howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#21
excellent post from simon, i am one who does not buy online with the exception of argos and only when the dover branch is out of stock. much as i hate food shopping i still like the friendly service in most of dover's shops.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#22
Yes it is a good posting Simon, but I doubt there is anyone in any Government, with the balls and sense to do anything meaningful, although I understand that there is a move to bring the NNDR to a more local level, but I don't have any real details.
Maybe PaulW has ?
Roger
Guest 714- Registered: 14 Apr 2011
- Posts: 2,594
#23
Very good Simon, especially
We are broken, yet it is too painful to admit. How about we admit it and do something about it instead of whining in to our beer!
My/our involvement in the Town Team has been an education in many ways, the stark realisation of what an enormous task we face. That doesn't mean its insurmountable, there are enough people in the town with the ideas, energy and ability to turn things around. But what is required is a tacit admission from ALL that the way things have been done in the past are no longer relevant, the town has been allowed to stagnate for a number of reasons and it can't continue with the same old people moaning about the same old things and achieving nothing.
As I said on another thread, stupidity is continually doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#24
The death of the High Street...it ain't necessarily so...
"• In common with Zoe Williams I have been boycotting Amazon since I learned about its tax affairs last year. However, unlike Zoe, this has proved to be a revelation rather than an inconvenience as I have obtained better deals from other suppliers, such as John Lewis and Waterstones Marketplace than I would have done from Amazon.
I still check Amazon's prices before buying as this adds to my satisfaction of knowing not only that I have saved money, but in the last few weeks they have lost about £600 of my custom.
Jennifer Brown
Woodham Ferrers, Essex
• Zoe Williams need not be inconvenienced by boycotting Amazon. I am boycotting it too and I checked my local independent bookshop's website and found a link to Hive.co.uk. It delivers for free to your local shop and I was pleased to find my book was cheaper than on Amazon. A proportion of the price is paid to the bookshop. I ordered my book last Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday.
John Wicks
Reading"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/17/ethical-shopping-revolution-under-wayIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 774- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 498
#25
Stores like HMV killed off the local independant record shops and the ones like Blockbusters killed off the local video shops, so I don't have any real sympathy for them.
Who remembers renting films from Alpha Video at Charlton Green and Harlequin at the bottom of Tower Hamlets?
There was also a small one at Maxton which used to be the bakers. It's now a residence...
"If it ain't broke, fix it til it is."
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#26
I take your point David, but to be honest, I'm not sure that anything has been done in the past to move Dover forward; I know we had Shopwatch started by TCM which evolved into DPAC, but that didn't move the Town forward.
Roger
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#27
I have never rented a video or DVD in my life. Sooner or later it will appear on TV.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#28
can't remember renting one either, films reach the free to air small screen quicker than ever. bought quite a few of the ones that i particularly enjoyed.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#29
We have been given a good many over the years- mostly ones that friends or family have bought, watched, and considered total crap.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#30
We used to rent videos from the shop at the top of Worthington Street but once the children grew up we did not bother.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 458
#31
It's all very sad but things change, and there it is. I once had my milk delivered by a milkman, but he was often late, the milk cost more so I now get in on line from Tescos, I once used a pen, filled with ink from a bottle, I used note paper and envelopes and stamps from the Post Office, now I e-mail. High Street shops have been left behind, the future of High Sts is no longer in retail, but leasure, with niche shops selling those funny little things we all love browsing for. You cannot get a haircut on line, or get a made to measure suit made, or meet your mates for a chat and a coffee. The High St will continue, all it has to do is move with the times and stop liveing in the past.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#32
And that may be why we have a lot of cafes and most seem to be holding their own.
Another problem with High Street shops is that most cannot compete on price because they just don't have the buying power that chains have.
Customer service should always be a priority for any business, but for many it is sadly lacking.
Roger
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,599
#33
There's a 2 page article in the Dover Express 'shut shops paint bleak picture'
One of the pictures is the renovated Job Centre/Post Office captioned 'classic left empty' which is harsh.
I would hope that the owner will make a response.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#34
i thought it was common knowledge that the owner of the building was renovating it, the inside will be next.
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
#35
Yes. That article was a bit sad really. Mis-information and lazy journalism. Nobody spoke to me, I could have told a story about all of them!
Nevermind, what they don't know, they make up!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#36
the dover branch of blockbusters is closing but the folkestone one stays which. surprises me as the latter is a much larger shop and i never see anyone in there when i go past.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
#37
Make's you wonder where the DE pick up their news items, majority either out of date or completely wrong?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#38
indeed barry they were much more accurate when they lifted their stories from here.