CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Where will the cyclists shop when the stores are empty?
(30 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Well yes, but.
I’m sure open/closed Sundays or properly organised car freeness won’t be the answer for all (maybe any) retailers in the internet age, but ‘cyclists’ certainly aren’t to blame for ‘progress’ -
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While there is much talk about plans for George Street councillors yet again fail to have any focus on what businesses may, and indeed may not, be there should these plans come to fruition and with 30 to 50 shops predicted to become empty when Edinburgh St James opens I see little forward planning now beyond the mistaken idea that allowing changes of use will solve the problem.
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(From above link.)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Any shop, pub, cafe or restaurant located on or near the Summertime Streets (Victoria Street, Grassmarket, Cockburn Street, Candlemaker Row, Cowgate, Royal Mile) that experienced a 30% drop in sales this August has bigger problems to worry about than a few traffic restrictions. There is literally a torrent of humanity walking along these streets 24 hours a day during the festival. If they can't entice a few in, then they should be taking a look at themselves, before criticising the Council.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Of course, it may be true that (some) retailers experienced a slump in sales.
Equating that to the effect of the temporary, partial and limited street pedestrianisation is just nonsense. Trying to blame cyclists for it is just clickbait tactics. Anyone try cycling on Victoria Street when the festival crowds were in full spate? Good luck with that! It was tricky enough to walk at a decent pace.
Other factors are surely at work here. The changing nature of retail. The ability of tourists to check on their phones where they are "recommended" to go rather than just randomly stopping off at some shop, bar, restaurant. The changing nature of tourism: more "budget" travellers staying in AirBnBs, shopping in supermarkets, cooking "at home", not eating out as much. This all narrows the opportunity for traders to pick up passing trade, regardless of whether motor vehicles are parked up outside or driving past to the other side of town.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I watched when this was discussed at the last council.
Apparently the businesses said they had a very successful June/July but the drop in takings happened immediately the streets were closed.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Wrong sort of tourists in August...
Posted 5 years ago # -
Shouldn't the headline be '...when the stores are shut'? If the stores are merely empty of customers, then that sounds like a great time to shop. If the stores are empty of stock, then that will presumably be down to Brexit.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"the drop in takings happened immediately the streets were closed"
Correlation is not causation. Maybe these retailers were "local shops for local people" and the locals were elsewhere during the Fringe? Do tourists come to Edinburgh to shop? Fringe types too busy watching street performers, fringe shows or getting drunk at Underbelly etc. to bother going shopping?
My limited experience of speaking to overseas visitors to Edinburgh this year revealed that they are guided mainly by whatever is heavily promoted via Google, Tripadvisor, etc. on their mobile devices. Even to the point of ignoring advice from locals!
Posted 5 years ago # -
Where will all the drivers shop when global warming destroys the planet?
When will a driver ever come up with an alternative way of stopping cars that’s doesnt involve stopping cars?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Change business model or business??
Posted 5 years ago # -
Change business model
AFAIK, the author of the article closed his record shop because it couldn’t compete with the internet and music streaming. In one of his recent articles he said that his reopened shop in Waverley Mall sells more t-shirts than music.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Poor Kevin, at the height of The Avalanche business he had a mansion out West Lothian way. Now he is down on his uppers
Posted 5 years ago # -
Regardless of what you think of his opinions, his columns are really badly written - cutbacks at the EEN must mean they are given just a glance by sub-editors before publication.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Quite possible they do not pay him? He used to talk the hind legs off me whenever i was in his many shops over the years
Posted 5 years ago # -
The "famous" Bertie's* is what used to Kushi's on Victoria Street?
Recipe for success seems to be:
- big premises (can't miss it)
- large brightly lit signage
- traditional "Scottish" food
- massive internet marketing (e.g. sponsored top ranking in "Edinburgh Fish and Chips" on Tripadvisor alongside The Newsroom)* Never heard of it before today.
