Shopkeepers are prone to pessimism. It's in their job description. But, this Christmas, too many of them are complaining about trade for it to be brushed off as exaggeration.
Forget declining large town centres and decaying retail parks. For they tell us that independent shops are the great white hope of the future. Rhuthun/Ruthin's full of them. So, why isn't the town booming this Christmas?
The answer perhaps lies in the ill fortune of Asos.co.uk which has issued a profits warning. Add Asos to the large high street department stores and it seems that it doesn't much matter whether it's the virtual or actual retail word, things are slipping fast. Unless you're Amazon.
But why?
There just isn't the money about like once there was. Consumer debt is at the same level as at the crash of 2008. Brexit is putting pressure on food prices. And, we've had austerity for nine years. This last point affects Rhuthun, as staff numbers at County Hall have shrunk to the point where parts of the building are all but empty. It's not only our largest employer but it offers quality jobs at reasonable pay. Fewer of them means less money through the town's shop tills.
Added to which people's Christmas present tastes have changed. There's an increase in buying "experiences" as gifts rather than physical presents—the marketers' term for this is "experienced based intangibles".
Time was when on Christmas Eve you could bump into all sorts of people doing their last minute shopping. Tesco was busy, the Co-op less so. The town had its shoppers but it wasn't like it used to be. Mococo was brisk but few were solo men in a last minute panic. The internet has probably put paid to that.
Finally, the gadgets we seem to want or need simply aren't available in town. Take my own sach Siôn Corn. Given that it's Christmas morn and He's already delivered, I can reveal I've bought a laptop; music CD; earphones for running; the Buildings of Ruthin book; a bottle or perfume of a specific species; an SSD external hard drive; a DVD; an electronic device to tag and track lost car keys; a Fitbit and a pasta maker. How many of these could I buy in town? Just one. I'll let you figure out which it was. The rest are simply not on sale here.
Merry Christmas from the curmudgeonly blog author...
The answer perhaps lies in the ill fortune of Asos.co.uk which has issued a profits warning. Add Asos to the large high street department stores and it seems that it doesn't much matter whether it's the virtual or actual retail word, things are slipping fast. Unless you're Amazon.
But why?
There just isn't the money about like once there was. Consumer debt is at the same level as at the crash of 2008. Brexit is putting pressure on food prices. And, we've had austerity for nine years. This last point affects Rhuthun, as staff numbers at County Hall have shrunk to the point where parts of the building are all but empty. It's not only our largest employer but it offers quality jobs at reasonable pay. Fewer of them means less money through the town's shop tills.
Can we expect closures in the new year? Here, though, we see that new shop Bronte is set to open in 2019
Added to which people's Christmas present tastes have changed. There's an increase in buying "experiences" as gifts rather than physical presents—the marketers' term for this is "experienced based intangibles".
Time was when on Christmas Eve you could bump into all sorts of people doing their last minute shopping. Tesco was busy, the Co-op less so. The town had its shoppers but it wasn't like it used to be. Mococo was brisk but few were solo men in a last minute panic. The internet has probably put paid to that.
Finally, the gadgets we seem to want or need simply aren't available in town. Take my own sach Siôn Corn. Given that it's Christmas morn and He's already delivered, I can reveal I've bought a laptop; music CD; earphones for running; the Buildings of Ruthin book; a bottle or perfume of a specific species; an SSD external hard drive; a DVD; an electronic device to tag and track lost car keys; a Fitbit and a pasta maker. How many of these could I buy in town? Just one. I'll let you figure out which it was. The rest are simply not on sale here.
Merry Christmas from the curmudgeonly blog author...
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Shops