British Home Stores

[floo]

Possibly. 

Woolworths going shocked me far, far more but that was down to stupidity on the part of the management. Selling their real estate? Really? Now that is one I do miss. One great joy of my teenage years was popping into Woolies on a Saturday to buy some of the latest sounds and a Rimmel lippy.

I loved shopping in Woolies too.

Sometimes girls, including myself, from the Ladies College we attended, would pop into the store during our 2 hr long lunch beak, much to the  disapproval of our head mistress. She thought it too down market for us college gals! She took to standing outside Woolies to try to catch any girl in school uniform who had the temerity to break her rule.

[Brownie]

No doubt she would have hauled you before the beak, floo.
Ah those were the days, we all loved Woolies.

[jeremyp]

Woolies was terrible. It sold cheap tat and a limited range of music and books, also Pic 'n' Mix. Woolworths went out of business because it was a poor player in a market under severe pressure.

The high street retail sector is shrinking. Some of the players will lose out, it's a fact of life.

[Shaker]

Woolies was terrible. It sold cheap tat and a limited range of music and books, also Pic 'n' Mix. Woolworths went out of business because it was a poor player in a market under severe pressure.

The high street retail sector is shrinking. Some of the players will lose out, it's a fact of life.

You're all heart

Thankfully Rhi, Brownie, Floo and I have happier memories of it.

[Bubbles]

No doubt she would have hauled you before the beak, floo.
Ah those were the days, we all loved Woolies.

I liked Woolies too.

The trouble with BHS is it allowed people to think of it as a bit old fashioned, and as was pointed out earlier ,the generation that used it, is shrinking.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Shoppers,

Just something to throw into the mix, as life long Marks and Sparks fan, no longer sadly, they have stopped doing alterations and there range for skinny Peeps like myself is non existent, anyway, what I noticed as a long term M&S shopper, when the stories appeared about them using sweat shops their clothing took a visibly standard wise down turn, when I shop for clothing my first concern is quality, this stopped when M&S were caught using sweat shops, it seems to me that most big high st shops have only an eye on profit and not quality.

Dear Lapsed,

No comparison with Tata steel and a high st shop, we can step in and change the steel industry in this country, we need steel to build our infrastructure, it just needs a government with backbone to step in, do you know where we could find one?

Gonnagle.

[jeremyp]

Thankfully Rhi, Brownie, Floo and I have happier memories of it.

Why would anybody be thankful for your happier memories? They didn't stop the company from going tits up and a lot of people losing their jobs. Nostalgia doesn't pay the bills.

Perhaps, if the Woolworths management had paid more attention to the assessments of people like me instead of basking in the warm glow of childhoods long over, they might have saved the chain, although, if they had, it would probably have been at the expense of some other high street brand.

[Nearly Sane]

And now Austin Reed, only a week after it was bought. No matter the inevitability of such, there are thousands of families, deeply worried about the future currently.

[Brownie]

Blimey!  I had a brief holiday job in Austin Reed's offices when I was 15, they sacked me because I was always late and couldn't do much.  Still, no hard feelings, they made decent clothes.

[floo]

No doubt she would have hauled you before the beak, floo.
Ah those were the days, we all loved Woolies.

I never got caught!

[Brownie]

Woolworths did undoubtedly go downhill in later years and they couldn't - or didn't - compete with a lot of other stores who sold a bigger range and better.  I do remember not long before they closed down going into a Woolies to buy a small kitchen thing, can't remember what, and they didn't have it!  It was the sort of thing Woolworths always sold.  I mentioned it to a couple of people at the time and they said they'd had the same experience.

However it was a lovely store in years gone by, great fun especially for kids and if we were away at the seaside we could always get some holiday stuff in there.  Some Woolworths had cafes too.  Ah well, those were the days.

[Harrowby Hall]

Yeah. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

I had wondered whether anyone on this forum would be concerned about the ethical behaviour of asset strippers who enrich themselves at the cost of other people's employment and the coffers of the state.

[Brownie]

Mixed feelings HH.

[Shaker]

Yeah. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

I had wondered whether anyone on this forum would be concerned about the ethical behaviour of asset strippers who enrich themselves at the cost of other people's employment and the coffers of the state.

Yes. As for ethical behaviour: it isn't.

[Brownie]

Whilst I've no objection to people making money, I feel distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of people cashing in on the misfortune of others.  However if the firm was going South anyway....I really don't know.
It's not as if the demise of BHS is going to devastate a community.  People will lose jobs, full and part time on the shop floor and in administration, but if they live in cities they are likely to get another job.  It isn't the same as the closure of the mines or the steel works or shipyards where entire communities depended on them.  I doubt BHS employees or their families feel as though they depend on BHS - it's just a job and their skills can be used elsewhere.

[jeremyp]

Yeah. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

I had wondered whether anyone on this forum would be concerned about the ethical behaviour of asset strippers who enrich themselves at the cost of other people's employment and the coffers of the state.

Phones4U is the poster boy for the effects of unethical asset stripping. A  healthy mobile phone retailer was destroyed by an asset stripper and over a thousand people lost their jobs as a result.

Also, Manchester United. The Glazers bough Manchester United using loans that were taken on by the club itself leaving it with huge annual interest payments. I can't believe that that deal wasn't illegal.

[Rhiannon]

Whilst I've no objection to people making money, I feel distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of people cashing in on the misfortune of others.  However if the firm was going South anyway....I really don't know.

I believe the biggest question is what happened to the BHS pension fund.

[Rhiannon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36143599

[Brownie]

I was wondering about that too, it would be the final straw for ex-employees to lose their pension.  From your link, it looks as though they will be OK (no thanks to the owners of BHS but I doubt the pensioners will care as long as they get their money).

[Harrowby Hall]

I believe the biggest question is what happened to the BHS pension fund.

Big yacht....

Hole in pension fund.... 

Haven't we been here before? 

[Rhiannon]

Big yacht....

Hole in pension fund.... 

Haven't we been here before?

I'd noticed that, HH.

[L.A.]

Big yacht....

Hole in pension fund.... 

Haven't we been here before?

Perhaps it's time for a one-way cruise to the Canary Islands?

[Hope]

as opposed to doing the same for the banks, which George and Dave supported? You can argue there is a sound reason for doing one and not the other, not that it's principle.

The argument being - 'what would we do without banks' as opposed to 'what would we do without ... store'?  Add whichever recently deceased store,chain as you feel inclined.

[Hope]

Dear Lapsed,

No comparison with Tata steel and a high st shop, we can step in and change the steel industry in this country, we need steel to build our infrastructure, it just needs a government with backbone to step in, do you know where we could find one?

Gonnagle.

OK, Gonners; people have been trying to change the steel industry in this country for 15 or 20 years - seemingly without success much of the time.  The only time it has worked has been when someone has started producing specialist steels for different specific purposes - but I believe that there is a limit to the variety of specialised steels industry needs.

What would your method be? 

[Hope]

I believe the biggest question is what happened to the BHS pension fund.

Is the problem that nothing has been paid into it since Green purchased the group, or was there a 'Brown-like' raid on the fund by Green - or its subsequent owners?