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I don't think our high streets have a future anymore, we're probably going to be witnesses to the final three or four generations of people who will be able to use high streets. Out-of-town megastores and the Internet are both gradually gnawing away at the high street. I think the Woolworth website is a good symptom/victim/example (call it what you will) of this.
CDs are rapidly vanishing from shops (has anyone seen the CD department in HMV lately? Or what's left of it) as more people download MP3 music. Home delivery networks from supermarkets are rapidly growing as more and more order their weekly shopping online (and what a blessing that service is). Book stores, DIY stores, clothes shops, and movie sales are all feeling the nasty pinch from the web's often cheaper competition.
When you think about it, the "high street" as a market concept is Medieval and has changed little over several hundred years. Maybe it is time it changed? High street shops don't close because of some evil force of nature preventing people from using them, they close because people choose not to use them, or businesses choose not to move in (which refers back to people not using them I guess). Our modern shoppers LOVE the big out-of-town megastores and online shopping so much that this is where we mostly opt to spend our cash. It is WE, the shoppers, who are forcing the changes that are happening, nobody else. If we hated the giant stores at Whitfield so much or all those huge shopping temples at Westwood Cross then we'd simply avoid using them. Truth is, we bloody love it and we vote with our feet!
I do think that in reality any sense of rescuing high street shops is steeped in feelings of nostalgia (exactly as I feel for Woolies). Change is happening, and I don't really believe we should complain about it because we are the ones causing it. I confess I do most of my shopping online or in big stores outside of the high street. It saves me money and gives me better choice.
I can see a future where shops will become nothing more than walk-in showrooms attached to giant warehouse-based online retailers and the "high street" will be a collection of old photos in our local museums.