How bad is the Christmas crisis on the High St?
This is Money Podcast
This is Money
4.1 • 650 Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2020
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sir Philip Green's Arcadia, the group that contains Topshop and Miss Selfridge, fell first - followed swiftly by Debenhams.
Bonmarché, owned by retail tycoon Philip Day, then also slumped into administration.
So how bad is the crisis on the High Street, if these stores couldn't even make it through the Christmas trading period?
Can traditional bricks and mortar compete against the online giants and upstarts?
Have the likes of Boohoo and Asos, put the fashion High Street online-only and there is no place for the likes of Topshop anymore?
Or is there more that lies behind this story, such as financial engineering, debt, sale and leasebacks, and the lack of wriggle room that leaves when things take a downturn?
On this week's podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert discuss the pre-Christmas High St collapse.
Plus, why you should avoid gift vouchers and cards this year, the art of flipping houses for a profit - and why those after a quick buck should beware - and why it is worth having a pension.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to This Is Money podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and alongside editor Simon Lambert and me today is assistant editor Lee Boyce. |
| 0:07.2 | And this week, retail empires came crashing down as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. |
| 0:13.5 | Stalk the High Street. |
| 0:14.8 | Tens of thousands of jobs are on the line as some of the biggest names in fashion go to the wall. |
| 0:19.9 | Goodmore follow. |
| 0:21.0 | We take a look at the lay at the land and where we're heading, |
| 0:23.4 | while Lee issues a warning to festive shoppers. |
| 0:26.8 | While physical shops may struggle, no such problems online, |
| 0:30.1 | our addiction to the internet reached record levels this weekend. |
| 0:33.9 | Will it ease off now lockdown is over, |
| 0:36.3 | or is this a trend that's here to stay? Plus, today, |
| 0:39.5 | why doing up your house can be a flipping good idea, but only if you get it right, and |
| 0:44.7 | pensions are rubbish, right? Don't forget. Start up to date with all the latest breaking |
| 0:49.7 | money news, just go to this ismoney.co.uk or download the app. But first, a crisis at Christmas. |
| 0:56.9 | Tens of thousands of retail jobs could go following the crash of two retail empires and the |
| 1:02.0 | loss of one of the high street's oldest occupants. As staff were preparing to come back to work |
| 1:07.6 | after lockdown, we got the news first of the collapse of Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group. |
| 1:12.5 | That includes the lights at Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins. |
| 1:16.9 | Then Philip Days Bon Marchet followed after his other chains. |
| 1:20.8 | Edinburgh, Woolen Mill, Peacocks and Pondon home stores also fell into administration last month. |
| 1:26.7 | And in between all of that was the news that a proposed |
| 1:29.8 | rescue deal by JD Sport, the Debenhams had fallen through, leaving the department store to be |
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