Looks Like The End Of Bhs

[youngmafbog]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36123444

So when did you last shop there. It's probably lasted longer than it should.

[mikey4444]

This has been inevitable for some time now.....11,000 jobs at risk !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36123444

[naomi24]

If a company isn't offering what the customer wants, failure is inevitable. I never shop at BHS.

[waterboatman]

It's just been confirmed. Throwing in the towel this morning.

[Baldric]

We last looked in one about 3 maybe 4 years ago, was just nothing in there of interest at all.

[jno]

it was sold to "financiers" for £1 last year. As mikey says, it was pretty much doomed then. They said they'd pour millions into it, but of course didn't.

[david small]

Shame, I liked that shop.

[mikey4444]

jno....it was reported a few months ago that they were trying to get a reduction on their rents that BHS pays on its stores, and that BHS was even thinking of a rent strike unless there was some agreement forthcoming !

The reality is that there are just too many shops these days. My home town of Swansea has the same number of shops in the town centre as it had 30 years ago, but there are now loads more out-of-town retail outlets in competition. Wedded to this is the enormous explosion of supermarket outlets that we never had years ago.

As most of these stores rely heavily on the sale of women's clothing to survive, perhaps there is a limit on the number of clothes that even women need buy !

[piggynose]

thats a shame, i normally buy my boxers + socks when i'm in the uk from them.

[mikey4444]

Piggy...try Tesco !

[youngmafbog]

11,000 jobs at risk, but spread around the country. There are still plenty of jobs in retail so the outlook on that front will be ok for most.

It's the pension situation I feel for.

[UKSWF]

The cost of parking in the town centre doesn't help matters either, my local town (Bury, Lancashire) charges £10 to park if you stay for more than 3 hours, so a mooch around the shops can be a pretty expensive exercise these days.

[mikey4444]

The pension should be guaranteed to some extent by the Governments
Pension Protection Fund

http://www.pensionprotectionfund.org.uk/DocumentLibrary/Documents/what_is_the_ppf.pdf

[youngmafbog]

Thanks Mickey. Just read it.

It's the 'some extent' that is the problem. And that may take some time to sort out as the insolvency and liquidation process grinds away. Worrying time for some I would have though, just at a time of their life when they dont need worry like that.

Apparently not Government funded I see.

[mikey4444]

No, not Government funded exactly ( my mistake there )...It was brought in under the Pensions Act of 2004.

But it is a Statutory Corporation, funded by levies on all eligible defined benefit schemes. At the time this was brought in, I was still in the financial services industry and it was broadly welcomed by everybody concerned, and was the first "guarantee" scheme of its kind. It isn't perfect but it does provide a large amount of protection.

[youngmafbog]

Yes, a lot better than we had before.

[mikey4444]

The only fly in the ointment is that if too many schemes fail due to insolvency, will the PPF be able to cope ? It won't take too many BHS's for the PPF to come under severe strain.