Part of House of Fraser, now owned by Sports Direct.
Been there 186 years, a Manchester institution.
Shame, really, Sports Direct blaming the landlords.
No massive surprise, tbh.

Kendal Milne as was - used to be a posh place.

That is a shame I liked shopping there.

ElectroClaret wrote:Part of House of Fraser, now owned by Sports Direct.
Been there 186 years, a Manchester institution.
Shame, really, Sports Direct blaming the landlords.
No massive surprise, tbh.

I always wonder what the benefit of an empty property is to a landlord, no rent being paid?

I don't know the specifics of this case, but Landlords have been charging a fortune renting retail premises, for years. Many businesses struggle to make a profit on the back of it.
In a decade where more and more shops on the high street ate closing, to be replaced by charity shops, it's surprising that they can't seem to appreciate that a profit to both parties is common sense. After all, a retail site that no one can afford, is worthless.

Very expensive place to shop when I was working in Manchester. Hasn't got the status it used to have with the likes of Selfridge's there now.

House of Fraser and Sports Direct mentioned in the same sentence ? What has become of our once proud country?

Everything's bought on line now. Not always cheaper though.

Steve1956 wrote:House of Fraser and Sports Direct mentioned in the same sentence ? What has become of our once proud country?

That's rich coming from you "our" once proud country?? Your leaving us for Scotland !! Don't worry we will be fine.

tim_noone wrote:That's rich coming from you "our" once proud country?? Your leaving us for Scotland !! Don't worry we will be fine.

Why do you think I'm off?

My pensions advisor gave me a interesting insight into this. Apparently most commercial properties in the UK are owned by pension funds. So when you have Commercial Property in your pension that is backed directly by these companies and they constantly put the rent up to make as much for their clients as possible.

However, this has now reached breaking point and he has advised me not to invest in UK commercial property any longer.

Colburn_Claret wrote:I don't know the specifics of this case, but Landlords have been charging a fortune renting retail premises, for years. Many businesses struggle to make a profit on the back of it.
In a decade where more and more shops on the high street ate closing, to be replaced by charity shops, it's surprising that they can't seem to appreciate that a profit to both parties is common sense. After all, a retail site that no one can afford, is worthless.

Your right about landlords and their charges. Same for pubs that's why many have shut. New 'in' micro breweries are opening perhaps in their place. Some are ok but for me lack the spirit and atmosphere of a good pub. Also most are very Spartan in their decor

Mum and me used to make a day of it in Manchester at Kendals when I was a small boy at Christmas.......Grandma used to catch the bus to meet us from Cleveleys.......I used to left to play on the Toy Floor for ages whilst they wandered round the store........

Fab days......

Looking at the Scruffy Citeh fans next to us today they certainly didn’t shop there

I read in the Times today that the annual rent was a tad over £3 million per annum.

Turn it into accommodation and put the Mancs you see living on the streets into it.
Problem solved.

Went in today, unfortunately, it’s on its arse.

Retail can only survive by developing the experience and in store theatre giving it an edge v online.
Walked into selfridges and although they are not taking it far enough they were playing the Man Ure game in the menswear dept- it’s a start

Day out in Manchester with my mum and going shopping in Kendals was a real treat when I was a kid - although once I discovered the X43 and Afflecks Palace things changed.

It has looked very tired for a while now. As bad as Debenhams but quite a bit more expensive. The men’s clothing range is all over the place too, they’ve tried a appeal to everyone and got it badly wrong in my opinion.

Harvey Nics and Selfridges is the only real sustainable kind of department store now- they sell a good range of things you can’t immediately find elsewhere and they make an effort with the look of the stores.

Could turn it into a zombie centre for the spice-heads.

Steve1956 wrote:House of Fraser and Sports Direct mentioned in the same sentence ? What has become of our once proud country?

Could cater for all tastes. If you don't like Laura Ashley, you can always go for Mike Ashley.

Debenhams to shut 50 stores now. There's gonna be nowt left.
(Mike Ashley already owns 30% of it, speculation he's going to grab it on the cheap.)

Manchester Arndale Centre has about one in four empty units. Going to try and encourage a restaurant culture there.

There will be no shops left soon

Is this a disaster, or just evolution, and will our grand children will have no idea what a shop was?

Eventually no one will ever venture past their front door,what is to become of us?

We don't go shopping. We don't go to the pub. We don't go to the cinema. We don't talk. We don't have opinions

We just sit at home and look at screens with bright colours.

We just get indoctrinated to 'normality' and the nanny state and do as we are told