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Of course, govts might level the taxation playing field, and landlords embrace a new approach to rents. BUT, Daily Express, the only people who can “save” the high street are retailers, large and small, evolving their offers, and shoppers themselves going physical, not online.
This means accepting that old formats, and some old names too, will perish. It’s almost always easier to create a new business than reset an old one with its baggage of financial liabilities and cultural norms. That’s why mould-breakers get stuck and fail (Woolworth)...
...and new businesses thrive - though Amazon in time will become set in its ways and change-averse, and something else will take its place (probably not in my lifetime though). But “we” are picky....
...We didn’t save chains of record shops, or super-cinemas, or Lyons corner houses, or music halls, though they’ve all had their mourners. We are nostalgic for “our” High Street past, but hard-nosed in putting “our” money where it meets today’s needs.
Rather than “saving” “our” high streets in impossible aspic, we need to rethink our town centres, strategically and in terms of simple business evolution. It’s happened before, and unless we all retreat to sealed personal pods, it’ll happen again.
Got threadier than expected there. Good luck, everyone.
