BHS Filing for administration

Clothes stores should be more like argos/generic shoe store now.

These giant stores like BHS and John Lewis etc. with their shelves with all ranges and sizes.

Just put one out of each item and if you want to try it on you go to the counter and one is taken from the warehouse in your size to try on.

The warehouse of these stores would be the remaining space everything else used to take up that was on display needlessly. The rest of the shopping is done online now as it is.

Cuts down on warehouse overheads and it cuts down on thieves loss.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 
Tom0 said:
Clothes stores should be more like argos/generic shoe store now.

These giant stores like BHS and John Lewis etc. with their shelves with all ranges and sizes.

Just put one out of each item and if you want to try it on you go to the counter and one is taken from the warehouse in your size to try on.

The warehouse of these stores would be the remaining space everything else used to take up that was on display needlessly. The rest of the shopping is done online now as it is.

Cuts down on warehouse overheads and it cuts down on thieves loss.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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I'd hate that.
How long would it take to get from the warehouse to the shop floor? I don't have time (I want) to waste on clothes shopping.
It's a horrific experience as it is, when it takes as little time as possible where I can just grab a few things, go to a changing room, discard the things that don't fit and flounce out with my purchases.

I do like that you can return stuff to online stores for free, most of the time, but it's still a ballache having to do so, and something I try to avoid.

I like the high street, aside from ridiculous parking charges, that are e.g. 80p an hour up to 2 hours and if you want to stay longer you have to pay the max. amount, e.g. £4.
And the thought of all the stores being knocked down/turned into houses repulses me.
 
Diddums said:
I just had a mooch around their Oxford Street branch. A fe observations:

The cafe is on the first floor. According to the signage in the lifts, it's on the ground floor, and on the ground floor, there are signs saying that it's on the second floor.

The gents had one working toilet which was absolutely disgusting. The soap dispensers were knackered, the hand dryer had lung cancer and basically just coughed on my hands.

The shop layout itself was very confusing, the sheer size of the place just made it confusing to navigate.

Loads of lamps were out. I don't think the shop has seen a maintenance guy in months.

The general feel of the shop was dated and old. The paint looks like it's 30 years old and it's very evident that different managerd have done things differently over the years because there were loads of little things done differently all over the shop.

What that place needs is to be gutted and start fresh. It looks tatty, old, dated, poorly lit and dirty. It's no surprise they're going the way they are tbh.

Good luck to the employees.
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Well the guys that bought it paid £1 for it... They're hardly going to actually invest in anything, are they? (Which is sad)
 
Semple said:
Also echoing the point of BHS not changing with the times. I'm not entirely sure which audience they've tried to cater for - i see a lot of the elderly shopping at M&S or JL if they don't mind splashing the cash.

Feel sorry for the large workforce though.

Did i hear rumour that Mike Ashley was going to buy up a load of the shops and turn them into Sports Direct. Not sure anyone who will want to willingly work for him though.

EDIT: Woah didn't read the part about the pension scheme also being under threat - a £0.5 billion hole. Which looks like most of the workforce will lose a portion of their pension. That's going to make for some very upset and angry ex employees.
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Yes but that is out the window now. They were talking about it this morning.
 
Diddums said:
I just had a mooch around their Oxford Street branch. A fe observations:

The cafe is on the first floor. According to the signage in the lifts, it's on the ground floor, and on the ground floor, there are signs saying that it's on the second floor.

The gents had one working toilet which was absolutely disgusting. The soap dispensers were knackered, the hand dryer had lung cancer and basically just coughed on my hands.

The shop layout itself was very confusing, the sheer size of the place just made it confusing to navigate.

Loads of lamps were out. I don't think the shop has seen a maintenance guy in months.

The general feel of the shop was dated and old. The paint looks like it's 30 years old and it's very evident that different managerd have done things differently over the years because there were loads of little things done differently all over the shop.

What that place needs is to be gutted and start fresh. It looks tatty, old, dated, poorly lit and dirty. It's no surprise they're going the way they are tbh.

Good luck to the employees.
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The one in Stratford on Avon isn't in that state, but yes, the layout is pretty confusing.
 
Jono said:
I'd hate that.
How long would it take to get from the warehouse to the shop floor? I don't have time (I want) to waste on clothes shopping.
It's a horrific experience as it is, when it takes as little time as possible where I can just grab a few things, go to a changing room, discard the things that don't fit and flounce out with my purchases.

I do like that you can return stuff to online stores for free, most of the time, but it's still a ballache having to do so, and something I try to avoid.

I like the high street, aside from ridiculous parking charges, that are e.g. 80p an hour up to 2 hours and if you want to stay longer you have to pay the max. amount, e.g. £4.
And the thought of all the stores being knocked down/turned into houses repulses me.
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It is exactly the same experience as argos or shoe shopping.

If you don't like shopping in general then anything is going to be sand in the bumcrack.

I feel your pain. I hate shopping unless it is for tech or games to play.
 
