The High Street is open for business. Debenhams has closed. And now we can all go out, we can see that there are plenty of other ‘units’ boarded up. My, there are some very big gaps in town/city centres. Footfall was falling well before the pandemic. It seems unlikely that those big retail units are going to be fully occupied any time soon.

When I was a teen, I’d regularly go to town just for something to do. I’d wander around and browse. Of course, there were plenty of record shops for me to visit but I’d look at clothes, watches, anything really. There were precious few places to eat. Plenty of pie shops but the only hot food available was in a chippy or the top floor of a department store and then strictly at lunchtime. I used to take my own sandwiches.

Now, I don’t browse at all. I go to shops for something specific. Buying clothes online has been hit and miss, so I prefer to go to an actual shop. More than 90% of my music is purchased online (the record shops don’t have what I want any more). I don’t think I’d ever buy jewellery » Continue Reading.