Posted 5 years ago # -
He only mentions cyclists once, in passing, in his last sentence. It's just a stuck-on clickbait headline. EEN circulation collapse has slowed but I think will hit zero in 6 years on current trajectory.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I suspect this is the Tories starting an anti-city centre transformation campaign. If they can "prove" that reallocating road space is bad for business then they can argue against it using "evidence". Here's one tweet from Cllr Jo Mowat:
"Ask the author @avalanche_edin on that - he’s the expert - I reported to council what was reported to me - businesses reporting 30% reduction in sales on same week last year - and that was across a number of businesses - week before road closures business up - closure down"
Essential Edinburgh footfall figures for w/c 19/8/19 are mixed, but overall footfall across Edinburgh was up on the same week in 2018 - primarily due to the area outside of the New Town (festival effect I would guess). All the Summertime Streets are in the Old Town - where the figures show increased footfall.
No business covered by the Summertime Streets initiative gets 30% of its business from people who park on, or drive down, those streets - that's physically impossible due to the very limited carriageway and parking space available and the huge number of potential customers passing on foot.
Also, the importance of parking to businesses in central Edinburgh is massively over-estimated. Data collected by Essential Edinburgh shows that each on-street parking bay in the city centre produced just 0.9 business transactions per day in March 2019 (latest figures available).
Posted 5 years ago # -
I suspect this is the Tories starting an anti-city centre transformation campaign.
You wonder what their ideal Edinburgh of 2020 would look like. This, I suspect.
Posted 5 years ago # -
IWRATS - no, no, no - just perfectly phased traffic lights.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I suspect this is the Tories starting an anti-city centre transformation campaign.
The next part of the city centre plans gets published on Friday so the timing fits.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Maybe it can all be fixed with pony rides (in joke in relation to Mr Buckle, who at one time had three spoof twitter accounts aimed at him). Why should we take advice from the record store man who lost his business because he never opened on time and his shop was a smelly midden? Compare with his former employees' thriving Lovemusic shop in Glasgow. His increasingly bitter rants to long time regulars did not make it a boutique shopping experience.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Strangely no mention of bikes or cycle lanes -
Posted 5 years ago # -
Is it so bad that the big chain stores are being replaced by independents and the following:?
Takeaways 26
Sports & health clubs 17
Pet shops 9
Convenience stores 7
Specialist clothing 7
Value retailer 7
Supermarkets 6
Specialist health 5
Cake shops/patisseries 4
Art & antiquesMaybe not the takeaways...
Posted 5 years ago # -
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They pointed out that retailers account for around 5% of the British economy but pay about 10% of all business taxes and about 25% of business rates.
“
On the face of it that’s a significant problem - made worse by Amazon operating out of lowly taxed sheds.
Previously (and continuing) threats have been lack/price of parking - and perhaps more that ‘out of town’ has free parking.
Things that successive Govs have failed to do much about.
Now there’s the internet.
Some retailers have made good use of this, some haven’t.
No shop has a ‘right to exist’. The ones that close don’t make enough money to cover their costs.
Maybe because they don’t sell things people want at a price they are prepared to pay.
Maybe successive owners have extracted a disproportionate share of the profits.
Maybe people are actually thinking about buying less stuff.
Etc.
Posted 5 years ago # -
think to survive on the high street now [in that physical location] you have to own the building. I assume the LBS up Slateford way is in that position?
Posted 5 years ago # -
made worse by Amazon operating out of lowly taxed sheds
For starters, Amazon should be made to pay their (existing) tax obligations instead of using workarounds like declaring losses in one country against profits in another.
Then, there should be tax on the Amazon delivery vans, so they pay their true cost of the congestion, loading/parking space taken and environmental and road/pavement damage they cause.
And finally, internet delivery drivers should be paid an hourly wage in line with minimum wage, and other employment protections, instead of piecemeal money.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“
Philip Green’s Topshop and Topman chains slumped to a £505m loss last year as sales fell and the retail tycoon wrote down the value of two of his flagship brands.
Sales at the fashion brands fell 9% to £846.8m in the year to 1 September as they struggled to compete with the likes of Asos, H&M and Primark. In the UK sales fell by 9.8%.
“
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/sep/12/philip-green-topshop-and-topman-report-505m-loss
Posted 5 years ago # -
shops could also consider being open at times when most people aren't already working.
and amen to drivers being paid hourly, they'd feel less pressure to drive and park like idiots.
Posted 5 years ago #
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