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Post by wirewiper on Dec 1, 2020 13:15:41 GMT
You can say that for most of the shops in Croydon. So degraded - the Whitgift Centre is wholly outdated and outcompeted by alternatives. Haven't been in years and don't plan to anytime soon. Then again, I avoid places like Westfield at all costs now, especially as you spend literally hours on end inside a massive building complex. Makes you go stir crazy.
I do feel for everyone who has been caught up in this mess administered by the greedy uncompassionate owners. A cousin of mine used to work in Debenhams and I know it to be a good, reputable employer... or well it was. The problem in this country especially nowadays is that all towns are mirror images of one another filled up with the same chain stores. Very few places hold redeeming qualities, and that's why I urge everyone reading to go to/ order from more independent businesses. Luckily Durham where I am at the moment is an exception - truly is a breath of fresh air.
The problem is foreign investment has really ruined many great retailers. I used to work for Boots and the moment that Walgreens invested and merged with Boots the culture changed. It went from being all about the staff and customer experience to being about profit. We went from around 200 staff at a Christmas period to around 150 and around 100 the rest of the year when we’d normally have at least 120-130, we were a flagship store so we always had staff filling and working. Just in my department we went from three full time staff covering the whole day to one full timer and one weekend part timer. This was to cover full weekdays and a late night Thursday. Retail is not what it used to be and whilst profitably was always important it was on level with customer and staff happiness, now it’s all about money. I'm fortunate that I have a brilliant, independent family-run department store in a nearby town, which is where I buy most of my clothes and homewares now. They still very much care about the staff, and it shows in the staff attitudes. I now do practically all my shopping at local businesses, including an independent supermarket. True things often cost more (although equally often they don't) but I want quality and service and so i am prepared to pay for it.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Dec 1, 2020 13:22:29 GMT
Quite sad to see Debenhams go, I was working there until a couple of months ago until I ended up being a part of a redundancy programme throughout the Oxford Street store in June. Even prior to that the pandemic store wouldn't be making that much money for a department store sat in Central London. My last ever shift there I remember the whole store didn't even make enough money which was half the amount required for a deposit for a house which is really sad. Even that day when I left little did I know that it would be the last time I would work a shift there again, lockdown was placed that following week and then the last week of May I got that fateful phonecall with loads of other staff, everyone muted and unable to say anything as they read out our notice of redundancy. Looking online today that's exactly what's happened again this morning, but to all the staff who were left over - I dread to think how they'd have all felt, especially at a time when stores are folding left, right and centre and many of them had nothing but retail experience to go off to find a new job. Some people I'd known at the Oxford Street store had worked there for well over 25 years. 725DYE I wouldn't go so far as to call them a reputable employer, they were really quick to throw employees under the bus when required. Being the same store as head office we'd always see them coming down and telling us how to do our job when they'd never worked in retail before, or hadn't worked there for years prior. I saw many dismissed for stuff they really shouldn't have been dismissed for because head office felt the need to poke their nose into something which really shouldn't have made it past the line manager. They'd always have "great ideas" with the latest fashion and food which was probably already thought of 20 years ago and now they wonder why nobody has saved the failing company. Not to mention the method we were finally dismissed in was a totally awful decision from management, couldn't speak to each other or even see everyone's faces one last time. Just muted and read out a very impersonal message. Never got to see my lovely colleagues again. I still wonder how they're doing now. It's curtains now, it's the floor staff that I feel sorry for. I was lucky enough that when I was made redundant that I had another job keeping me going which was unaffected by the pandemic. However many people there don't, they'll now be left to fend for themselves on Universal Credit which is abysmal in how much money is given to people to survive off. It really should be increased for the next few months while people find their feet again. I will always remember Debenhams for being my first job and my first ever experience of finally getting my first paycheque, opening my first payslip in the canteen and always seeing the jokes that'd be traded among staff. The atmosphere when they reopen tomorrow to sell off all the stock will be sad and I wouldn't be surprised to see staff not even bothering to turn up now.
