Where have all the shops gone?

I understand the parking issue. It is pushed by people who have never not had a phone. Perhaps I'm a Luddite.

I have some mental block on this. I want to pay by card or cash. If I can't I don't go.

I had to figure out how to get a train ticket on my phone a few weeks ago. It's just additional steps that add stress, even though it is supposed to be easier. I think it is maybe fine if you do it all the time, but for occasion use it is annoying.

Maybe I should not visit Wales. I haven't been for 30 years, but used to go multiple times a year when I was younger.

I haven't been to Oxford for 28 years, I  used to live near there for some years. I liked the museum and the covered market.

I've found the same Desmond, when I lived in England I used to go to Bath or Oxford 2 or 3 times a year, they had lots of interesting little independent shops that sold things you'd never find in chain stores. Then they all seemed to disapear to make way for 'new and exciting shopping experiences' AKA ways to homegenise town centres, so as you could be anywhere and remove any reason to visit these places. 

Now with so much being online even bigger shops only seem to carry a fraction of the sizes and styles they used too, why would I want to make a massive effort to go to Manchester or Liverpool, only to be told they haven't got "it" in stock and I'd have to order online anyway? I mean whats the point?

Lots of places are a nightmare to drive to, through and to park in, Landudno's one of the worst I've been to in the last 18 months. Tiny spaces full up with huge cars, next to no signage, you have to get a ticket  and then pay for it at a machine just before you leave. Some machines don't take certain cards, they all accept mobile phone apps, except when they don't and if you can't apy then you can't leave the car park, you also only have a certain amount of time to be able to leave the car park without having to pay again.

My DiL works managing car parking lots and their companies, she's had to really battle with them about app only parking, reminding them that not everywhere has the connectivity. That many people don't have smart phones and if they do they may not be able to down load the right app or they might not have online banking. The company managers and directors are shocked at this, probably because they all live in London, they didn't believe her until she offered to bring them to visit me and go round the car parks with no UK signal only Irish ones. Some of my neighbours went for a day out at Caernarvon with their grandchildren, only to find all the car parks were app only, they turned round and came home again. How many more people are in this situation? 

Cities, these days, are bona fide cattle markets. Centralised planning tried to make every city the same; thinking everyone wants to live in New York or San Francisco.

The likes of Belfast, Manchester and Dublin lost their character.

The subject reminded me of this song from the 80’s.. The Kinks.

They put a parking lot on a piece of land
Where the supermarket used to stand
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local palais

Yes. defintions of what a city is in the uk are weird. Some cities are cities because they have a historic cathedreal. Some are just towns that basicly won a goverment lottery. Some citties became citties in a big goverment reorgonisation to grant the status to towns that grew large in the 20th century. (or late 19th).

These days I would say you're not a proper city till you have 100000 people. bangor doesn't even have 20000.

I would also say when you get to 1000000 you not really a city any more. You're some sort of mega city (like london). Not a fan of london. too crowded.

Our Bangor in N. Ireland has an abbey that is a Church of Ireland parish now, although nothing remains of the original abbey. It was founded by St. Comgall in c.558CE, and was a major centre of learning. 

It has a cathederal, so it's officially a city, it's also one of the oldest monastic settlements in Wales, and is having its 1500 year anniverary this year.

I'm not sure that going to Manchester or Liverpool would be that better to be honest, there might be more shops, but they don't sell anything much I like or would fit me. Llandudno is our nearest main shopping town. Also I don't go east of Bangor or west of Holyhead or I freak out.

Even better go to central Manchester or the Trafford centre.   Plenty of shops and shoe shops.

I visited Bangor; eleven years ago.

A lot of English ones settled there; especially upwardly-mobile Scousers. Quite a few, originally from London, too.

One real culture shock I have, in Britain, is people bringing bikes with them on public transport. Caught out by that both in Bangor and Liverpool.

Bangor is only a city in the technical sense. It's the 3rd smallest urban area in wales. I think you probably need to go to chester or liverpool to get city style shoping options.

There are two cities in the UK called ‘Bangor’; one is in Wales and the other is in N. Ireland.

Wales.

Where's Bangor? In India you mean? Sorry I don't know what shops are open in India. I live in UK

All this was intentional.

It was labeled 'Working Class Pride'. Promoted by Posh Art College types, who view poverty as fashionable.

Bureaucrats dictating planning policy; which is too Centralised, anyway.

Mortgage-Based Econmies, like ours, debase our currency. Along with excessive printing of money, Fiat, inflation hits hard. This lowers our purchasing power.

The problem isn't Banking, it's Centralised Banking.

I don't find online shopping any easier, I find it just as or more difficult than shopping in store

Even our charity shops are closing down and the ones that are left are selling more and more new things and getting very picky about what they will and won't accept, it's bad enough that I dont' bother with them anymore, I take clothes to the tip for recycling, most of them are past wearing anyway. 

I'm told that even shops in the next big town along are closing, they all relocated there into what looks like purpose built preceincts. Most of the shops are quite a way from the train station and hidden away behind walls, you need a sat nav to find them. I don't really want to have to go to another country, (England) to go shopping, it's expensive and exhausting.

Rent and rates have gone up a lot, but it's still 60p for an hour and £1 for two hours to park in Bangor, so it's hardly expensive.

I'm not a fan of online shopping, there are a couple of places I can get shoes online from, Moshulu, who are based in Devon and have a really easy returns policy, the lable comes with the shoes and if they don't fit, you just pop them back in the bag and stick the returns lable on and it's all sorted out within about 10 days. Hotter I buy some stuff, like walking boots from, I've been buying the same sort for years now and know they fit.

What bugs me about online shopping is that so often what you recieve is so totally different from what you order, trousers are really difficult for me to find as I have such long legs, a lot of stuff is one size fits no one and it's tiny, even my 5' 3" size 12 Mum has to buy large sized tights now. The other thing is how come when I search I rarely get what I searched for, but loads of stuff I didn't and is nothing like what is asked for and all the sponsered links and promotions do my head in, it confuses me and I can't cope. It's like when I go into a shoe shop and ask for a size 8 in a particular shoe that I've picked of the rack and the assistant comes back and says they don't have it and would I like to try the size 5 they do have? Why would I want a shoe 3 sizes to small? Why do I so often get treated like I'm being difficult for not wanting to try or buy a shoe 3 sizes to small?

Roy said:

I just find the experience of buying online easier

Me too. It's a lot better for my anxiety. When I go out I am flooded by anxiety and in shops it's even worse because of the busyness, noise and having to make chit chat with people.

Online shopping is just easier.

I hate buying online unless it fits through the letterbox. I don't want to have to wait around for delivery. I get some stuff delivered to work when I have to, but I feel bad about it for some reason.