O UR PROUD TOWN CENTRES ~ All are in decline
U NUSED Shops and empty empty Stores ~ I
R EMEMBER when the trade was fine
T HE SHOPS were full ~ wide open were the Doors !
O NE Store blames the INTERNET
W E ALL love to "Shop on Line"
N OTHING now "on line" ~ that we can't get
C HILDREN love it ~ think it's natural and fine !
E MPTY Stores and Empty Tables
N OWHERE to Park ~ too little Stock
T O COMPETE with WEB ~ we are not able
R ETAILERS move to faceless MALLS ~ en bloc !
E MPTY CENTRES in once thriving TOWNS
S EEMS like the INTERNET now wears OUR CROWN
Thanks for visiting ~ comments welcome ~ Love BRIAN XOX
There is an IRONY about the DEMISE of our Town & City
Centres ~ They are very very lively @ NIGHT ~ Which is
why I've chosen Pet Clarke's DOWNTOWN as my video !
It was released 20 years before I was born but in essence
it is still as true to day. SENIORS don't like to go into Town
after dark it all seems so so aliens with scantily dressed
Girls and Tattooed Macho Lads and no one over 40 except
the Bouncers ! The late night Bars & Night Clubs do a
roaring in a Town that is like a morgue in the daytime !
The Big Stores like BHS ~ M & S and Fraser have all gone
replaced by Teen Fashion Shops ~ Art Shops and Arty
Coffee Shops with Barristers and coffee at £3 ($4) a cup !
Thee only things for Seniors are mournful & boring Charity
Shops ~ At least they have a free Bus Pass ! So fate has
decreed ~ Our Towns are DEAD in the DAY but alive and
vibrant @ NIGHT ~ Angela & I enjoy the Night Scene and
we both do a stint on the SOS Bus and are First~Aid trained.
How is it in Your Town ~ Do you stay in @ Night ! BRIAN XOX
The SOS BUS operates all night and is staffed by Volunteers
all first aid trained. Its main purpose is to get "legless"
Young Ladies off the street ~ patch them up and get them
safely Home. Both ANGELA & I need a First Aid Qualification
for our jobs. Angela us a Physiotherapist and I lead Field
Courses into Mountains etc ! We also have STREET PASTORS !
-
Author:
BRIANSODES (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: June 8th, 2018 01:41
- Category: Reflection
- Views: 24
Offline)
Comments6
Agree wholeheartedly Brian - how sad to see city and even small-town shops all boarded up. An apt and well written acrostic.
Thanks FAY ~ My Parents & Aunts & Uncles all seem to shop on line ~ because there is much less choice Down Town and ~ if they are honest ~ they are scared to go in after 8pm unless its a door to door trip Coach or Taxi to the Theatre or Concert Hall ! It is increasingly difficult to "Grow Old Graciously & Gratefully !" I have now added DOWN TOWN by Petula Clarke (1967) Video because the irony that for the Under 40's our Towns and Cities do come alive again "AFTER EIGHT" ! Please check Pet's Song ~ vintage 60' s ~ Yours as always BRIAN
A sad reflection of the times. Shops are continually closing in my town but we are lucky in that they seem to be snapped up fairly quickly - it is a bit of a tourist town with mostly privately owned shops of the arty farty variety and very vibrant. Pity this isn't the case everywhere.
THANKS MIKE ~ In our Marketing Course in the College ~ We talk to the students about FOOTFALL i.e. The number of Punters coming through the \\\"Door of the Store\\\" and then AVERAGE SPEND / PROFIT. So for a shop to survive it needed X Punters (Footfall) and Y profit per Punter X x Y would show the profit per day etc. Some of my extended Family are in the Retail Food and Restaurant Trade. The first is safer because we all need to eat ~ so each person who enters a Local Food Store will buy something but better if they spend £50 rather than just £5. The same is true of Restaurants but they can be hit by Bad Weather and Bad Publicity. Art & Craft shops are in essence a luxury so dependent on excess income to thrive. People are buying more clothes etc on Line which is why a Flagship Store like M & S are having to downsize to survive. Charity Shops do attract a FOOTFALL to the TOWN but not by the Affluent . I have added more explanation to the POEM and also Pet Clarke\'s 1967 Video of Downtown to illustrate why Some of our local Town Centres are morgues during the DAY but VIBRANT @ NIGHT and full of 16 - 35 year olds all with lots of surplus income and more CENTS than SENSE ! Thanks for commenting ~ please revisit ~ thanks BRIAN
Excess income is indeed the lifeblood of many retailers and businesses. My town is quite affluent hence it's not feeling the problems of many shopping areas. My son's company deals in ski travel and most customers are quite well heeled so he hasn't felt the effects of Brexit as badly as many have - I have stopped exhibiting in galleries where the mark-up plus VAT puts my work out of touch with current realities but commissions are still steady. Having said that another outlet is interested in my work and I am hoping to have a major display in-store if we can agree terms etc.