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Post by TB123 on Dec 1, 2020 15:48:53 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Dec 1, 2020 16:06:18 GMT
Oxford Bus Company is scaling its Airline coach services back again from tomorrow (Sunday 8th November), with just eight return journeys daily between Oxford and Heathrow Airport and no service to and from Gatwick Airport. BrookesBus service is also being amended from the same date, with route U6 withdrawn and the duplicate journeys on route U5 no longer operating as they are no longer required for social-distancing. All other services are planned to operate as usual during the new period of restrictions. Oxford Bus Company's The Airline reverted to its pre-lockdown timetable from Sunday 29th November, with an hourly service between Oxford and Heathrow Airport and a separate two-hourly service between Oxford and Gatwick Airport. Extra journeys may be operated if there is expected to be high demand from students travelling. Oxford Tube increases from Monday 7th December and will operate to a 20-minute frequency at most times (it is currently half-hourly with a few extra journeys at weekends). Overnight journeys and a handful of peak-time Baker Street journeys will be reinstated.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2020 20:06:33 GMT
Quite sad to see Debenhams go, I was working there until a couple of months ago until I ended up being a part of a redundancy programme throughout the Oxford Street store in June. Even prior to that the pandemic store wouldn't be making that much money for a department store sat in Central London. My last ever shift there I remember the whole store didn't even make enough money which was half the amount required for a deposit for a house which is really sad. Even that day when I left little did I know that it would be the last time I would work a shift there again, lockdown was placed that following week and then the last week of May I got that fateful phonecall with loads of other staff, everyone muted and unable to say anything as they read out our notice of redundancy. Looking online today that's exactly what's happened again this morning, but to all the staff who were left over - I dread to think how they'd have all felt, especially at a time when stores are folding left, right and centre and many of them had nothing but retail experience to go off to find a new job. Some people I'd known at the Oxford Street store had worked there for well over 25 years. 725DYE I wouldn't go so far as to call them a reputable employer, they were really quick to throw employees under the bus when required. Being the same store as head office we'd always see them coming down and telling us how to do our job when they'd never worked in retail before, or hadn't worked there for years prior. I saw many dismissed for stuff they really shouldn't have been dismissed for because head office felt the need to poke their nose into something which really shouldn't have made it past the line manager. They'd always have "great ideas" with the latest fashion and food which was probably already thought of 20 years ago and now they wonder why nobody has saved the failing company. Not to mention the method we were finally dismissed in was a totally awful decision from management, couldn't speak to each other or even see everyone's faces one last time. Just muted and read out a very impersonal message. Never got to see my lovely colleagues again. I still wonder how they're doing now. It's curtains now, it's the floor staff that I feel sorry for. I was lucky enough that when I was made redundant that I had another job keeping me going which was unaffected by the pandemic. However many people there don't, they'll now be left to fend for themselves on Universal Credit which is abysmal in how much money is given to people to survive off. It really should be increased for the next few months while people find their feet again. I will always remember Debenhams for being my first job and my first ever experience of finally getting my first paycheque, opening my first payslip in the canteen and always seeing the jokes that'd be traded among staff. The atmosphere when they reopen tomorrow to sell off all the stock will be sad and I wouldn't be surprised to see staff not even bothering to turn up now. One downfall with Debenhams in recent years was the constant pushing of store cards at tills - a few weeks before lockdown I was kept waiting around 10 minutes whilst two staff members signed up customers, I assume management pushed them to sign up as many customers as possible and sales staff probably got a tiny commission. Another minor nag was constant pressure for email addresses for receipts but this is not just Debenhams doing this.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Dec 1, 2020 22:41:39 GMT
