Generic Virus Thread

[mjmooney]

2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

High Street retail is, and has been for years, ****.

I used to work in a field of insurance that gave an inside view on a lot of different types of businesses. The numbers of traditional retailers hanging on by a thread was obscene. This situation will do them in. The future of retail is completely buggered. Which in turn is going to **** many town centres even more. I recall working in Walsall 10 years ago, and that was bad then, by the end of this, it'll be a literal ghost town.

And the double whammy is that the saviour of city centres was going to be cafes, pubs, restaurants, etc. - which are also getting wiped out in large numbers due to the pandemic. 

[chrisp65]

10 minutes ago, Chindie said:

High Street retail is, and has been for years, ****.

I used to work in a field of insurance that gave an inside view on a lot of different types of businesses. The numbers of traditional retailers hanging on by a thread was obscene. This situation will do them in. The future of retail is completely buggered. Which in turn is going to **** many town centres even more. I recall working in Walsall 10 years ago, and that was bad then, by the end of this, it'll be a literal ghost town.

 

Part of my job is looking for retail space for Clients. As you’d expect, there’s never been so much choice.

But they are always in such poor states of repair. I’m looking for something in Walsall at the moment, been there three or four times looking at properties that are superficially ‘o.k.’. But as soon as you get beyond the shopfront the actual fabric of these places has been neglected for decades. They’ve all been holding on by holding off maintenance. So many are getting to that critical point where health n safety is pushing them to invest, or pack it in.

Not many deciding to invest.

So many glorious and interesting properties in Walsall that would make truly fantastic living space. Really interesting places. But unfortunately you can see that the only people willing to take a punt on conversion to living space would be the HMO Landlords. A bit of plasterboard, 6 doorbells, job done.

[foreveryoung]

14 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

 

Part of my job is looking for retail space for Clients. As you’d expect, there’s never been so much choice.

But they are always in such poor states of repair. I’m looking for something in Walsall at the moment, been there three or four times looking at properties that are superficially ‘o.k.’. But as soon as you get beyond the shopfront the actual fabric of these places has been neglected for decades. They’ve all been holding on by holding off maintenance. So many are getting to that critical point where health n safety is pushing them to invest, or pack it in.

Not many deciding to invest.

So many glorious and interesting properties in Walsall that would make truly fantastic living space. Really interesting places. But unfortunately you can see that the only people willing to take a punt on conversion to living space would be the HMO Landlords. A bit of plasterboard, 6 doorbells, job done.

Yeah but make sure you set fire to them first so you can get the planning

[Chindie]

8 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

 

Part of my job is looking for retail space for Clients. As you’d expect, there’s never been so much choice.

But they are always in such poor states of repair. I’m looking for something in Walsall at the moment, been there three or four times looking at properties that are superficially ‘o.k.’. But as soon as you get beyond the shopfront the actual fabric of these places has been neglected for decades. They’ve all been holding on by holding off maintenance. So many are getting to that critical point where health n safety is pushing them to invest, or pack it in.

Not many deciding to invest.

So many glorious and interesting properties in Walsall that would make truly fantastic living space. Really interesting places. But unfortunately you can see that the only people willing to take a punt on conversion to living space would be the HMO Landlords. A bit of plasterboard, 6 doorbells, job done.

Doesn't surprise me.

I walked into work back when I was working in Walsall to find some maintenance guys in the back. Thought nothing of it, went about getting stock out etc etc. Then noticed they were putting on safety gear.

Turns out the store was suspected of having asbestos. The guys were there to do some sampling. So there they are in the stock room with a drill to do some testing in full on hazmat suits, meanwhile there's 3 of us trundling about in branded t-shirts.

But as said I used to spend all day going back and forth with businesses and insurers, and huge numbers of retailers, invariably high street ones, were on the edge, one bad quarter from trouble, or on some cases basically on life support through sheer goodwill. I'm frankly amazed that places like Debenhams (which I should note I never came across) are still going at all. That kind of department store is dead. This is just going to be the death blow.

[It's Your Round]

I've been thinking for a while now that in ten year's time, all of our high streets will be gone to make way for further housing. The only physical shops left will be in retail parks and huge shopping malls. It's already heading that way, and this impending recession will only serve to speed up the process. 

[chrisp65]

1 minute ago, It's Your Round said:

I've been thinking for a while now that in ten year's time, all of our high streets will be gone to make way for further housing. The only physical shops left will be in retail parks and huge shopping malls. It's already heading that way, and this impending recession will only serve to speed up the process. 

I think there will be smaller High Streets and they’ll have more independents and small chains. The coffee shops will be back, along with the hobby shops and the bakers and cheese vendors. These will be anchored around the Post Office, the BuildingSociety, the new format bank.

It’ll be a third of the size it is now.

Larger towns and cities may well have display shops for people that want to pick up a kettle or a toaster before they buy it.

 

[foreveryoung]

4 minutes ago, It's Your Round said:

I've been thinking for a while now that in ten year's time, all of our high streets will be gone to make way for further housing. The only physical shops left will be in retail parks and huge shopping malls. It's already heading that way, and this impending recession will only serve to speed up the process. 

People need to just get with the times. Virtual dressing rooms in shops and windows, so you don't have to actually try on clothes, internet ordering instore with immediate collection, music, DJs inside stores. Ok won't work for all, but will certainly keep people on the high streets. 

Big problem is all these big stores, BHS, debenhams, C&A were all run by old folk who never moved with the times. Selfridges seem to do ok.

