Hahahaha! Great minds. I did mentally go through two or three other choices but as soon as I'd thought of Topshop I knew that was my answer. I couldn't choose for least likely, but I think you may be right about Smiths.
I think Smiths may be a winner - on the other hand they have clung on, so maybe they will re-invent themselves (the Oxford one hass an impressive collection of Polish Mills & Boons).
I have never been a Topshop girl myself, so it didn't even occur, but I see the reasoning.
Our Smith's doesn't seem to know quite what it is for, doesn't seem to quite cover anything as fully as its competitors on the same street do, and I personally virtually never buy anything from it. (Apols to the person reading this who works in Smith's - no offence to it, the ambience is nice and their goods decent and they staff fairly friendly and helpful, I just don't happen to go in it much). So, I'm not sure...it's probably safe in places that don't have too many other book/card/magazine/art/stationery shops but not in places that do.
I'm sure BHS will be one of the next ones to go - it's always empty and it doesn't know its market, not sure if it is selling safe fashions to older people or trying to be youthful but good value...they also have constant reductions.
Smiths are iffy too. Likely to be bought up by the Waterstones beast? Not wholly confident about Sainsburys either...
Tesco, Poundland and Aldi are set to make fortunes.
It sells house ornamentation - I don't know the right term - curtains, cushions and candles, all with a faintly brought-from-afar theme, hence the name. http://www.pier.co.uk/ I'm very fond of it, and will be sorry to see it go. But 30 or 50% off four weeks before Christmas . . .
Heh, Yorkshire! The BHS in Sheffield is rarely ever busy except in the week before Christmas, and none in the area are ever what you'd call *very* busy, in fact they're what you'd call glacial most of the year.
I was looking at other shops which had large Icelandic investments in them - one of those might fail soon, the list includes Hamleys, House of Fraser, Oasis, Somerfield, Iceland, and Coast. Both Woolies and MFI had large Icelandic investment in them.
Yeah, I'd bet some money on BHS too. I used to buy clothes for myself, the children and sometimes my partner there, and find it a nice place to go into. Last time I was in I(earlier this year) I found nothing for the children, nothing I was looking for for myself (they'd stopped doing the trousers I liked, for example so I just bought some leggings that I thought might be useful) and I found the environment rather depressing. Admittedly one of the reasons I now don't visit more often is that I don't go to any places that have a BHS much at all but the above experience is probably another reason, and same for other shoppers.
Sainsbury's sales are up by loads, I saw in an interview on the telly not long ago, so I think they are ok - they diversified into basic ranges quite early while keeping premium ranges as well, and so hung onto people who were moving down a range (if you see what I mean) and also I imagine some people do what we do buy basics for some things but are more fussy over other items. I think Morrisons will also do well - their meat, veg and fish is good value and still of a quality we'll accept.
I'm surprised Woolworths has lasted this long. The current conditions are probably the final straw. I see Deloittes got the administration - that'll be a big job. When Courts went into administration and we got the job, I got to manage the Penzance branch for a week. (I say "manage", I mean "close down and make the staff redundant two weeks before Christmas", but hey...)
I wonder about W.H.Smith, but that has a distribution business that (as far as I know) is successful, so it's probably safe. If I had to pick a retailer, I'd probably go for one of the less fashionable furniture retailers - not DFS, not IKEA, but one of the other ones. If people are going to hold off spending, it's likely to be on expensive things that they don't really need, like new sofas.
Retailer most likely to survive? Unless it's stupidly geared (or 'leveraged' as our American cousins like to say), Tesco must be pretty robust. John Lewis / Waitrose's ownership structure probably helps it too.
I hadn't thought of Tescos because the supermarkets have become so much an out of town thing, I don't see them as high st shops.
I suspect my picking of Clintons has a lot to do with an article I read during the last recession about card shops springing up where everything else failed - anything goes wrong in life, send a card. :-)
Currys for the same reasons as the furniture shops - I suspect a lot of people will realise they can manage without that new widescreen TV and I had got the impression they were struggling anyway.
All 3 of our supermarkets (Tesco, Morrisons & Sainsburys) are high street ones (albeit quite big, with their own car parks in 2 cases, and 2 being at either end of the high street and probably technically just off it - they are definitely NOT out of town though), and don't forget that Sainsburys and Tesco very cleverly diversified back onto the high street with their local/express versions too. They've got most areas of the supermarket between these 3 & in some areas Waitrose.
