Author Topic: Rackhams  (Read 9547 times)

Spud

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Rackhams
« on: June 18, 2018, 05:46:44 PM »
I am led to understand that Rackhams [House of Fraser] in Corporation St is to close and probably the HOF in Solihull to follow
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Phil

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2018, 05:53:04 PM »
Spud


It seems that people are no longer prepared to pay that extra few bob for quality. I've always found that whatever I purchased at any of these stores always was better made and outlasted similar goods purchased elsewhere.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

vamann

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2018, 06:45:18 PM »
One of the main problems with these large stores is on line sales.  Most of these major stores are in town and city centres where business rates are considerable compared to on line stores who's stock is often stored and handled from industrial sites.  Most of these stores also have their own on line sales where you can buy the exact same goods often at lower prices, bit like cutting your nose off etc.

Scipio

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2018, 09:58:28 PM »
One of the main problems with these large stores is on line sales.  Most of these major stores are in town and city centres where business rates are considerable compared to on line stores who's stock is often stored and handled from industrial sites.  Most of these stores also have their own on line sales where you can buy the exact same goods often at lower prices, bit like cutting your nose off etc.



Vamann I couldn't have put it better myself , W H Smith prime example , my son went into one of their stores looking for a book . Shop price £14.00 , Smiths online price £8.00 , talk about fighting yourself . If they are all doing this no wonder the high st shops don't stand a chance 
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Scipio

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2018, 10:17:37 PM »

Vamann I couldn't have put it better myself , W H Smith prime example , my son went into one of their stores looking for a book . Shop price £14.00 , Smiths online price £8.00 , talk about fighting yourself . If they are all doing this no wonder the high st shops don't stand a chance



I forgot to mention Beatty's of Wolverhampton is part of HOF that's also closing , hard to believe it's been there since about 1927 . It's been part of HOF since 2006 or thereabouts, are these conglomerates the kiss of death to their own acquisitions ?
If voting made any difference , they wouldn't let us do it.
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countrylad

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2018, 11:05:52 PM »
Agreed, on-line shopping and sales has had an impact on the high street. But I do think the lack of customer service has played a part. A fear larger shops I've been into the staff seem more interested in their mobile phones or chatting than assisting the customers. There are times when I've felt I needed to apologise for bothering the assistant....
countrylad

Phil

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2018, 11:23:03 PM »
Countrylad


I don't know what shops you use, but whenever I walk into my local House of Fraser I'm hardly inside the door before I am asked by at least two or three assistants if they "can be of assistance". I also think that if they were so silly as to bring a telephone on the shop floor and use it, I think it would mean instant dismissal.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

frederick

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2018, 10:45:38 AM »
No Rackhams down here where I live. But I still have a set of occasional tables and a sofa table bought from Rackhams Birmingham, I also have a pair of shoes bought from them but bought over the Internet. It is the good and bad of the internet that is partly to blame.
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Spud

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2018, 11:54:01 AM »
As well as 'Rackhams' I believe that there is another very well known City Centre Store under review they are waiting to see what develops once the new Primark Store opens which is planned for Christmas Time this year. This date seems highly unlikely it seems that Primark may have taken on much more than they imagined and had to strip the original building back to steelwork. I understand that we are talking something in the order £77 million to bring the building up to stratch
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

Phil

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2018, 01:09:20 PM »
Why anyone shops at Primark is beyond me, I only ever had one shirt from there once. I admit that in the box it looked the business. I wore it once and after it was washed it would have just about fitted my seven year old grandson at the time.


Yes I used to shop at the cheaper end of the market when I was younger, M & J's on Ladypool Road and Nelson House in town and even Henry's department store, but at least their clothes would wash half a dozen times before they became like a piece of rag.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: Rackhams
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2018, 01:28:14 PM »
I've mentioned about this in another thread, but according to someone in management that I saw on the news one of the main reasons the store in Town is to close is the rental costs for the building.  I guess there isn't much foot traffic for it now either with most shoppers heading to the Bull Ring so profit margins are slim, if not non-existant. 

The Solihull store was not on the list of pending closures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44394948
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