The Death of the High Street only has itself to blame

I hear a lot of people bemoaning the "death of the High Street" and saying what a shame it is but personally I have always believed it only has itself to blame.

For me, it started in the early 2000s when my local Debenhams, Next, Dorothy Perkins and Topshop stores vastly reduced and ultimately stopped selling a petite range.

Being under 5ft tall, with a 26" inside leg, I couldn't buy trousers, jeans or leggings anywhere else at that time. When I enquired if they had a particular item in a petite length, I was shown the Next catalogue, for which I was told I would have to pay £3.50 (see below) and they could "order it in". It was much the same at the other shops, where I was told to either visit one of their larger stores or "go online" and order from there.

Next Catalogue 2003. Credit: eBay.co.uk 1 February 2026

This somewhat obviously resulted in me shopping for all my clothes online, as I didn't see why I should have to pay £3.50 more to buy something smaller than someone of average height. I also objected to paying a delivery charge to have something sent to me that everyone else could just buy in-store. Yes, I could have collected the goods from the shop for free, but I didn't (and still don't) drive, so the cost of a return bus fare into town, to make a 2nd trip to a store that refused to stock my size, didn't appeal to me either; hence I ended up discovering retailers that didn't even have shops on my local High Street, like M & Co, which had a great petite range online and (at the time) a comparatively low threshold for free delivery.

This proved to be the thin end of a very large wedge. Like a lot of people, I soon ended up buying everything online. I inevitably became an Amazon Prime subscriber, following its launch in the UK in 2007 and unlike all other retailers at that time where, the more you bought, the more you paid in delivery fees, the subscription model meant that, the more you ordered, the cheaper each delivery became. This was a stroke of genius by Amazon and drove unprecedented levels of brand loyalty from their customers. After all, why would you buy something somewhere else and pay upwards of £3 to have it delivered in 3-5 working days, when you could pay £79 per year and get it the next day? You only had to order something every 2 weeks for it to pay for itself and thanks to the sheer range of products stocked by Amazon, that wasn't difficult and we ended up buying something we needed probably once or twice a week!

Around the same time, I started a 3-hour round-trip commute to work, meaning I was out of the house from 7am-7pm every weekday and only had the weekends to visit the High Street, even if I wanted to. This was why I ultimately ended up doing all my Christmas shopping online as well. Even today, the shops at weekends around Christmas are still horrifically busy and who wants to travel into town in the typical wet and windy British winter weather, struggle to catch a bus or find a parking space, only to join long queues or find they didn't have what you went for and then have to lug any shopping you did manage to get back home? Compared with the ease of shopping from your mobile phone on your sofa, in your lunch hour, on your commute, in bed, or indeed anywhere, 24/7, according to your convenience, it's an absolute no brainer.

Which brings me on to the inspiration for this blog post. I did indeed make the mistake of visiting an "IRL" bricks and mortar store for a piece of jewellery, on a rare weekday off, in the run-up to Christmas last year. The reason was purely sentimental in that the jewellers had helped my Husband design my bespoke engagement ring many years ago, so we had always made a point of going back there for Christmas and Birthday presents ever since. Unfortunately, on this occasion, they didn't have the chain I wanted in stock and the assistant uttered the dreaded phrase that they could "order it in" and we could collect it after Christmas. While this wasn't ideal, we remained loyal to the brand and agreed, thinking it wouldn't be that much effort to return in the New Year.

How wrong I was! After Christmas, I went back to work full time, only leaving Saturdays to visit the shop, which it turns out is only open 10 am - 5:30 pm Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays. My Husband, quite understandably, doesn't like driving into and parking in said city, which is still extremely busy, on a Saturday and a trip via public transport would me take over an hour each way and involve a taxi or bus and a train, followed by a 15 minute walk and cost between £10-£15. No thanks.

Stupidly, we paid in advance for our purchase and were advised at the time that secure, recorded delivery would probably cost more than the item itself! So I am now stuck without the chain for which my Husband paid over a month ago and I keep getting "helpful" reminder emails from the store, asking me when would be convenient to pop back in!

As is the case with many shops and "services", with the exception of those that do shift work, or get a day off during the week, they are only open when people that work (and can therefore afford to shop there) are working! Primary carers with young children don't want the hassle of taking their kids shopping and the unemployed can't afford to shop in the majority of "High Street" stores.

The archaic Sunday Trading Laws and ever increasing cost of employment in the UK don't help, as Sunday shopping is crammed into a 6 hour window from 10 am - 4 pm or 11 am - 5 pm, meaning it isn't worth most small traders opening at all and the larger retailers only sell what can easily be purchased online anyway! Yes, I hear you cry, shop workers deserve a day off too, which is absolutely right, but those that work weekends typically get a day off in lieu during the week anyway, so why shouldn't they work on Sundays and enjoy an extra day off during the week when everyone else is at work? It's not like the majority of the working population in the UK goes to Church anymore and there are existing laws in place to protect the employment rights of those that do, so what's the problem?

Given all of the above, though, it's hardly any wonder that all that's left in most towns now are charity shops, cafes, barbers and Poundland stores that are typically frequented by pensioners and those not in full-time paid employment. Everyone else has moved with the times and gone online!

Ok, that's my rant over for today. Thank you for reading!