Quite sad to see Debenhams go, I was working there until a couple of months ago until I ended up being a part of a redundancy programme throughout the Oxford Street store in June. Even prior to that the pandemic store wouldn't be making that much money for a department store sat in Central London. My last ever shift there I remember the whole store didn't even make enough money which was half the amount required for a deposit for a house which is really sad. Even that day when I left little did I know that it would be the last time I would work a shift there again, lockdown was placed that following week and then the last week of May I got that fateful phonecall with loads of other staff, everyone muted and unable to say anything as they read out our notice of redundancy. Looking online today that's exactly what's happened again this morning, but to all the staff who were left over - I dread to think how they'd have all felt, especially at a time when stores are folding left, right and centre and many of them had nothing but retail experience to go off to find a new job. Some people I'd known at the Oxford Street store had worked there for well over 25 years. 725DYE I wouldn't go so far as to call them a reputable employer, they were really quick to throw employees under the bus when required. Being the same store as head office we'd always see them coming down and telling us how to do our job when they'd never worked in retail before, or hadn't worked there for years prior. I saw many dismissed for stuff they really shouldn't have been dismissed for because head office felt the need to poke their nose into something which really shouldn't have made it past the line manager. They'd always have "great ideas" with the latest fashion and food which was probably already thought of 20 years ago and now they wonder why nobody has saved the failing company. Not to mention the method we were finally dismissed in was a totally awful decision from management, couldn't speak to each other or even see everyone's faces one last time. Just muted and read out a very impersonal message. Never got to see my lovely colleagues again. I still wonder how they're doing now. It's curtains now, it's the floor staff that I feel sorry for. I was lucky enough that when I was made redundant that I had another job keeping me going which was unaffected by the pandemic. However many people there don't, they'll now be left to fend for themselves on Universal Credit which is abysmal in how much money is given to people to survive off. It really should be increased for the next few months while people find their feet again. I will always remember Debenhams for being my first job and my first ever experience of finally getting my first paycheque, opening my first payslip in the canteen and always seeing the jokes that'd be traded among staff. The atmosphere when they reopen tomorrow to sell off all the stock will be sad and I wouldn't be surprised to see staff not even bothering to turn up now. One downfall with Debenhams in recent years was the constant pushing of store cards at tills - a few weeks before lockdown I was kept waiting around 10 minutes whilst two staff members signed up customers, I assume management pushed them to sign up as many customers as possible and sales staff probably got a tiny commission. Another minor nag was constant pressure for email addresses for receipts but this is not just Debenhams doing this. Couldn't agree more with this, We were often told to stay within our departments and thankfully mine was quite good with getting rid of queues and I was quite fast on the till and I didn't bother with the cards and loyalty cards when the crowds were far too much and thankfully my manager wasn't either when it was extremely busy, however some managers were really uptight about it, bringing employees into disciplinary when they repeatedly didn't ask customers about cards (goes back to my happy to throw employees under the bus comment). Employees got a pound for everyone signed up to a card, however don't even start me on dealing with their credit cards. Whenever someone presented with one it'd just ruin my mood because of how cumbersome most of them are to process. The reason for e-mail receipts is simple, while you happily get the e-mail and the consumer thinks they now have a version they'll never lose the company gets the far better deal in the form of an email they can use for marketing.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Dec 1, 2020 22:42:27 GMT
The difference between the 149 and 120 is hilarious. No surprise to see the 5 up there for the crowded announcement but the 336 is certainly a surprise. Seems to be an example where the single decker capacity hasn't adequately matched to demand.
