High Street

Over the last couple of weeks (probably longer, but I’ve noticed this to think about only in the last fortnight or so – so there!) I’ve noticed a bundle of stories about how major “high street” stores are yet again burbling on that sales are down in the high street, that people are buying less, we’re heading for a recession, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, it’s made me do some thinking. Not a common occurrence, admittedly – but hey, it still happens on occasion.

So – OK, sales in “the high street” may be down – but do reports like this take into account the number of people who now prefer to buy things online, rather than queueing in the shops behind a bunch of people for whom the description “thicker than pig-shit” would be a step up? I know I do this – in fact there’s very little that’s “easier” to buy in a shop than it is using (archaic expression alert) e-commerce. Books and music? That’ll be Amazon then. (Or Play.com, but more often Amazon) Getting photos printed etc.? Photobox ahoy. OK, clothes are easier to buy in a shop, but I’ve even been doing more of that kind of shopping on-line too.

So – is it a looming recession? Or is it more that the market assessors and so on actually still rely on a source of information that’s outmoded as more people go for the simpler option?