What will it look like in 50 years....

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Slab

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The High Street that is (& retail parks)

With Toys R Us and Maplin the latest to possible disappear what will the High Street and out of town retail parks look like 50 years from now

Will online totally take over, what stores/shops might survive or even flourish in either setting

50 years ago we really didn't have retail parks and what happened to many high streets with the emergence of retail parks is the equivalent to what online stores are doing to retail parks now

Is it just change and retail evolution or are we losing physical shops/stores for good
 
Our High Street has been full of charity shops, fast food joints, opticians and estate agents - with exception of M&S and Smith's - for about 20 years now.
4 or 5 medium to large retail parks house 80% of the shops most people go to.
Supposed to be a regeneration scheme going on but I don't think the money's there and even then it's going to be more of the same with a few coffee shops thrown in.
Costs money to park, it's inconvenient to get to and there's nothing there when you do..
But then I hate shopping so I would say that..
 
Our town council are spending a fortune (2 MILLION QUID) on doing up the town. Utter muppets. The big store that was to come in, TK Max, whooooo, has pulled out. With loads of shops already empty and no chance of anyone filling them, except maybe some nutters with a dream, a few have tried, all have failed and gone away. Our council? Cheshire East. Yup the ones who wasted 3/4 of a million on attempting to build a transfer station without their own planning permission. This was being investigated, with the council leader resigning. The ones under investigation for internal bullying, etc etc etc.
Billy Smarts (Fred Carnos for older readers) clowns could do better.
 
more good restaurants please, coffee shops are taking over they are the new pubs for this generation clearly

chemists and post offices please oh and opticians

anything else meh I wont miss
 
Our local Town (Yeovil) is reckoned to be one the most thriving in the county but the bottom end of the town has shops that have been empty for years.

For me one of the big factors over the years has been the cost of parking in town centres.
 
It's happened because of us all wanting the easy life with out of town super stores and internet shopping. If we are really concerned about our towns then we need to change our habits - not likely, we'll all go ablout moaning about charity shops, hairdressers and nail bars.
 
Old Skier said:
It's happened because of us all wanting the easy life with out of town super stores and internet shopping. If we are really concerned about our towns then we need to change our habits - not likely, we'll all go ablout moaning about charity shops, hairdressers and nail bars.
Click to expand...



In fifty years time I could be ordering myself, of the internet, a new 'sleeve' complete with a mullet, varnished nails and a bigger todger...
 
In 50 years time the concept of what a High Street, and the expectation of people will be very different...
 
Our town has just commenced build of a major retail, housing and leisure development in the very centre of town - it's taken them 20yrs to get to this point...who knows what it'll end up like. But there has been much opposition over it's scale (much 4 storey) and composition (includes a cinema) given our town is a very traditional old English (ex-market) town with many listed building and beautiful Georgian architecture.
 
High streets for shops are changing because of differences in where we live, how we travel and how we buy. Shops have to adapt to those trends or die.

Town centres will be more about apartments, coffee shops, bars and restaurants with the odd smattering of shops. More lifestyle and entertainment than shopping. Shops will be on retail parks, city centres, out of town shopping centres and online.

Lack of car parking and high parking charges have killed the high street as we knew it.
 
Full of 'Click and collect' pick-up points for online purchases. Manned (sorry) gender neutral AI robots. handing your purchases to AI delivery robots in self drive vehicles bring stuff to residences of overweight, state subsidised TV/Internet surfers!
 
Like everything in business and life, what used to be will circle around and become popular again and what is popular now will disappear.

I'd love to see a local grocer, butcher and baker in my estate, some where I could walk to daily and pick up fresh produce, rather than have to get in the car and drive to super/hyper market. I think I'm dreaming on that ne though.
 
This is a challenge high streets have to embrace as local authorities kidding themselves on that they just need to find / attract the right businesses are flogging a dead horse.

I think shopping for clothes will always be seen as an 'activity' that people enjoy doing and there will always be a business case to have these shops - but as has been said before, a big retail park with a Next, TK Maxx, Debenhams and Primark is going to be too much competition for high street with smaller outlets.

Regeneration has to shrink the high street, not simply make it look a bit more presentable. Fewer units are required and empty units don't help anyone, so get rid of them. Sell them, turn them into residential, office block or car parking.

If you take out traditional retail, then we are left within places that require participation and can't be done online.
Coffee Shops / pubs / bars / restaurants are the obvious choice and probably there will be a fair few of these enquiring about suitable empty lets.

But what else?

Arts / Crafts experiences.
Small theatre / comedy venues.
Locked room / escape activity.
Kids play / party rooms.
Golf lounge / golf simulator.
Computer games venue.

Probably these are in a column that would have not been commercially viable in expensive town / city centre units, but now those cost barriers will be less, or at least should be.

Local authorities would be better spent on offering loans or start up grants to business who want to operate in this type of space, rather than flogging retail units to a sector that has moved on.
 
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