TJ Hughes is finally to go, alongside Thorton's Chocolates. Bradford is slowly losing its famous high street brands. We didn't have a Habitat or a Jane Norman, so at least its only 2 empty shop fronts and not 4, but its still another blow. TJ Hughes saved the iconic Co-operative building, a 30's masterpiece, it would otherwise have fallen into sharp decline. Heaven knows what will happen to the building now.
During the 1980's there seemed an obvious trend on the high streets of England. Whereever you went, the shops began to all look the same, the same stores in every town and city, and the local shops were gradually being wiped off the face of main street.
Now those same stores are increasingly looking precarious, from Mothercare to HMV. Many of these shops aggressively located near to local stores selling similar things, putting them out of business. So now we are left with a vacuum, which nobody can afford to fill. Will it be a short blip in capitalism, or are we in for a long period of empty shopfronts? whatever happens, the English high street is about to undergo the biggest face lift in recent history.
I've recently taken to buying everything I can from the city centre. It may cost more, and is a little trickier than buying online, but I would prefer to see at least one or two shops left in Bradford city centre!
No comments:
Post a Comment