Will you go shopping on the high street now?

[trystan]

The difficulty I always found with the High Street was having to pay to park up.

That deterred me from doing a bit of "man shopping"  (walking in, going straight to the item, paying for it and returning home).

Not much good if you have to pay for parking.

[LizzieL]

Our nearest town (small market town with about 16,000 population) has free parking after 3.00 pm Mon - Sat to try and encourage people to come to the High Street. It's free all day on Sunday, but very few shops open then.
To pay for this, the charge before 3.00 pm has slowly crept up, in most car parks, it's now 60p per hour, to a maximum of 3 hours, then £3.80 for over 3 hours, so it penalises people who may need to park for 4 or 5 hours, such as part-time workers who don't live close to the town centre, as they would pay an average of more than 60p per hour. Unsurprisingly the one next to the small supermarket is much more expensive: 70p for 1 hour, £1.40 for 2 hours, £4.90 for 3 hours , £7.40 over 3 hours.  The supermarket has no parking of its own, but will refund an hour's parking charge if you spend a certain amount in the store. Unfortunately it is not always possible to make a doctor or dentist appointment before 3.00,

[Gadget]

How long will there be a High Street or a Shopping Centre?

The company which owns the Trafford Centre, Manchester + other centres has gone into receivership because rental income plummeted.
The mall in my town wasn't doing well pre lockdown. It has a Debenham's. I was in the store 5 months ago, first time for a few years. I bought an item. The mall is the newest of 4. Two have a lot of empty shops. The other is small with small premises; I've not been in it for a long time.

They own the Eldon Centre* in Newcastle and the Metro Centre on the other side of the Tyne, both of which I use regularly. Fortunately N/C City Council owns the freehold of the Eldon Centre and they have committed to keep it open.

The Eldon Centre includes Fenwicks, John Lewis, etc. and a Waitrose supermarket, which is the grocery delivery hub for the city. I get a delivery from there every 2 weeks or so. When I went in to check slots last night,all of the slots (delivery and C n C)  show 'unavailable' rather than the usual 'fully booked' or a free slot.  So, until they sort it, I'll have to get  C n C from Hexham (20 miles away). I did that before they expanded their deliveries so it's not too bad. All the other major supermarkets are available - I use Sainsburys for weekly deliveries -  but I do like Waitrose .

Add - they had free parking all day on Sundays and each evening.

* in what might be called  N/c  city centre's main high street

[Gadget]

I've just remembered that I have a slot booked for next Friday. I'm not sure how they will handle these booked slots. I've e-mailed to find out.

Add-Now updated - I think they were waiting for clarifiction 

[Nic.]

Even if I wanted to I wouldn’t.

My local high street was decimated over 25 years ago when they built Lakeside - which belongs to Intu which has now gone into receivership.

All that’s left in the high street are a few Banks, charity shops, lots of Estate Agents and £ shops with a few others.  Even McDonalds left our high street a few years ago.

So I won’t be shopping there, you can’t even buy a pair of shoes which are not of the throw away fashion type in town.

[ThrelfallYorky]

I don't like crowded shops
I don't like paying a lot for parking - like Trystan, I want to get in, get what I want bought, and get out of town again asap, although I'm female.
I don't like the complexities of public transport now ... feel uncomfortable at the idea of masks, and in any case, wouldn't want to clog up a 'bus space going shopping, that someone else might well actually need.
And I don't really miss shopping at all!

[Nick_Ips]

I don't like crowded shops
I don't like paying a lot for parking - like Trystan, I want to get in, get what I want bought, and get out of town again asap, although I'm female.

I think there are a lot of us in the same boat.

I've just come back from my local convenience store - just with milk and bread.  It wasn't packed, but nobody wearing masks and almost everyone getting a lot closer than 1m away from each other.

In and out as quickly as possible.

My next shopping trip will be to the big Tesco, some time middle of next week. No earlier than 9pm (they shut at 10pm).  I wish they would go back to 24 hour opening. 

[roopat]

Not the High Street for a very long time I think.


Friday our village butchers opened the shop again after doing amazing work with home delivery & click and collect. I decided to venture in - first shop I've visited since 15th March    I felt very nervous & flustered, even though I knew all the staff & the other 2 customers very well. I don't like feeling 'old & helpless' 


Yesterday morning circumstances meant I had to go to a supermarket. Asda is nearest, they were very well organised with signs everywhere, screens at the checkout, sanitiser & a member of staff at the entrance. Inside though, the odd staff filling shelves or walking about the aisles just walked past me in the usual way - I flattened myself against the shelves!
The mainly older generation customers seemed totally unaware of any need for distancing. I wondered if I'd become invisible.


I was reminded of advice from my dad when I was learning to drive 'assume everyone else is an idiot & react accordingly' 


I'll carry on with my home delivery & online shopping for the moment.


Pat

[louisa maud]

I like your dads wise words roopat

I found staff were the ones who seem in the main to wander around, no masks

A lot of elderly didn't seem to wear masks either, I am one of their brigade so to speak but I wear a mask, I do not want to be in lockdown any longer than need be,

At the moment I want to act as  taxi for a friends hospital visit this week, she being 90, I haven't read anywhere where we can have a passenger but if a taxi driver can have occupants in the back of car wearing masks I am sure my friend and I can if we both wear masks and she sits in the back

Louisa Maud