>>They've been under attach for 40 years. Council reducing and charging for carparking drove them to out of town stores which though nobody ever really liked the parking availability destroyed the town centre stores.
I certainly agree that LA's helped destroy town centres. Tesco built an empire on flat free parking.
Department stores as such go back a long time and seemed to coexist with specialist shops.
My first proper job was in Bradford which supported Brown Muff and Busby's. The Co-operative Emporium (Sunwin House) should probably be included too.
In my adult life John Lewis figured large for a while - in Milton Keynes, Cole Bros in Sheffield, Trewin's in Watford.
As the out of town investments grew and competition increased I suppose they had to spread their nets wider and wider, smaller fish gradually gave up the fight, and when the internet shark arrived something had to give. COVID has probably just brought forward the inevitable.
There was a period when the little shops had mostly gone and before the internet arrived. Minority pastimes suffered near-extinction and anybody after e.g. radio components or niche hobby supplies was probably having to scour obscure magazines or Exchange & Mart as I did.
The only certainty is that nothing stays the same.
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