In my lifetime I have seen the high Street change a lot, many high Street shops are closing down or have closed down.
I remember Woolworlths when I was a young man and northern rock. Recently BHS closed down and now toys r us and Maplins are facing problems. Many smaller shops have disappeared. When I walk out on the high Street I see boarded up shop fronts everywhere.
In my opinion, the cause of the sickness is greed, the internet and local authorities not listening. Let me explain, the rent charged to shop premises is increasing so they can't compete with the internet because they are forced to increase their prices to pay the rent.
Bying things on the internet is cheaper than in the shops because internet shops avoid many costs like high Street rent and staffing costs.
The other problem is the local authorities, they make it hard for motorists to access the high street, they are quick to charge motorists for parking near the shops and don't provide any free parking so they are doing a bad job.
I don't know what the high street will look like in the comming decades but I hope they do something because the closure of the shops is a loss of jobs.
