Failure of High Street Retail Shops

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Among the many failed retail stores that closed shop in high street is Comet, an electronics retail chain in the United Kingdom. Comet was founded in the year 1933 and was publicly listed in 1972. It was later purchased by Woolworths, itself owned by Kingfisher. In the year 2003, it was later operated under Kesa Electricals, which would later sell it to OpCapita, a private equity firm, in the year 2011. The company was put under administration in the year 2012 due to the challenges being experienced in high street as well as the impacts of the economic recession at the time. In recent past across the United Kingdom, many prominent retail chains have closed down their business operations at a high rate of more than 30 stores per day, as the economic depression continued. The United Kingdom’s high street went suffering from the declining consumer confidence and spending as a consequence. Some retail outlets have been put under receivership as well as under administration. High-profiled administrations included retail giants such as Woolworths, Comet and Blockbuster. High costs of doing business in the UK further led to the decline and failure of high street businesses. A report released by the British Retail Consortium, states that the overall cost of doing business for retail outlets in high street had risen from £96 billion in 2011 to £116 billion since 2006. Although in some cases lease rentals have remained unchanged or even declined, the government instigated rates rose by 2.8%, adding £175 million to the retailers’ bills overnight (Wood & Inman et al. 2011). Using Retail Change Theories to explain Failure of High Street Many researchers have made efforts to study retail change, based on the assumption that they can gain an... ... middle of paper ... ..., National Academies Press, Washington, DC. Parker, SC 2011, Entrepreneurship in recession, Edward Elgar Pub., Cheltenham, UK. Available from: . [18 March 2014]. The Guardian. 2012. UK retailers in administration: timeline. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/01/uk-retail-collapses-timeline [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014]. Vahie, A &Paswan, A 2006, ‘Private label brand image: its relationship with store image and national brand’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 67-84. Wood, Z, Inman, P & Allen, K 2011,Retailers left reeling as shoppers tighten belts. Available from: . [18 March 2014].

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