The Shops Are Closing
There are a lot of empty shops in the UK with m ore closing, according to various reports like this.
They’ve just had a town centre manager giving his views on BBC Breakfast.
No wonder shops are closing with this view from a real dinosaur in Bury. It was all about anchor tenants, large chains and advertising bringing in the punters.
Shopping must be exciting and fun and you don’t get that in chains!
It should also be chugger and smoke-free, with good public transport.
Yesterday, I needed to get a few food items, so I went to Finsbury Pavement in the City. I got a bus to outside the large Marks and Spencer there, did my shopping, then crossed the road to get my return bus from the other side of the road.
Now that is what I call convenience shopping! I could have had a coffee and visited any one of about thirty other shops in the area.
There are a few chains there, but they are ones I use like Maplins, Boots, Gap and O2 in addition to the excellent Marks.
I’ve never seen a chugger there either and smokers aren’t that common.
The only problem is that there isn’t a good gluten-free cafe, except Starbucks or by walking through to the Barbican or Spitalfields. But at least the Starbucks doesn’t masquerade as a public toilet.
Starbucks On Southern
I was offered a cup of coffee from the trolley on the train back from Worthing today.
I refused, as the trolley had the Starbucks logo on the side.
Has the anti-Starbucks protest got to me? I think so, but we had actually discussed this at lunch.
I’ve not completely got them out of my life, but where there are alternatives like Knot Pretzels at Clapham Junction, I use them.
Starbucks And Glasgow Rangers
I’ve been reading about the tax avoidance measures of Starbucks over the last few days and it looks like they are doing a few things to normalise the situation, according to this article on the BBC.
This could be due to the protests and boycotts mounted by the good old British public.
Now some might think, that Glasgow Rangers have also cheated the tax man, by the use of Employee Benefit Trusts. According to this article on the BBC, the HMRC thinks so and is pursuing what they think should have been paid.
But surely the issue in both cases is fairness. Does their tax situation give Starbucks an advantage over their rivals? Many argue that it does.
And if it is true in Starbucks case, it must be true in that of Glasgow Rangers, as they can pay their players more money.
I would like to see one set of rules applied equally to all companies and individuals.
Should Starbucks Pay More Tax?
As a High Street company I would prefer that they set up a system like Waitrose has done with Community Matters, where local charities are chosen by customers to benefit from a levy on takings.
After all, Governments have a record of wasting our taxes on things that a proportion of us don’t want. We all have our pet hates and mine is probably the money government wastes on defence and computer projects.
My Eyesight May Be Improving
I was entering Starbucks at the Angel, one day this week, when I startled as something low down on the left passed me in the doorway. At first I thought it could be a small child or perhaps a dog running in from the street.
But all it turned out to be was a bubble from the machine outside the shop next door.
So my eyesight can’t be as bad, as I think it is.
The Anonymous Widower 