There's four within a 30 minute drive from where I live. The only one that's modern looking is the one in Lakeside shopping centre, the rest when you go into said stores look as though you've gone back in the TARDIS 30 odd years ago just to do a bit of shopping.

When Philip Green sold BHS for a £1 a year or so ago I knew straight away back then they were in trouble. Sad to say that it may well go the way of Woolworths, Focus, MFI & other failed chain retailers over the last few years. I feel sorry for the staff.
 
gothic_hobbit said:
If they go under, 11000 people will lose their jobs.

Not good at all.
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I very much doubt it will be saved

Some stores/jobs may transfer to new companies but the majority won't.
Pension pot will be picked up by taxpayer

Rinse and repeat for next chain to die.
 
From what I've read BHS is down to shoddy management decisions rather than anything else.

Having said that, I don't even have one locally so if I wanted anything from them (not likely from what I've seen) I'd need to buy online, which they don't really have any presence in which is just stupidity in todays market.

Mind you shopping in 'town' in general isn't what it used to be and I blame the councils for this because they're clearly charging too much either for rent or for parking to encourage people to go into the shops..

I have 2 towns near me, one with free parking and no decent shops and one with a lot of 'shops' but fairly expensive paid parking.

Another problem is that the free place is now a place where a lot of people, especially women, actually feel threatened because it's main population is now foreign (not saying they all are but it's how people feel about this place), it never used to be this way until they had a large increase in foreign (usually eastern block) come in.

If I go to the town with paid parking then I have more shops but they're mostly poundshops (which are also on the estates outside town), charity shops (also on the estates outside town) or mobile phone shops, even the ones that aren't are more focused on women rather than men (I'm male).

Both towns have 'estates' outside of the town with major shops like Tesco's, PCWorld etc with free parking so why would you go into town when 90% of things you want can be bought at Tesco's....

Also by the time I've paid petrol, parking etc to go into town I can often get the same item the next day for less by ordering online...
 
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Shame for the employees, but at the very least, they will get Statutory Redundancy Pay within ~13 weeks of filling in the forms.

Maybe Amazon could take over the vacant stores later this year, instead of a charities? Could increase their "Prime Now" coverage of the country.
 
Jono said:
I'd hate that.
How long would it take to get from the warehouse to the shop floor? I don't have time (I want) to waste on clothes shopping.
It's a horrific experience as it is, when it takes as little time as possible where I can just grab a few things, go to a changing room, discard the things that don't fit and flounce out with my purchases.

I do like that you can return stuff to online stores for free, most of the time, but it's still a ballache having to do so, and something I try to avoid.

I like the high street, aside from ridiculous parking charges, that are e.g. 80p an hour up to 2 hours and if you want to stay longer you have to pay the max. amount, e.g. £4.
And the thought of all the stores being knocked down/turned into houses repulses me.
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Ballache ?

I'll prove what Ballache really is...

Go choose a pair shoes you like... Now choose a "backup choice" just in case..

Now go buy them in
size FIVE

Welcome to reality.

Now you know why I don't traipse around Bricks & Mortar stores getting insulted, paying for parking, returning to find my car doors dinged etc !!
 
I bought a chandelier from BHS online about 2 weeks ago. Turned up the next day and it looks great. Price was reasonable too.

But unfortunately I've never been in one of their high street stores since I was a child.
 
Very sad for the workers but am surprised they went on this long. Another British shopping institution that seems stuck in the past and no idea who they cater for.
 
ColdAsIce said:
I've been in the one on Princes Street, Edinburgh a few times when shopping for some cheap work clothes. They really have barely changed from when I was dragged into town as kid with my mum, about 20 years ago.

Not surprising at all but you have to feel for the staff. I hope the situation with their pensions are at least sorted :(
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Haha that is the same as me! Every time I go in there I get flashbacks of my mum dragging me in as a kid.
 
Outcast said:
Ballache ?

I'll prove what Ballache really is...

Go choose a pair shoes you like... Now choose a "backup choice" just in case..

Now go buy them in
size FIVE

Welcome to reality.

Now you know why I don't traipse around Bricks & Mortar stores getting insulted, paying for parking, returning to find my car doors dinged etc !!
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Size five?!

How can you even balance? Must be like walking on stilts :p
 
It's sad to see and I feel sorry for the people who may lose their jobs, but echoing previous comments it seems somewhat inevitable.

I haven't been to a BHS store in years. In reality, I haven't really been to a high street store for ages. Shopping habits are definitely changing and those who fail to adapt will be left with a similar fate (look at Game, for example). At least Argos are trying with same day delivery.

Amazon prime was a gamechanger. Some smaller things I get off there may be slightly more expensive but when you combine the hassle of driving into town, parking, etc, I usually don't mind.

When I was younger I used to like going into town on a Saturday with/without friends and pop into Game/HMV/etc.

These days going into town "shopping" on a Saturday is the worst thing I actually want to do.

People are shopping in town less, and rates/building leases are increasing. Unless you have a niche I can imagine seeing more big chain stores like BHS falling.
 
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