, but it was looking a bit bereft of stock when I passed by last week.

There was some expansion work going which started pre-Covid to turn some of the car park into more retail space. I wonder if it'll be some sort of ghost mail for a few years, given how many empty units there are, especially down the John Lewis end.
gottago
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thegeek wrote: Sat 08 Oct, 2022 07.25 There was some expansion work going which started pre-Covid to turn some of the car park into more retail space. I wonder if it'll be some sort of ghost mail for a few years, given how many empty units there are, especially down the John Lewis end.
I'm pretty sure they've canned that extension now. They've got a load of units upstairs that will be opening with the apartments and they recently had to get change of use permission from retail to leisure because they found it impossible to find an anchor tenant. I think it's going to be some laser quest type games centre now. I get the impression the West Westfield mega extension was a bit of a flop as it ended up taking quite a lot of shops from elsewhere in the mall. There's loads of deathly quiet corners in the old mall now so I bet they want to avoid the same happening in Stratford, though as you say it's definitely struggling already at the John Lewis end on the top floor.
thegeek
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Wilko not looking in great shape:
Charlie Wells
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Morrisons to close 132 McColl's stores putting jobs at risk
Morrisons says it plans to close 132 of its loss-making McColl's convenience stores, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.
<<snip>>
Morrisons now plans to convert all its remaining McColl's stores into Morrisons Daily shops as it tires to revive the chain's fortunes.
Full article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63407159
"If ass holes could fly then this place would be an airport."
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