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Post by greenboy on Dec 1, 2020 23:00:55 GMT
I assume the 336 is regarding school time loadings? You've little chance of getting on one in Bromley in the afternoon towards Catford but I've not noticed any excessive overcrowding at other times. No great surprise about the 149.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Dec 1, 2020 23:58:13 GMT
Arguable as to whether it's linked to the Pandemic or not, but Arcadia has collapsed into Administration tonight, as a result JD is expected to pull out of Debenhams rescue talks tomorrow meaning that Debenhams will be in extremely high risk of liquidating. Could be a very big bloodbath of a Christmas season. If these shops close and Debenhams close it will leave a massive gap on the high street. I hate buying clothes online, you can't see the size and fit and have no idea about the quality. The worrying thing is within 5 or so years pretty much everything will be online and you won't be able to buy anything same day. Once the high street is lost online companies will ramp up delivery charges and start charging for returns courier companies make hardly anymore delivering now. They were talking about it on LBC this evening and a lot of the blame for declining High Streets have been laid at Landlords with rents and also councils with rents and rates.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Dec 2, 2020 0:06:18 GMT
Debenhams was already in administration, this is now liquidation. Sad as I like buying their clothing for work, I’ll have to find somewhere new. I prefer buying online, I hate the pressure of high street shopping. Yes I can certainly relate to your point about the pressure of High Street shopping and that's why out of town places like Bluewater are so popular, no parking problems, no beggars and chuggers to contend with, all under cover and generally a far more relaxed environment in which to shop. Like you I do most of my shopping online now, I feel for the staff but department stores really are outdated now, my ex wife worked at Debenhams in Croydon many years ago and there was Allders and Grants as well back then, different era. That is one of the reasons many High Streets do not see me anymore, I used to shop at them, but too many factors turn me off. Parking problems, expensive and unsafe car parks, open to the elements in the High St, lack of security, artificial traffic created by councils i.e. Walthamstow which would make it take ages to get to. I guess Debenhams would end up like many other casualties in the 2000's, Mothercare, BHS, Woolworths etc.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Dec 2, 2020 0:19:42 GMT
Quite sad to see Debenhams go, I was working there until a couple of months ago until I ended up being a part of a redundancy programme throughout the Oxford Street store in June. Even prior to that the pandemic store wouldn't be making that much money for a department store sat in Central London. My last ever shift there I remember the whole store didn't even make enough money which was half the amount required for a deposit for a house which is really sad. Even that day when I left little did I know that it would be the last time I would work a shift there again, lockdown was placed that following week and then the last week of May I got that fateful phonecall with loads of other staff, everyone muted and unable to say anything as they read out our notice of redundancy. Looking online today that's exactly what's happened again this morning, but to all the staff who were left over - I dread to think how they'd have all felt, especially at a time when stores are folding left, right and centre and many of them had nothing but retail experience to go off to find a new job. Some people I'd known at the Oxford Street store had worked there for well over 25 years. 725DYE I wouldn't go so far as to call them a reputable employer, they were really quick to throw employees under the bus when required. Being the same store as head office we'd always see them coming down and telling us how to do our job when they'd never worked in retail before, or hadn't worked there for years prior. I saw many dismissed for stuff they really shouldn't have been dismissed for because head office felt the need to poke their nose into something which really shouldn't have made it past the line manager. They'd always have "great ideas" with the latest fashion and food which was probably already thought of 20 years ago and now they wonder why nobody has saved the failing company. Not to mention the method we were finally dismissed in was a totally awful decision from management, couldn't speak to each other or even see everyone's faces one last time. Just muted and read out a very impersonal message. Never got to see my lovely colleagues again. I still wonder how they're doing now. It's curtains now, it's the floor staff that I feel sorry for. I was lucky enough that when I was made redundant that I had another job keeping me going which was unaffected by the pandemic. However many people there don't, they'll now be left to fend for themselves on Universal Credit which is abysmal in how much money is given to people to survive off. It really should be increased for the next few months while people find their feet again. I will always remember Debenhams for being my first job and my first ever experience of finally getting my first paycheque, opening my first payslip in the canteen and always seeing the jokes that'd be traded among staff. The atmosphere when they reopen tomorrow to sell off all the stock will be sad and I wouldn't be surprised to see staff not even bothering to turn up now. The muting over the phone when reading out a redundancy message is an all time low, heartless
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Post by capitalomnibus on Dec 2, 2020 0:28:01 GMT
One downfall with Debenhams in recent years was the constant pushing of store cards at tills - a few weeks before lockdown I was kept waiting around 10 minutes whilst two staff members signed up customers, I assume management pushed them to sign up as many customers as possible and sales staff probably got a tiny commission. Another minor nag was constant pressure for email addresses for receipts but this is not just Debenhams doing this. Couldn't agree more with this, We were often told to stay within our departments and thankfully mine was quite good with getting rid of queues and I was quite fast on the till and I didn't bother with the cards and loyalty cards when the crowds were far too much and thankfully my manager wasn't either when it was extremely busy, however some managers were really uptight about it, bringing employees into disciplinary when they repeatedly didn't ask customers about cards (goes back to my happy to throw employees under the bus comment). Employees got a pound for everyone signed up to a card, however don't even start me on dealing with their credit cards. Whenever someone presented with one it'd just ruin my mood because of how cumbersome most of them are to process. The reason for e-mail receipts is simple, while you happily get the e-mail and the consumer thinks they now have a version they'll never lose the company gets the far better deal in the form of an email they can use for marketing. One of the reasons I never give my email for receipt, it is obvious they would bombard you with junk mail and give it to other companies.
