Shops or lack of them
 

Most here have taken a swipe at the state of the shopping in Accy. So what would be the selection that you want and were would it be situated?

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

bring back the bloody gas shop you cant get sod all sorted by phone

a propper toy shop wouldnt go a miss either

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I'd like the o2 shop to handle support, so I could talk to a real person about my problems :(

Independant quirky shops which sell stuff not available in every other chainstore, are welcome additions :)

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I would like a decent bookshop which can order books that they don't have in stock and they come within a few days. We used to have one with Wardleworths but I'm afraid that WHSmiths are totally incompetent at ordering anything.
I can back this up with an example.... A couple of years ago I needed to order some refils for my Fisher Space pen. I went into WHS, who were only too willing to order them for me at a cost of around £4 each. I placed an order for 2 refils and was told that they would be available within the fortnight. 2 weeks later I went to enquire about my order only to be told that they would be at least another 3 weeks and that they were coming from their warehouse in Birmingham. I did check that this was Birmingham UK and not USA. Feeling a bit miffed I came home and went on to the Fisher Space pen website. I ordered 6 refils at a cost of roughly £15 including postage and they were received by me 4 days later from Nevada USA. I went to WHS and cancelled my order, I told them exactly where I'd got the refils from, how much they cost and how long they took to get here. I have never ordered from them since.:)

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I agree with Chav re the toy shop, only place decent for toys is Argos. Other places only seem to have a good selection at Christmas. The one on Church street used to be good, good selection of Airfix models there too,

Cyfr`s quirky shops good idea too, for different ideas for christmas gifts, and birthday gifts come to that!

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Just a good quality high street shops would be nice change, bring back currys, a good toy shop, pc shop, good electrical retailers would be a nice start lol

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Its never been the same since Wordleworths [sp?] closed down. Used to love having a mooch round there. And I agree.. the toy shop was fab.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Wardleworths was good, and it had good Art supplies as well, and a good range of text books for all levels of study. WH smith not much good in comparison. A Waterstones book store would be good :D

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Things haven't been quite the same in Accy since the original open market went by the wayside. I know I am dating myself here, but does anyone else remember Uncle Dick and his lovely wife Sadie? That man could and did sell anything - at prices anyone could afford. Ah, happy memories.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I heartily agree with previous posters to this thread, but I would also like to see some original shops...not the usual Next, Burtons,Mk One.....something that would set us apart from other town centres.
It seems to me that you could be set down in any town in the country and you would see the same tired old goods in the same tired old shops.
Something different and original would be my wish.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

So lets have the haves and have nots within reason and why?

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

wre could do witha few more charity shops and a couple more pound shops

then we truely can claim to have the crappiest town center in britain :rolleyes:


somone mentioned argos is good for toys lol

have you ever tried getting a toy from argos, they are the only propper source of toys in accrington and fail to keep enough stock to have items instock yet as they say at the till " we have them in blackburn and burnley "

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

book shop as others have said is a must, agree with lettie wh smiths are totally crap had a similar ordering experiance,a few years ago. a proper mens tailors would not go amiss for obvious reasons, used to be a good few.old mckno was a specialist, then there was a good couple of toyshops (no use to me now) but many folk could do with one.a good tobaconist used to be woods, cant say theres a good un now.;)

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I enjoy shopping in accy, living in burnley the town center there is C**P

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Yes, would be lovely Margaret, but the high street shops are the ones that attract, certainly me when I am looking for clothes anyway. Even though a Next is to be found in Burnley and two in Blackburn, think Accrington people would appreciate this, particularly if linked with shops like Oasis, Morgan, River Island, etc. Something different and original costs money, not only for the retailer, but also for the shopper and people want lots of garments these days at a reasonable price. I don't find their goods tired as, due to the financial backing of these shops, stock is moving constantly.

I think that expanding Boots a little would help too... do find myself travelling further to obtain some of the goods supplied by their larger stores.

As with the others, would be lovely to have a book shop back here again, and only a chain like Waterstones, as mentioned, could do it for us.

Toy shops .. yes, none are there ? but this needs large warehousing and that's why Toys r Us are usually on a large retail park, however, Early Learning is a wonderful place to buy for the younger child and think could work in Accy.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

You seem to be on the net enough to be able to use the check and reserve feature that Argos offer. TBH they are one of the few high street retailers that actually have a working web presence. You can see if its in stock at any number of local stores, reserve it, walk in to one of their automated service points and pay and be waiting for it at teh counter in minutes. I know, I've done it. Reserved online, pulled up at Blackburn Ice rink one, walk in, pay at auto till, and walk out with the items within 4 miunutes. Top service in my opinion.


