Death of the High Street?

[Sister Sledge]

Don't use Amazon so don't know..

On the high street, if 'charity shops' were removed there'd be almost nothing there. Sure they don't interfere so much with mainstream businesses but they do occupy a lot of sites.
On the subject of charity shops - I really dislike them. Lots of them carry new stock but get huge tax breaks..
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CCM 404 DS

[Polarbear]

The likes of Antiques road show, bargain hunt and Flog it have fcuked charity shops for bargains i=unless you want skanky clothes.

Everyone's an antiques expert now.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Sister Sledge]

Charity shops employ their own experts to value items donated - rare books, coins, jewellery etc.
Some shops keep the valuable items locked in a display case and other valuable items are never sold in a charity shop - they head directly to auction or to known collectors.
Also, charity shop staff have first shout at what's going up for sale which means you'll rarely see decent items - they're bought using a discount and sold to friends of the staff - I know people who help in charity shops.

The best used goods shops are church charity shops which are not chains of the same thing and tend to be a local church group. I've had some amazing bargains in those shops - I even buy 100% cotton sheets and duvets from them and rip them up to make rags for oily work. Double duvets costing 20p is normal up this way.

Village community charity shops are awesome too: Locals donate and funds raised help run youth clubs and other local groups. Again I've had real bargains from them.

Anyway, high streets R ded now and will probably never return. Life has moved on.
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CCM 404 DS

[M.C]

HMV in administration... again: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46699290

[Polarbear]

Literally Death on the high street.

https://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/three-guilty-of-murder-over-leicester-shop-explosion-11364320380530

Thick as a bag of potatoes if they thought the insurance was going to pay out over that one.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[M.C]

[chickenstrip]

So what should we do with our dying high streets? Should they just become residential areas? Or should they still be some kind of central focus for a town? If so, how and what?
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[Polarbear]

[M.C]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I'm back in my Oxfordshire home town visiting relatives over the holiday period. I was struck by the great number of hairdressers and barbers in town (and also the number of empty shops). I recall saying the same thing to my barber where I live in Herts and asking how they could all survive. His answer; they're there primarily to launder money. He reckoned hand car washes were the same,

[Jewlio Rides Again LLB]

[M.C]

[Polarbear]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[thx1138]

[grr666]

[Sister Sledge]

I have experience with some of those mentions..

I know a woman who's been a hairdresser for years in Sunderland - right next to a very rough Estate. She gets by amazingly well but from the first day I met her (we'd dated) I knew there was far more to her 'business' world. Yes you have the blue rinse customers who bring in regular income but there's also this strange 'bolted on' part to her life - her cover and her real money making things. I've even met the people who make things happen for her - certain taxi drivers. It's all quite sinister and was far too dodgy for my liking.
Everyone has a word or two that they repeat - hers is "I love money me".
I know now that she's connected to some well dodgy shit..

Hand car wash?
One near me is a local lad set up by his dad for him. They're the original sad but rich family - lots of bling toys (shiny quads, jet skis etc but never used - only on show) but no friends.
The sons car wash has only the son as on the payroll. He employs people sent from the dole office - those who work for dole money only because they get experience. In other words - forced to work. The turnover of work experience folk is astounding and there's always 4 or more of them. The son (owner) gets to keep all of the takings and for very little effort.
Might be work experience but businesses like that should be burnt down - they only exist because of free labour.
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CCM 404 DS

[Diggs]

Sister Sledge - what did the woman do? I'm sensing drug dealing, prostitution and dodgy videos....
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[Diggs]

Around my way the hand car-washes only exist because they employ immigrants who survive on below minimum wage plus tips, and because their real purpose is laundering drug money. The Plod know it, HMRC knows it but neither do anything about it because it keeps the situation contained and in clear sight. Put pressure on the car washes and legitimate businesses get visits from local gangsters once more.

It used to be laundrettes, takeaways and ice cream vans because they only dealt in cash...
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Now - Speed Triple, old ratty GS550, GSXR750M
Gone (in order of ownership) - Raleigh Runabout, AP50, KH125, GP125, KH250, CBX550, Z400, CB750FII, 250LC, GS550, ZXR750H1, Guzzi Targa, GSX750F, KH250 x2, Bimota SB6R and counting...

[Jewlio Rides Again LLB]

That's it across the country, I bet. If it's not run using slave labour, it's gangsters themselves, resulting in shootings etc.
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[Sister Sledge]

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2 houses where her "uncles", who are really minicab drivers "organised things", sounds more like a child sex grooming gang.

What nationality were these "uncles", if they're mainly Pakistani, I think you've probably answered your own question.
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[Diggs]

[Sister Sledge]

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