Peter Cronin wonders if the high street is killing itself?

I recently went shopping in the premier shopping streets of Newcastle . Unfortunately they can’t look as welcoming as they used to but security is more important than ambiance. Seriously though, when you tell people to walk on the right when our roads are drive on the left it is no wonder that more people walk on the wrong side of the pavement in Newcastle than those who follow the rules.

So , having walked in to town because the parking is a nightmare , intentionally so, cars are not flavour of the month in the North East shopping streets. I then take the challenge of the shops. Obvs I want something in the sale and I went into a high end shop where the assistants had just started work but knew how to use their walkie talkies and headsets, definitely too cool for school and bemused by the old guy.

Initially they tried to sell me things that were not in the sale , I mean , who goes shopping in the January sales to buy stuff at full price. I did manage to get shown the shabby sale stock . When I say shabby , it was not cheap but not the sort of things that I could wear to work . Then I told them what I actually wanted to buy in the sale. O that will never be discounted was the response. Strange that I bought the exact similar item in their sale last year. Word had got around that I was in the shop because there was now a queue to get in as I left.

So what to do? I went to one of the premier stores in Newcastle to see if I could buy my item there. No discounts whatsoever on the brand that I wanted. I went home empty handed and went online. Guess what, the store that did not discount the brand that I wanted was giving 35% off and free delivery so the order was placed.I then received an email saying that the courier would deliver to my house, a neighbour , a local shop or an alternative address, but not the store that I was buying it from .Everything went to plan , imagine my delight when the goods had been sent from an address , guess where ? Northumberland Street.

So apart from the usual response in a store to the goods being unavailable in your size , we can order it on the internet for you . Why would I ? If I am going to buy from the internet I will get it for the. best price , not your particular shop.

I think that if you have got this far you will see the way the high street is going and a lot of it is self inflicted. Not good in my opinion as social interactions are rapidly reducing with the mental impacts this has. I am not just talking about the shopper experience, the shopkeepers turn into parcel packers rather than advising people on their purchases. We all make choices in life and this is one of them. We will all have to deal with the consequences.