Is there anything left in Maplins?

[michael adams]

When Peter Jones was appointed CEO of Sainsbury - the Prudential bloke not the one in Dragon's Den - he tried to reorganise the distribution chain and they immediately started having re-stocking problems with empty shelves etc. It was no surprise to me as I always regarded him as a bit of a d*****ad* and his only qualification for this particular task was that he'd been a management trainee at Sainsbury yonks ago.

However, despite being a d*****ad he still managed to get his contract terminated at a cost to Sainsbury of good few mill in compo and pension provision..

ATM the only problem I have with Sainsbury is availability of 4pt skimmed milk which at times can be erratic. Not that I buy much else in there nowadays.

All the supermarkets and a lot of the High St. are still trying to absorb the drop in sterling since Brexit themselves. Rather than pass on to the customer the amount which would be fully justified. Thus masking its effects. Which of course suits the Brexitards down to the ground.

michael adams

• This is maybe being unfair to Peter Jones but his physical appearance and manner were almost identical to those if someone I knew, who definitely was a d*****ad. And the Sainsbury shambles simply confirmed my initial suspicions.

...

[michael adams]

Ooops ! Peter Davies.

michael adams

...

[Andrew Gabriel]

Farnborough still a lot, although there are also empty shelves. I bought all their project boxes in certain sizes a couple of weeks ago, and there were more there later, so looks like they are getting stock in from the warehouse, or found it round the back.

Even more amazingly, I happened to suddenly want a 74HCT4060 IC and a crystal to go with it. Thought no chance because a) they usually didn't have things like that in stock anyway, and b) they've moved a load of their component drawers into the shop, with a "buy the whole drawer set including components for £100". However, they happened to still have both the parts I wanted in drawers still behind the counter, and reduced to 12p each so I took the two of each they had.

The Reading store still looked pretty normal a week after the sale started, but I haven't looked more recently.

[Andrew Gabriel]

They won't sell it all. It's only worth keeping the sale going while the revenue covers the cost of the staff and shop, and they have been significantly more busy than normal during the sale so far, but that will tail off as the saleable items go. When that threshold is crossed, it's cheaper to throw the stuff away.

The stuff in the shops would cost vastly more to handle than its clearance value. Stuff still boxed in warehouse can probably be sold at figures like 1% of value.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Apparently this has become very difficult in last couple of years, because no one wants to own retail space anymore (too many retail outlets can't pay their rent, and there are no takers for empty retail space), so you can't find buyers anymore unless the premises can be turned into flats, which is not normally the case in high streets.

[tony sayer]

In article , Andrew Gabriel scribeth thus

A bit sad to say but there nothing there I want now that i would have bought when they were trading, as it were..

[tony sayer]

In article , Andrew Gabriel scribeth thus

Wouldn't put it past them here in Cambridge any unused building will be flats sooner or not much later;!

[michael adams]

If my local Council is anything to go by, they seem to encourage the developement of flats anywhere and everywhere so as to increase their income from Council Tax. It also suits them for them to stay empty for as long as possible, or at least until the developer goes bust.

michael adams

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[Jethro_uk]

rather jars with the ongoing "housing crisis" narrative though ?

Just like successive governments approach which seems to be *anything* but build more houses ....

[Huge]

[14 lines snipped]

Good. Housing's needed, bricks & mortar retail, not so much. The world changes; get used to it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Probably returns. Which the likes of Argos sell on as new. As I discovered recently.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

We're well provided with Lidl round here - three large stores within an easy travel distance. And none of them are ever out of the basics. Special offers are special offers.

My local mid sized Tesco had run out of virtually all fruit and fresh bread on Tuesday AM.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What creates more income to the council? A shop or that shop (area) converted to flats?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Like everything else, the purpose of building houses is only to make a profit from. As large as possible. Selling 'affordable' ones would also depress the value of other new ones. Since how a flat etc is specced makes not much difference to the costs of building it.

[Jethro_uk]

Not sure that explains the 250,000 (?) houses that were built after WW1 ????

Although you are of course quite correct. In fact last (total waste of time) looked at new builds, the slow release to market - to maintain prices - was a selling point.

So, as I surmise. No housing crisis then.

[michael adams]

On the High St its the spaces above large shops which were formerly stockrooms that are being converted into flats. Ground floors of smaller sites are often taken over by charity shops that get either

80% or 100% business rate relief.

Just In Time delivery resulting from improved IT has probably freed up a lot of stockroom space in any case.

Otherwise flats are going up everywhere despite there being little or no parking provision in many places. Instead the boarding on the outside is plastered with posters of fitted kitchens with granite worktops and shiny taps or big sofas on fluffy white carpets.

michael adams

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[Jethro_uk]

At some point that market will become saturated. It's houses - and family houses at that - which are needed.

[whisky-dave]

By design, lots of new places near me and near public transport aren't allowed parking spaces.

[Theo]

Are those the chests of about a dozen drawers, each about 3" high? Kind of Snap-On style (but white)?

I hadn't really been paying attention but ours seems to have lost the component counter some time in the last 15 years, meaning the entire components stock is held in two of those.

Or does your still have a counter with a zillion staff-only drawers behind it, and you mean one unit of those?

Theo

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Depends. One of the problems with the bedroom tax was the lack of suitable smaller properties. Councils generally catered for families rather than widows, etc. And plenty want to get on the housing ladder with a low cost one bedroom etc flat, long before starting a family. If two get married, and both own a small flat each, may be able to afford to move up to a family house more easily.