And at least in the States, the closed shops represent a lot of misery behind the scenes for the people now out of work........
YES indeed LORNA ~ It is heartbreaking because Shopkeepers work long hours ~ and to have to shut up shop is heartbreaking for the whole Family ! Also there is a DOMINO EFFECT ~ because as each Shop closes there are fewer visitors to Towns (lower footfall) and all the other shops suffer from a lack of Punters. Malls survive better because of good parking ~ do any Americans actually walk ? ~ and all the outlets grouped together ! Bill Bryson moans that MALLS are impersonal and the same in every State ~ unlike Towns & Town Centres ! Personally I agree with BILL and I find MALLS impersonal but US TOWNS reflect the personality of the State and you know if you are in KANSAS or KENTUCKY especially if there\'s a big KFC in the middle of the TOWN or a picture of Cassius Clay or a Coal Mine etc ! I love KENTUCKY ~ a Crazy State ! They voted 65% for TRUMP ~ because he promised to reopen the Coal Mines and make Loretta Lynn Happy and KENTUCKY ~ GREAT AGAIN ! Thanks for reading & commenting ~ BRIAN
I do shop a little on line. But mostly in store. Because people need jobs. I appreciate your attention to this subject. Also, I hate the self serve registers. I never use them.
Yes indeed "HW" ~ Malls & Supermarkets can be impersonal ! My Grandparents remember the Old Fashioned Corner Shop with nothing wrapped in Plastic ~ Sugar weighed out from a sack and butter cut from a big block and coffee was CAMP ! There was always a fat cat asleep on the Potato Sack and money was L S D ! The shopkeeper always had time for a chat as did the Punters ~ The Corner Shop was a "Gossip Centre" ~ AMEN Shops today are just as impersonal as shopping on line ! ANGELA & I work on weekdays but she shops for England on Saturday and we BOP for England on a Friday & Saturday ~ this is why I miss her so much now she is in Auckland NZ for a Year ~ She loves the Shops in Auckland ! Thanks for your comment ~ BRIAN
Oohh Petula is feisty! Now, now Orchi, you will bring on a swoon! lol. A fine write Brian.
I might have been downtown in 1967 - well, a bit young to be out at night then - but a classical 'nice' sort of song. I gave up following the pop charts about 1985 I reckon!
THANKS STEVE ~ Pleased you enjoyed Petula Clarke ~ a real Lady and always a class act ! Pop music is very generational ~ I became a TEENAGER in 1996 so I guess my music should be the 21st C but if I'm honest I much prefer the 60's The Beatles ~ Stones and the Ballad Singers like Jim Reeves ~ Dean Martin ~ Nat king Cole ~ Johnny Cash and of course ELVIS ~ these are the ones I give talks on to Pensioners Groups and there's only Tony Bennett (92) left from that era ! Seniors s my Town tend to go to the CINEMA in the afternoon and have door to door trips to Evening Concerts & Plays at the Theatre. I suppose for the 70+ Teens in full flight can be a little intimidating and of course when they are drunk ~ the odd fight breaks out ~ but they know better than to pick on me ! Thanks for commenting ~ BRIAN
I know exactly what you mean! Much of my little town seems like a ghost town, it's really quite sad. Great write!
Thanks CHRIS pleased (but sad !) it struck a chord. I chose Petula Clarke singing DOWN TOWN (1967 ~ 50 years ago) because it emphasised the fact that My Town comes alive after 8pm with all the under 40's out clubbin' and pubbin' but no Seniors too scared of fallin' in the dark or being mugged. We live in a very pollarised WORLD ~ Its MIDNIGHT HERE and 11am Saturday in AUCKLAND ~ I have SKYPED Her and she sends her LOVE to ALL ~ I miss her FRIDAY NIGHTS as you know !
Every Blessing ~ Yours BRIAN & ANGELA ~ HUGS @@@@@@@
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