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Post by vjaska on Dec 2, 2020 0:57:37 GMT
Yes I can certainly relate to your point about the pressure of High Street shopping and that's why out of town places like Bluewater are so popular, no parking problems, no beggars and chuggers to contend with, all under cover and generally a far more relaxed environment in which to shop. Like you I do most of my shopping online now, I feel for the staff but department stores really are outdated now, my ex wife worked at Debenhams in Croydon many years ago and there was Allders and Grants as well back then, different era. That is one of the reasons many High Streets do not see me anymore, I used to shop at them, but too many factors turn me off. Parking problems, expensive and unsafe car parks, open to the elements in the High St, lack of security, artificial traffic created by councils i.e. Walthamstow which would make it take ages to get to. I guess Debenhams would end up like many other casualties in the 2000's, Mothercare, BHS, Woolworths etc. I can only presume every town centre is different as Brixton's town centre is still coping well - parking has always been awful, the one multi storey car park we had was demolished and for good reason as the council failed to maintain it and allowed it to become a crime haven, we have our own traffic problems and it's as open as any high street is to the elements yet it has largely been unaffected. What primarily helps Brixton is it's in an area with low car ownership and excellent access to buses, tubes and even the much ignored railway line. It also has a bustling market - not as busy as years gone by but busy enough to survive quite easily and pre Covid, also had a Sunday Farmers market as well whilst the amount of shop closures has been minimal and shops that few people would really use.
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Post by galwhv69 on Dec 2, 2020 7:55:34 GMT
Why has the 639/670 been retimed to run like 20 minutes earlier in the AM? Literally only 3-4 passengers on each bus
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Post by LondonNorthern on Dec 2, 2020 15:59:51 GMT
The high street decline has always been a thing, but it's mainly down to a greedy government. High parking fees, high tax rates, pedestrianisation making it harder to get to said town centre, as capitalomnibus said artificial traffic jams, not a level enough market to accommodate all businesses (Amazon taking over), London cycling groups envisioning to be Holland (aka Sadiq khan trying to impress only remaining voters) and lack of investment in public transport. It really makes me feel sad for everyone who was made redundant. Hopefully things should change with the vaccination program and that once that is over hopefully normality will return. This Pandemic has really shown how bad both sides of politics are. The conservative party, the party of business have driven this country to the ground, I think we should've lockdowned earlier because at least we could control it before it got severe and where we then start to understand it and we could've then reopened earlier and even with how we dealt with it we didn't need a second lockdown, and then we have the Labour party in London who despite standing for the working class, have (not just now but even years prior) been less fixated on the working class and instead focused on the richer and upper class and this was especially apparent where those who ended up suffering with the LTNs were the tradespeople, the cabbies, the local businesses, the bus drivers, the high streets, the ambulance drivers and most importantly, the delivery drivers. As well as this they accepted back Corbyn of whom really let the party down with his anti semitic comments. And then even with Keir Starmer, he was putting too much pressure on the government and seemingly everytime they did something he'd always try pressuring them, particularly when they started reopening Britain.
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