Sad that the shop on Mesnes Street is to close at the end of this month. www.wigantoday.net/wigannews/End ... 5414539.jp I'm sure I wasn't the only one who used to rush there to buy the annual season reviews before Micron sadly disbanded them in 2005. As well as a variety of other matches they use to stock. Then of course you'd make the trip back because Micron bless them had cocked up in some way or other (a regular occurence for me). I suppose it was inevitable with first the internet affecting sales then Waterstones coming to town. Still sad though.

Sad that the shop on Mesnes Street is to close at the end of this month. www.wigantoday.net/wigannews/End ... 5414539.jp I'm sure I wasn't the only one who used to rush there to buy the annual season reviews before Micron sadly disbanded them in 2005. As well as a variety of other matches they use to stock. Then of course you'd make the trip back because Micron bless them had cocked up in some way or other (a regular occurence for me). I suppose it was inevitable with first the internet affecting sales then Waterstones coming to town. Still sad though.

Very sad. No doubt, however, there will be the usual band of 'disgusted' people who are 'disgusted' at the 'disgusting' act of the owners having the nerve to close such a local icon.

It's interesting that he has blamed the lack of footfall since the opening of the Grand Arcade. I'm not being funny, but doesn't the old adage 'you go where the work is' apply here? Why did it have to be based on Mesnes Street? Why couldnt the shop be based somewhere else? It's not like there aren't any empty units close to the Grand Arcade, are there?

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed...

Last time I was in there all they were selling was magazines and the upstairs was blocked off. They were also selling coffee

In this case it 'could' be justified, the guy is exceedlingly rich. I know my fiance works for one of his other businesses.

Rubbish. Utter rubbish. He's running a business, not a charity. He's a businessman, not a philanthropist.

shops been going downhill for ages.
turned it into a coffee house (which is mostly empty) and a kids play area upstairs (which ive never seen anyone in.
downstairs is full of "presents" which are basically rubbish, and all the cds, dvds, were on cut price sale and clearing out stuck in a corner last time i went in.

books were dissappearing too, and toys and games had dissapeared.

they used to give vouchers for there to my high school kids as rewards, but last time we went in there was nothing to buy except magazines., so after complaints , school gave grand arcade vouchers instead.

ill miss the old version, but i certainly wont miss this modern version.....good riddance i say.

I would agree with that myself, the old smiths was really good while the newer version was naff.

Does anybody remember the woman who would give you the 'evils', when purchasing top shelf bongo lierature?

Used to be a really good shop. I used to go there for books/cd's/dvds etc but they stopped selling all those things and turned it into effectively a ponsy coffee house so lost its core customer base. Yes the grand arcade can be partly blamed but the management have to take some responsibility for the decisions they made (prior to the grand arcade opening).

If you sell the right products that people want to buy then people will come to your shop simple as.

If you don't diversify products or offer people little incentive to come at little off the beaten track then you’re doomed to failure sadly.

Perfect example is that shop called Alan’s which sells all sorts of BMX stuff. They originally started near to Smiths I believe and now they have a bigger shop near Wigan Wallgate train station and I believe kids still go all the way down there to buy the things they can’t easily find anywhere else in town.

Can the same be said of Smiths?? What incentive is there for me to go to there rather than Waterstones or WH-Smith?

I used to go in there regularly to buy Books, CDs, DVDs and they had a good range. Thought it looked odd when they started to reduce the products. The disappearance of the things I went there for meant I started to go to WHSmith and Waterstones instead. The way the new management ran the store killed it rather than the Grand Arcade.

yes i usually go there on saturdays and this past 4 or 5 years it seemed to be going downhill! i think waterstones has beaten off the buisness and it was rather expensive

Sad, but that's business.

I remember going there each summer holidays before the school term to stock up with new stationary.

Dunno why I have that memory but that's the one that sticks in my mind about Smiths.

Smash the drawing room to pieces!

We're still married.

Its sad, the shop used to be brilliant, but then even before its "green" refurb, it was much dearer than most other shops and out of the way to boot, no wonder trade dropped off.

Still, such is life, Play & Amazon are too much compeition for independant high st to compete with.

i got all my college stationery from there many moons ago

You can't 'blame' the grand arcade. Whether you agree with it or not, it's progress, and you have to keep up with the times.

Depends whether you think things like the grand arcade "progress" or just another clone of other shopping centres all over the country with the same shops selling the same goods.

I live in Chester and there was an article in the local press the other week about a shop that was relocating from the "rows" because of lack of footfall. Other shops had closed nearby and so several are now empty.

The rows are supposed to be a major tourist attraction for the town but they face the same pressures as any other retailer with competition from Cheshire Oaks and Broughton retail parks close by.

Businesses leaving is not the kind of progress the city needs.

The council does not help because in parts they are quite shoddy and not well maintained. You would think the council would try and create an environment for retailers to thrive in to encourage more visitors but they seem happy to let things slide. No surprise really given it is a Tory led council so investment in infrastructure is a low priority compared to the all important task of keeping the council tax down.

Ever since I have lived here I have been amazed at the lack of maintenance for things like the rows and the city walls (a bit of which collapsed not so long ago). The state of repair of such things is appalling in parts.

Dave

God you do drone on.

Of course it's a matter of opinion. However the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and in the case of the Grand Arcade, Trafford Centre, Golden Square or wherever, the truth of the matter is that the retailers like it and the customers like it.

Take Standishgate. Whether you like it or not, the shops (in the main) are tiny, badly shaped, full of support pillars, inflexible and expensive to maintain. This is no one's fault - it's just that they were built to suit the retailers of the day.

These days, customers like bigger shops and companies have larger stock ranges. Therefore they need bigger, more flexible retail space with minimal maintenance costs. I've not even mentioned DDA compliance yet.

And as for your comment 'You would think the council would try and create an environment for retailers to thrive in to encourage more visitors', well forgive me if I'm wrong but don't the three development I've mentioned do just that? Don't you think these developments would have got the go ahead if it wasn't for the involvement of their respective local councils?

If you would rather do your shopping on an uneven street with steep inclines, restricted access with restrictive stock levels due to restrictive shop size then you, my friend, are living in the 1970s.

well they have been up for quite a while



why dont they demolish the walls and replace them with a modern version, similar to southport promenade ?

Wigan has detiorated significantly over the last 10 years. Town centre full of p--s heads all day, Central Park, International Pool, town centre shopping crap, traffic, unemployment, racism. Things move on but its bad replacing good. Basically the town has nowt going for it now.

It's got a football team

Exactly!