The Joy of CEX (and other brick 'n' mortar establishments) - The Bear and Badger

LivDiv

Bedford town centre is for the most part a shithole but the actual High St is ok and one of the arcades.
The council try but the town has serious poverty issues with everything that goes with that.

Wookienopants

Yea it's not great. Also not a fun place to drive through

hylian_elf

Wookienopants wrote:

Hello Elf, you're just 15 minutes from where I am right now. I'm waving

lol really?

Wookienopants

hylian_elf wrote:

Wookienopants wrote:

Hello Elf, you're just 15 minutes from where I am right now. I'm waving

lol really?

Well, give or take yea. I'm a little south, just the other side of Shefford

hylian_elf

Oh. So not a 15 minutes walk away then.

Wookienopants

Depends on how fast you walk

LivDiv

Thats Wilkos gone.
12500 jobs with it, poor sods.

Nothing to do with the workers of course but my impression was that it had struggled since the pandemic. Im not a regular but every time I had been in one since then the shelves looked pretty empty. Often no staff on the tills and the self serve all closed, had to stand there like a lemon waiting for someone to help, that will inevitably lead to abandoned sales. Awful way to run a business, the hardest part is getting someone in the shop in the first place, then to not have the product they went in for or have them unable to pay for it. Throwing away the hard, expensive work at the final hurdle. Again not the staff's fault at all.

Dark Soldier

Yeah we had a local one and the past month or two its been barren. Clearly dying, low amount of produce around, staff who clearly had the inside track not really bothered (understandably). One person max on tills etc.

Tempy

Having a Wilkos was handy for all sorts of things, just random DIY and garden stuff that I could walk into store and pick up during lunch, without needing a car. Back to Amazon it is.

Diluted Dante

I don't think there is really an equivalent for it. Like Tempy say, back to Amazon I guess.

Wookienopants

What a shame, used to love Wilko, so handy for random garden bits and DIY kit.

Scout

It's true. So handy for so many things. It was almost a bit like a pound shop in that you could get pretty much anything there. Except it wasn't cheap shite (but not pricey either).

LivDiv

Yeah agreed.
Next closest thing is maybe The Range who will probably adopt some of the vacant stores and hopefully some staff.

There was interest from various buyers but I don't think a deal was workable but that doesn't mean certain individual sites aren't viable.

There is a space in the market for this type of store, Wilkos was doing well for a good amount of time after picking up the Woolworths slack and trimming down the selection to what sold. Home Bargains, Poundland and BnM are rivals but don't really offer the same thing

afgavinstan

Lolled at hmv guy thinking about it. Dunno how viable having more glorified anime & kpop merch stores can be.

Saddens me what my former wage teet has become.

EvilRedEye

afgavinstan wrote:

Lolled at hmv guy thinking about it. Dunno how viable having more glorified anime & kpop merch stores can be.

Saddens me what my former wage teet has become.

Counterpoint - you can buy a l’il model of Kirby after he’s eaten the car for five pounds. The perfect store?!

ZMM

Makes me sick seeing all the Amazon vans on the road now. Amazon is going to have a total monopoly, soon enough, and will be able to charge whatever the hell it wants for anything.

ZMM

Wookienopants wrote:

What a shame, used to love Wilko, so handy for random garden bits and DIY kit.

Yep, I've been going there a lot recently for various things like gardening gloves, bird food, plant food, some really good quality kitchen knives I got there, even stuff like toothpaste was good value there.

Armitage_Shankburn

afgavinstan wrote:

Lolled at hmv guy thinking about it. Dunno how viable having more glorified anime & kpop merch stores can be.

Saddens me what my former wage teet has become.

I still call it hmgav when I say to my lass "let's go hmgav, love", which is never

afgavinstan

Hah! I do still have that sign I got in forum secret santa on display in my flat.

LivDiv

There is still space for non-Amazon retail but they need to offer what Amazon cant.

I think Wilko actually had that for the most part but Brexit fucked their supply chains. The pandemic was harder on high streets as well and as far as I am aware Wilko had a higher ratio of high st stores vs out of town centres than their rivals.
I could see The Range or Dunelhm (spits) opening cut range stores in old Wilko locations "The Range Home and Garden" type thing.

High streets have serious problems though. The cost of living crisis, stresses on council budgets, cut infrastructure. Its making a lot of them no go areas for people who don't want to deal with homelessness, drugs, drunks, violence etc. The footfall drivers like department stores are all but gone, just John Lewis hanging on.
Its also getting harder to get into and out of them. Its all a faff that people wont bother with if they can go online or to an out of town place.

davyK

Both GAME and HMV are purveyors of tat now. The Funky head section in Belfast HMV is sizable. Lots of board games in GAME now too. GAME has pretty much given up on being a videogame shop now as far as I can see.

Never had Wilkos here. Have a large B&Q nearby which I still use from time to time; particularly if it's a use-that-day requirement. Have a Range and B&M close by too.

LivDiv

Being tat merchants will be the only reason they are still about.

Dark Soldier

Never underestimate a neckbeard's desire for shitty funkopops

EvilRedEye

HMV is like my ideal store now, I can buy a boutique Blu-ray of a critically reviled 1980s movie, a l’il Kirby toy and a Japanese snacc to eat while I not-enjoy the film, what could be better?

afgavinstan

Tbh I really need to get back on some physical purchases. Love a wee browse.

Diluted Dante

Yeah, digital Funko's just aren't the same

davyK

LivDiv wrote:

Being tat merchants will be the only reason they are still about.

Quite. And even that reason is shaky ground.

My local HMV is quite a good vinyl shop though, and it stocks Criterion Blurays at decent prices.

Time_on_my_hands

I've two Wilko's near me. One was on a parade of shops that included a Next, Argos, Pets at Home and a couple of other stores. In the last 4 years everything went except the pet shop. Sign of the times was Argos being gobbled up by Sainsbury's - say what you like, but an Argos was a big draw and then people looked in the other places.

Will miss Wilko's - good value for household items and pet/ garden stuff. Bought loads of picture frames because they sold a style I couldn't find anywhere else.

HMV isn't what I remember, by my daughter loves the place - but she likes gimmicky tat and browsing vinyl. No idea how sustainable the business is, though.

davyK

Belfast HMV is over 3 floors - ground has tat, a 2 paperbacks for £7 section of a good size. t-shirts, funko, anime, graphic novels, headphones/earbuds, DVDs and BluRays (used to be top floor for film/TV alone). 1st floor is music with a good sized vinyl area.

Top floor has been closed off for some time now - might just be for storage now, but it was a great film/tv section before it merged with the ground floor. All the floors are well sized and organised pretty well I have to say.

GAME is an utterly depressing experience now. I actually prefer CEX to it which is going some. I actually only go into GAME to see if any retro game themed tat has been reduced to impulse level prices.

EvilRedEye

davyK wrote:

GAME is an utterly depressing experience now. I actually prefer CEX to it which is going some. I actually only go into GAME to see if any retro game themed tat has been reduced to impulse level prices.

Same, at least with CeX you can have a browse at whatever super-rare retro things they’re selling for £300 even though it’s rare I actually buy anything.

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