On A Visit to House of Frasers

[danieldwilliam]

I've just returned from a sad lunch time wander around the House of Frasers store on Princes Street. It is closing on the 10th and all the stock and lots of the fixtures and fittings are to be sold.

There wasn't much left by the time I got there. A couple of loud checked jackets and a few pairs of Charnos stockings.

I bought a pair of hiking shoes to replace the hiking shoes I bought in Portland 4 and a half years ago.

Even the shop fittings have mostly been sold.

I'm not sure what happens to the high street. That shop is a large space to fill on Edinburgh's Princes Street. I can't see any other retail outfit taking that amount of space.

We're short housing, office and hotel space in Edinburgh - so the building will become something useful soon but that isn't the same as being a shop.

Meanwhile, if you want some coat hangers, checkered jackets or stockings - House of Fraser is the place to go.

Comments

[andrewducker]

If we didn't already have a John Lewis...

[danieldwilliam]

Do you mean - Edinburgh would have some retail difficulties if we didn't already have a John Lewis or that, if we didn't already have a John Lewis, they would move in to the now former House of Fraser building?

[andrewducker]

The latter. John Lewis being one of the examples I can think of if a department store I'd actually want to shop in.

Whereas I never felt the urge to go into House of Fraser.

[danieldwilliam]

What is about House of Fraser that put you off?

How do you feel about Jenners?

[andrewducker]

Incredibly bitty. Felt like lots of tiny expensive stores in the same building, none of which were aimed at me.

Whereas John Lewis feels coherent, and like it's "reassuringly expensive" rather than expensive for expenses sake.

[danieldwilliam]

I do see that about House of Frasers. The layout of the shop was not great.

[andrewducker]

The Debenham on Princes Street is similar. A maze of boutiques.

[mountainkiss]

I am a bit sad about this. I always liked Frasers and have good memories of shopping there.

I am not entirely sure what is going to happen with high streets. I am not sure we can completely get away without them but I can't really see what they offer that isn't just going to be subsumed by "cheaper on the Internet".

[danieldwilliam]

I think that the situation only gets worse for shops as logistics becomes better, faster and cheaper. It becomes easier to order on line, try it on at home, and send it back if you don't like it.

I'm not sure that bespoke retail services (made to measure, personal shopper, excellent technical guidance etc) is enough of a revenue driver.

However, an implicit assumption in all discussions about the high street is that rents remain fundamentally static.

Depending on the speed of change we might see rents reduce or a small financial crisis when a whole bunch of rent and mortgage payments are missed.

Of course House of Fraser is still available to you personally in Edinbugh through the power of Jenners

[andrewducker]

I suspect that there'll be a collapse in people paying rent, followed by a collapse in companies who rent the properties out, followed by other companies buying up the properties at a lower price, and then renting them out at the New Normal.

Of course, the question is "What shops do we need to have in the high street, versus online." Which boils down to "What percentage of the population like to see which products up close before they decide to buy them?"