[It's Your Round]

8 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I think there will be smaller High Streets and they’ll have more independents and small chains. The coffee shops will be back, along with the hobby shops and the bakers and cheese vendors. These will be anchored around the Post Office, the BuildingSociety, the new format bank.

It’ll be a third of the size it is now.

Larger towns and cities may well have display shops for people that want to pick up a kettle or a toaster before they buy it.

 

Yes, certainly for the larger town centres or high streets in more affluent areas. Some high streets such as the one in my small South Yorkshire town, will have nothing left to offer. I repeatedly see new shops open up, full of hope, to then disappear again within 12 months. There's nothing there any more, at best you've got a couple of banks, a Greggs and a Poundland, everything else is failing or empty. 

[snowychap]

3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

internet ordering instore

debenhams

Last time I went in to a Debenhams, there were internet ordering points (shaped like large smartphones on their side) almost wherever you turned - about five or six per floor.

No, not 'immediate delivery' (not sure how one could do that) but either next day collection in store or next day/day after home delivery.

[snowychap]

11 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I think there will be smaller High Streets and they’ll have more independents and small chains. The coffee shops will be back, along with the hobby shops and the bakers and cheese vendors. These will be anchored around the Post Office, the BuildingSociety, the new format bank.

This is obviously wrong - where are all of the charity shops?

[It's Your Round]

I'm surprised that the bookies are still holding a presence on the high street. I guess once the older, less smartphone savvy folks die off, they'll be closing them down. 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

So, the unproven allegation here is that the Welsh Health Minister and Welsh NHS were ahead of the game on testing. They had a contract in place for thousands of tests a day and testing of health staff.

Then, mysteriously, the deal was off. It’s been strongly hinted and alleged that Mat Hancock scuppered the deal at the last minute. Politically, they couldn’t have Labour controlled Wales with testing kits and testing health staff, it really wasn’t going to be a good look. So basically they gazumped the Welsh NHS and took the kits for ‘the greater national good’.

Now, it’s looking like those kits that had been heading to Wales, were duffers.

The truth will out eventually, but it’ll be lost in the bigger inquiry. 

the failed kits  were from China , if the internet is to be believed  .. the Welsh contract was with Roche  according to Drakeford ... but Roche deny such a deal  ... could still be shaninigans going on , but these aren't the duffers you are looking for

Plyd Cymru are the ones going with the Gazumped line , nothing seems to be clear at this stage though

 

[Genie]

7 minutes ago, snowychap said:

This is obviously wrong - where are all of the charity shops?

My local town centre is mainly a mix of charity shops, card shops and Turkish “style” barbers.

[HanoiVillan]

At one point in mid-March, we were tracking Austria's numbers quite closely as I recall. Now they have 12,058 cases, while we have 48,451, almost exactly four times as many.

[tonyh29]

17 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Larger towns and cities may well have display shops for people that want to pick up a kettle or a toaster before they buy it.

I've done a few trials with clients using  Zappar that could even negate this as it allows you to rotate 3D images of a product and change its colour , style and so forth  ... there is even an option of wearing headphones so you could hear what noise a product makes when you turn it on , use it or  whatever

[tonyh29]

1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said:

Now they have 12,058 cases, while we have 48,451, almost exactly four times as many.

they have a population of circa 9 million .. we have a population of circa 66 million  , so I still don't think its a valid comparison tool tbh

 

[snowychap]

9 minutes ago, It's Your Round said:

I'm surprised that the bookies are still holding a presence on the high street. I guess once the older, less smartphone savvy folks die off, they'll be closing them down. 

It's all gone very off topic but the change in max stakes on FOBTs has had a huge impact already from what I can see.

There will still be a demand for them (albeit quite a bit lower) especially with subscription services being required for sporting events.

[chrisp65]

9 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

the failed kits  were from China , if the internet is to be believed  .. the Welsh contract was with Roche  according to Drakeford ... but Roche deny such a deal  ... could still be shaninigans going on , but these aren't the duffers you are looking for

Plyd Cymru are the ones going with the Gazumped line , nothing seems to be clear at this stage though

 

There were lots of ‘third parties’ and the government are flipping between denying some allegations and refusing to confirm or deny other allegations.

The gazumping theory I saw came from within the government.

But its all a bit ‘he said, she said’ so I think many people will just take the rumours that fill their personal viewpoint. Wales had 5,000 tests a day coming here, then they didn’t, but England did. Then the Westminster tory Wales Secretary made a public announcement for the Cardiff labour Wales Health Minister saying at no point was the word gazumping used in their ‘robust’ exchange of views.

Mirky to say the least. It’s down to believing incompetent labour or lying conservative.

Tories probably tried to steal the kits but labour hadn’t clicked Confirm anyway.

[HanoiVillan]

4 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

they have a population of circa 9 million .. we have a population of circa 66 million  , so I still don't think its a valid comparison tool tbh

 

In the initial stages of a pandemic, total population size is irrelevant, as everyone is susceptible and the virus doesn't know national borders. There does come a point when sheer size matters, but I don't think we're there yet. One way to calculate this would be to say that 60% of the population being infected is where herd immunity lies. If both Austria and the UK have 10x more infections than confirmed cases (as a baselines assumption), then they have a little more tha 100k while we have nearly half a million. In other words, we're miles off the point where herd immunity advantages would kick in.

[chrisp65]

11 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

I've done a few trials with clients using  Zappar that could even negate this as it allows you to rotate 3D images of a product and change its colour , style and so forth  ... there is even an option of wearing headphones so you could hear what noise a product makes when you turn it on , use it or  whatever

None of that tells me if a toaster is a flimsy bit of crap with buttons that’ll last a week.