I have often bemoaned how online shopping has slowly eroded the high streets of the United Kingdom’s city and town centers, but recent trends have me rethinking my attitude to this problem.
I also am eager to start off 2023 on a positive note, even at the risk of being accused of naïveté.
The ease and convenience of online shopping has eliminated many high street staples. Some have even disappeared off the high street and reappeared online.
There will be an interim in which many high streets have a sorry appearance of closed storefronts next to open establishments, and those open establishments might suffer due to the sorry nature of their locations, but that will surely change.
It seems people no longer want to shop on high streets. They do want to go to them, but now for reasons that should make hoteliers smile.
Customers are going to meet other customers, much in the same way guests would prefer to stay at a bustling hotel, rather than an almost deserted one.
Before Christmas, newspapers stated that Black Friday —which is not a British invention or something we even had until a couple of years ago — in the U.K. had been a complete disaster for proprietors, but spending already was up a percentage point or two in terms of food.
With an economic whirlwind of double-digit inflation, twice-monthly, four-day train strikes, bus strikes, hospital strikes, you-name-it strikes, people seemed to be tightening their belts in terms of buying goods but loosening them in terms of holiday festivities, dinners and edible treats.
Customers are walking to their high streets to have a coffee, a beer, a cake and a meal, but not to buy anything else.
Hotels can be the crossroads, centers and beating hearts of healthy towns and cities.
Then again, everything seems to be changing, which might lead some to think the opportunities are changing, and new ones are developing.
There are a lot of people working at home, and there is a huge amount of office space that is empty, but companies have responded by providing subsidized or free meals and other perks to encourage employees to come in.
Employees might also like the idea that offices are warm, whereas it is costly to heat one's own home all day long.
Some analysts already have stated that the workweek in the office is now only Tuesday through Thursday, so all I have written above happens on some days, but not every working day.
That puts pressure on food businesses catering to the lunch trade, but most of those around where I work — and one or two have closed or reduced their opening hours — are, I believe, all owned by private-equity companies, so their loss might not be mourned.
It would be nice for this to lead to high streets full of coffee shops — OK, there might be too many of them already — restaurants, hotels and other places where people can relax, chat and live.
My hope is that this thinking will lead to a select strand of new stores opening up that sell books, vinyl LPs, maps, birdwatching equipment and running shoes — yes, my passions — so we can dream of travel, nature and a better future and not be beholden to public transport to get there.
Trainsplaining
Anyone spending time in the U.K. in the past six months probably has not taken a train in that time, and that likely will be the same experience of anyone arriving today.
The rail strike is probably the most visual of the strike action that is being staged all across the country.
Regardless of whether train employees are being exploited or the government is being brave at resisting the call to divvy up more cash at a time of economic hardship, the bottom line is that trains in this country need a complete overhaul. A new model is needed which does not profit by cutting services and fares are reasonable.
The U.K. train system in its entirety — its operations, service and structure — is shameful.
Fares are due to go up by 5.9% in March, although they are allowed to rise by the rate of inflation last July, which would have meant an increase of 12% — far higher than any renegotiated salary I have heard of for any of the members of unions on strike at the moment.
Owners might say this is because of the strike action, and also because of fewer travelers due to more people working at home.
At the moment neither side in the dispute is prepared to back up a little to come to an agreement, so expect more delays if you are a commuter or visitor.
Will that lead to more people going to high streets, or fewer? That could work both ways, with fewer long-distance visitors but more local ones, which might help boost community spirit.
I suspect long-distance and international guests also would far rather visit genuine communities than bustling commuter ones.
At the end of this naïve hope, or diatribe, or feel-good sentiment, maybe what is at play is the need for different thinking in terms of business models.
Business is always good at filling a need, and sometimes that need is something one did not know they needed or even knew they could need.
Such a business model should aim at what is fulfilling in life, and at least for me that is not purchasing online at shop.com.
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