On 27 Dec 2011 at 6:55pm Shopper wrote:
Shops are under threat from increasing numbers buying online, the recession and the growing trend for shopping centres and out of town shopping. I had thought that Lewes would be okay but it appeared to me that the shops in Lewes were very quiet before Christmas. Could any retailers confirm or deny this? What is the future of Lewes High street? Most of the buildings were built as dwellings I presume. Will they return to this?
On 27 Dec 2011 at 7:42pm Decent Citizen wrote:
Not a retailer but, I did not notice Lewes being that quite!
On 27 Dec 2011 at 10:00pm Fruit cake wrote:
Quite.
On 27 Dec 2011 at 10:08pm citizen wrote:
Anyone still buying in supermarkets should be feeling rather embarrassed. Apart from anything else, you end up spending so much more money when shopping in supermarkets.
On 27 Dec 2011 at 10:52pm Simples wrote:
Parking charges put people off, but many of the independent shops dont sell stuff I want to buy or can afford.
On 28 Dec 2011 at 8:25am DFL wrote:
I support the local high street shops whenever I can, particularly for presents this Christmas.
On 28 Dec 2011 at 8:31am Twister wrote:
All we ever hear is people whining on about the imminent collapse of high street shops in Lewes.This whingeing has been going on for years now. How many are closed and boarded up exactly?
On 28 Dec 2011 at 3:06pm Lewes Cinema wrote:
Not sure about the shops but it does always seem very, very quiet in Lewes so I do wonder how many of the shops survive..
Anyway, from the point of view of the cinema we don't screen anything beyond early Dec as the numbers dwindle so much during Dec that it's proved in previous years that it's just not cost-effective to open during this period. As we are a part-time screen (normally every alternate Fri-Sat-Sun) we can get away with not screening at all from mid December until early Jan.
By the way we start regular screenings again from Jan 13..
Happy Holidays everyone in the meantime!
LC.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 8:24am DFL wrote:
Support our local high street shops.....and cinema of course 
On 29 Dec 2011 at 8:59am Clifford wrote:
I know it sounds controversial, but 'shops' in 'high streets' are a relatively recent thing historically - there's really no reason why we should be expected to somehow 'save' them.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 9:14am Zebedeep wrote:
So are humans
On 29 Dec 2011 at 10:55am Clifford wrote:
Touché, Zebedeep.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 11:12am Kettle wrote:
Clifford I don't understand. Surely we should use them because we live in a community and they provide a service and jobs.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 2:54pm Clifford wrote:
Kettle - people seemed to be saying buying online was one of the things that is destroying shops. All shops, online, mail order etc are is a means of distribution of goods. Of course shops are a means of employment, but so were the smithy, the stables and the factory. My point was that the means of production and distribution change over time and we are living - as we always are - through change.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 4:20pm lewes shopper wrote:
As soon as the shops in Lewes start selling stuff that people need, the sooner the high street will return. In the mean time, if they keep selling over priced cr@p, i really hope they go bust.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 6:39pm Shopper wrote:
The reality is that a large percentage of the money that used to be spent in shops will no longer be so. This must mean a reduction in the number of shops nationally. Will Lewes be one of the places that remains untouched, becomes like newhaven or will adapts in some other way. Are there fewer shoppers in Lewes?
On 29 Dec 2011 at 9:41pm jrsussex wrote:
It is the loss of retailers such as the butcher, baker, chemists, post office, public houses and that litle shop that seemed to sell everything no matter how obscure to the large chains that has killed off high streets throughout the land. Those shops sold goods/products that we needed to buy almost every day, so we visited the high street more regularly and whilst there would window-shop and purchase from other shops. With all those now almost non-existent the need to visit the high street as often has disappeared, so the essentially required retailers have lost much of the footfall they needed to flourish.
On 29 Dec 2011 at 9:43pm jrsussex wrote:
Sorry, between THE and ESSENTIALLY there should be LESS. Must learn to check before I post.
On 31 Dec 2011 at 12:29am the old mayor wrote:
Lets face it most of the retail properties in Lewes are frankly Medieval small timber framed properties, or at the very best Victorian premises which are entirely unsuitable for large modern retailers and all the current legislation that goes with operating a business in within the EU (Of course, we are the only Country that actually adheres to those rules, the others just stick up two fingers !! but that's another story) Therefore modern retailers need certain criteria that Lewes doesn't provide. Lately we have been seeing some niche market shops opening and of course they are aimed at visitors not locals. I should imagine that a large percentage of people in the shopping areas are actually tourists or visitors and not locals.
On 31 Dec 2011 at 11:21pm Clifford wrote:
'The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it has drawn from under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the production of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations. And as in material, so also in intellectual production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible...'
On 1 Jan 2012 at 2:09pm syrup wrote:
i agree shopper buying online can be helpful and easy but we must remember there won't be a high street if we do it all the time.
On 2 Jan 2012 at 7:15pm Shopper wrote:
Personally I'll continue to buy online as i prefer it. I think increasing numbers will continue to do so and wondered if anyone had any views of the implications of it for the shops in Lewes specifically. Sadly no shopowners (or workers) have come on to tell us what is actually happening to the shops at the moment.
On 6 Jan 2012 at 12:49pm Cllr Ashley Price wrote:
As you would expect I try to use local shops where possible:
Robsons, Riverside Brasserie, Octave, Bakers Chemist, local newsagent (depending where I am in town), are the most popular ones for me. I do have to use a supermarket, which is Waitrose.
Obviously as a Green Party Councillor for Lewes I want to support the local community, the local economy and local employers/employees working in the shops.