We have a foody M&S too but I don't quite count them as a supermarket (or go in much).
I know what you mean though.
I think Iceland will do well (and despite their rebranding of themselves rather tackily a few years ago, they do actually do good plain food and removed a lot of different unhealthy ingredients from their ready-prepared stuff too). Sadly our Iceland left town so we don't have one, we used to get all our basic frozen meat, veg & potato products there as well as sometimes cheese, milk and a few other things - much cheaper and the same if not better quality than the comparable items in Tesco, where we also shopped at the time.
Ah, spotted that it is now 'shop' rather than 'name', so Pizza Hut needs replacing with something.... I'd go for an electrical goods shop. Maybe Currys.
Ah, you would still be allowed Pizza Hut; but your comment is here for all to see. I re-did it because I managed to get my answers the wronmg way round!
Today's news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7751786.stm) suggests that those of us who think the DSG business has little going for it might be onto something....
Ex-Virgin-megastores; they were a management buy-out close to the top of the market. They're fundamentally in the same market as HMV, but smaller and without any equivalent to Waterstones to help them float, and I suspect their financial position is even weaker. Also, ISTR that they were tied up quite closely with Entertainment UK - so if the administration of Woolies goes less than perfectly, that could be a cause of trouble for them, too....
Or, to put it another way, they're this company (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7761356.stm). I stand by what I said earlier, on the whole - they weren't in a good position anyway, and the collapse of Woolies is very bad news for them.
It now, of course, looks as though we're probably all wrong; Whittard hasn't filed for administration yet, but a large number of articles saying it's about to, like this one from the BBC and the others it links to (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7796751.stm) are not a good sign, or likely to do the company any good....
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 09:58 pm (UTC)I have never been a Topshop girl myself, so it didn't even occur, but I see the reasoning.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 10:29 pm (UTC)Smiths are iffy too. Likely to be bought up by the Waterstones beast? Not wholly confident about Sainsburys either...
Tesco, Poundland and Aldi are set to make fortunes.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 10:32 pm (UTC)I bet on The Pier to fail by reason of its current huge discounting.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 09:23 am (UTC)http://www.pier.co.uk/
I'm very fond of it, and will be sorry to see it go. But 30 or 50% off four weeks before Christmas . . .
no subject
Date: 2008-12-08 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 12:47 pm (UTC)I was looking at other shops which had large Icelandic investments in them - one of those might fail soon, the list includes Hamleys, House of Fraser, Oasis, Somerfield, Iceland, and Coast. Both Woolies and MFI had large Icelandic investment in them.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 05:44 pm (UTC)Sainsbury's sales are up by loads, I saw in an interview on the telly not long ago, so I think they are ok - they diversified into basic ranges quite early while keeping premium ranges as well, and so hung onto people who were moving down a range (if you see what I mean) and also I imagine some people do what we do buy basics for some things but are more fussy over other items. I think Morrisons will also do well - their meat, veg and fish is good value and still of a quality we'll accept.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 11:29 pm (UTC)I wonder about W.H.Smith, but that has a distribution business that (as far as I know) is successful, so it's probably safe. If I had to pick a retailer, I'd probably go for one of the less fashionable furniture retailers - not DFS, not IKEA, but one of the other ones. If people are going to hold off spending, it's likely to be on expensive things that they don't really need, like new sofas.
Retailer most likely to survive? Unless it's stupidly geared (or 'leveraged' as our American cousins like to say), Tesco must be pretty robust. John Lewis / Waitrose's ownership structure probably helps it too.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 11:50 pm (UTC)I suspect my picking of Clintons has a lot to do with an article I read during the last recession about card shops springing up where everything else failed - anything goes wrong in life, send a card. :-)
Currys for the same reasons as the furniture shops - I suspect a lot of people will realise they can manage without that new widescreen TV and I had got the impression they were struggling anyway.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 05:51 pm (UTC)We have a foody M&S too but I don't quite count them as a supermarket (or go in much).
I know what you mean though.
I think Iceland will do well (and despite their rebranding of themselves rather tackily a few years ago, they do actually do good plain food and removed a lot of different unhealthy ingredients from their ready-prepared stuff too). Sadly our Iceland left town so we don't have one, we used to get all our basic frozen meat, veg & potato products there as well as sometimes cheese, milk and a few other things - much cheaper and the same if not better quality than the comparable items in Tesco, where we also shopped at the time.
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Date: 2008-11-28 10:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 11:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-02 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-23 11:27 am (UTC)