As for teh original post, people want all thes quirly shops but we as consumers now want everything at rock bottom prices, The two just don't go together unfortunately.

What would I like? I'm not that bothered TBH, I do tend to be mpore willing to travel to places like Trafford centre etc than most people as its not even half the way to work for me so it doesn't seem 'that' far.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

My shops would be these:

1) Independant bookshop with internet cafe (with direct broadband link to GCHQ at Cheltenham, just to keep an eye on the local wannabe terrorists)

2) Lazer Tattoo removal shop (lets make a steal on Blackburn & Burnley). This will be very popular in the years to come, as all the little and not-so-little tartlets realise what silly pillocks they look like with butterflys/snakes/spiders tattooed on the crack of their arse. One opened up about 4 weeks ago just 200 yards away, and they're queuing round the block.

3) Sausage/Pie/Pastie shop.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Oooo doont get me started about Argos, i used the reserve option on the web & twice now that has failed, most recently reserving an hoover to pick up next day only to discover that there was non left not even reserved, & another time i had to go all the way to Blackburn store because again the reserve option failed at Accrington & all they could do was opologise - so im quite sceptical to use it again besides it seems that whenever i want something from argos they dont have it suddenly unless im not bothered about it. So i would welcome a better alternative to argos cos i rate them about 4/10....web reserve service 0/10.:(

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Hehehehehe ... young women dont realise that having a nice butterfly or whatever on the naval area could look soo damn nasty after they have given birth - nowt worse than an out-stretched tattoo, suppose that applies to anywhere that is liable to put weight on or lose it lol:D

Think tattoo removals would be quids in definately:p

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

I would love a good bookshop, Waterstones would be ideal. I love to browse round their shops and usually end up buying something. Have you been to the Waterstones on Deansgate in Machester? They have a coffee shop in the store as well, on a wet winters Sunday we often drive into the City Centre, browse round Waterstones and relax with a coffee. You can actaully take the books into the coffee shop to look at whilst you are drinking your coffee.
I must admit that I tend to buy most of my books from Play.com (as well as CDs and DVDs), they are cheap and don't charge post and packaging. Also the delivery times are very impressive too.
A larger better stocked Boots would be good as well. I was visiting my daughter a couple of weeks ago in Kent and went in her local high street Boots - the floor space is smaller than the Accrington branch, but they have a much wider stock avaialable. I can never work out why our branch of Boots has so little choice.
I also think a decent toy shop would be very welcome.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

i think accrington could do with a good lap-dancing bar

that wud bring the clientelle level right up and get rid of the chav problem

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

not to mention when they are old and wrickly!

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

i totally agree i had the same probelm with argos online reserve when i wanted a hoover, in the end i bought one on ebay for half the price and it was delivered in half the time.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Lap-dancing is a bit old hat. We need the latest craze - shower dancing, on an artificial beach, indoors. Accy could have the first one in the North-West.

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Those of you who do travel to accy to shop, why do you ?

To support those unique shops you need more than the towns footfall to sustain them. There isn't enough trade to keep them open cos as entwisi says they have to charge more, they can't buy in bulk. You need tourism, you need to use what you've got around the area, you need quirks like space ships, and a good canal with good facilities to attract people. There's already loads up there it just needs putting together and then a town regeneration plan putting into place to get a touristy type element to the shops, to attract them in from other attractions. To do it though you need an active group and the help of the council.
You could do with a town development forum, look in to development trusts. whatever group you have at the moment clearly isn't doing anything from the comments on here.
What does suprise me is that we have all of those small shops here, bookshops, cafe's, antiques, gift shops, a farm shop selling fresh pasties, pies, sausage rolls, we have a traditional butcher that makes sausage on the premises and sells local cuts of meat.
We've got no high street shops though other than a newsagents. we're far too small with 12000 population. Atherstone is very old and has many listed buildings, it also has many attractions in the area. I believe that coupled with it's booktown project makes it the ideal place to be a central tourist town.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...C01815mod1.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...SC01823mod.jpg

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

Hello every one I enjoyed reading your posts made me sad in away cuz i left Accy 15 years ago . and by the sounds of it, it has gone down hill a bit. makes me wonder why when you have a great Town like Accrington. full of History, great people, great out door market why the idiots who have any kind of power try to change towns into one size fits all then when it's not working the way they thought it would they just bail and leave a mess. power to the people I say.
I hope to get back next summer so I guess i will see for myself what they have done to my town..

Re: Shops or lack of them
 

:engsmil: sorry crabby,i have to disagree about burnley town centre being crap,there are more shops there than accy and there is an upstairs covered market and decent toilet and cafe facilities,also more choice of stores, not being petty as i spent 3 years working in the centre and it is a damn site cleaner than accys and not as many charity or pound shops :engsmil: