My High Street is ‘closing down’…
It all started with BHS shutting it’s many doors across the land…which has escalated to create a ‘domino effect’ down my local High Street…and let’s not forget preceding the sad BHS demise, the frankly shocking crash of Woolworths back in 2008. 
Walking down my High Street this week, I discovered even more shops have shut down…that were only trading last week, no warning ‘closing down’..sign just gone. Though I have to say I do not miss the recent Poundland closure, only because there are two already and with three it’s just way too much. It replaced the 99p Store, which I preferred for its variety (yes there was some..!) I still like Poundland but why can’t we have Poundworld now it’s vacated? It’s all very well having Pound shops, but when all the Pound shops in your town are the same, I can tell you that is not much fun.
I’ve also noticed that the £1 coffee shop has closed its doors for good, it’s only been open for like a month or two..was the coffee that bad? We have the usual and predictable Costa and Starbucks so for me the £1 coffee shop was of interest and the price excellent! So what happened? Obviously they weren’t selling enough coffee’s…in fact this shop location must be ‘jinxed’ as everything that opens there shuts down not long after…its been a Gold Centre, a Sandwich shop, even a Primark years ago, wonder what’ll be next? Hopefully something that will last longer. 
Inside one of the Shopping Centre’s an interestingly entitled ‘Boutique’ called ‘Frontrow’ (‘very far’..from it I’m afraid…) has shut…to be honest it sold very tacky clothes (in my opinion) which is not surprising as it is Essex after all…(no ‘stereotyping’ here…sorry I don’t mean to be offensive but there is a lot of tat round here…) but still..I loved the concept, and it’s a shame it did not last. I never went inside, I just viewed it from ‘afar’. 
Also on the High Street another clothes shop has bitten the dust…I’m not sure if it was called ‘Ink’ but it’s having some sort of refit with a few sofas placed around, I wonder what it’ll be?? Hopefully not a sofa shop…(like we need more of them..) Thornton’s chocolate shop has also gone, as is the local Morrison’s (which was a very handy shop for me) so is this the future now?
Town Centre’s with no life in them? Except ‘to let’ signs and boarded up shop fronts? If that’s the case then this is totally depressing…I mean we need somewhere to go. Gone it seems are the ‘heyday of the High Street of my youth’, to be replaced with ‘ghost towns’, what’ll happen next? I know…turn the whole ‘dead’ High Street thing into a ‘theme park’ complete with ‘zombies’ etc because this is the way it seems to be heading…’okay’ for a quick visit but to live there no way please….!?