Before the exodus from the High Street to Out of Town Superstores, WW served a useful purpose.
It was a Jack of All Trades store, essentially a giant Hardware Store, on the high st. You could get pretty much anything in there.
Then, with the Out of Town shopping centres, and supermarkets selling the same tosh as WW, they became obsolete.
Want a CD / DVD / Books ? Go to Amazon Online for a wide selection, or your local out of town supermarket for chart stuff or bestsellers.
Want home furnishings ? Go to the out of town business park, where there is an MFI, Furniture Village, Tesco Home, etc all in one place.
WW were clearly not agile enough to respond the the changing demographic of customer-led shopping. To be honest, with the lead weight of all their high street stores around their neck, I'm not sure there is much they could have done without a massive and costly programme of developing a new business model.
But by then, it was too late.
I forsee the next step for the Tesco's and their ilk to offer even more services for their customers. Essentially, everything under one roof.
Doctor's Surgeries (already here and more on the way)
Dental Surgeries (already here and more on theway)
Travel Agents
Funeral Agents (possibly done by the Co-op in their larger stores ?)
Banking (Tesco Bank. They've already got other financial services, so why not ?)
Hairdressing
Health Clubs
Car showrooms
etc etc etc....
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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
Last edited by Board Game Geek : 26th November 2008 at 21:12.
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