Bad news for High Street shops (From Bournemouth Echo)

Bad news for High Street shops

10:06am Friday 8th February 2013 in Opinion

THE closure announced yesterday of the HMV store at Castlepoint comes as something of a surprise on the face of it.

Castlepoint is a hugely successful shopping centre with footfall that is measured in the many millions.

The closure of this particular branch, rather than the ones in central Bournemouth and Poole is more likely to be a result of its size and rentals costs.

It’s ironic that the list of HMV closures comes on the day of a major national conference on the future of the high street and the Bank of England keeps interest rates at their present record low of 0.5 per cent.

The threat of a triple dip recession still hangs over the economy, even though central bankers see a glimmer of hope, that the UK economy is set for a slow but sustained recovery.

Customer spending remains under pressure, which means the bad news from the high street is unlikely to be over.