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Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel Channel 103 Facebook Comments
What can be done to improve shopping in Jersey?
The struggles of local retailers and the role of out-of-town precincts are among factors being considered in a new review.
channel103.com
Ellen Davey: Provide more and better (current) shops in town. They are all closing. Woolworths, Mother Care, Thorntons, BHS & more. Town is rubbish. I can't find clothes for my son who will soon be turning 12 years old. He's too big for children's sizes available here yet too small for adult clothes. I have no choice but to buy on line! Even for myself - I shop online. Who wants to buy frumpy clothes from M&S!
Fiona Ludlow Green: More affordable children's and adults clothing shops such as primark and h and m. Not everyone can afford the top end shops and therefore buy online and have it delivered as still Cheaper.
Matt Fox: Lower the rents so that shops can lower prices to actual be able to offer competition to online retailers.
Andy Jay: Rent is related to the value of the property, wouldn't make sense to not try for a reasonable return on the investment, otherwise might as well convert to housing and sell it off.
Steve Gey: Free and more parking. Its quicker and easier to just buy online and paying an hours parking for 10mins shopping to buy a single item puts many people off
Tina Langdon: 1). Reduce rents so that local entrepreneurs can open.
2). A radical thought might be to put a glass roof over King and Queen Street for all weather shopping (similar to Spitalsfield in London).
Ross O'Neill: This gets posted every 4 months and everyone seems to reply with good answers ,no- one listens and then you will ask the same question again in 4 months with the same answers Jan Mcal: U need a retail park out of town like the ones on the UK which have lots of affordable shops (Primark etc) in a place that has plenty of parking.,, when u rob everyone with extortionate rents of course ppl will spend online or wait til go trips to UK See More
Nel FJ: They know exactly what they need to do to make improvements but instead of taking the necessary action they keep asking the same question every few months, stalling and doing nothing about it! Yawn.
I don't want to shop online and wait ages for things to arrive but they're leaving us no choice!
Corrina Mourant: Parking keeps getting taken away! Shops are far to expensive lower the rents and stop bringing over expensive designer shops allow more affordable chains to come in to the island
Jane Rice: Totally agree with most of these comments , one area of shopping in Jersey that desperately needs looking into is affordable plus size clothing, for most of us ladies there is only George or M & S !!! Up and Above have some beautiful clothing but way out of most of our price limits ,
Eleni Wilkins: Stop taking parking spaces away! There's nowhere to stop for 10 mins to pop into a shop. There should be more street parking with maybe 10 or 20 mins zones, but instead people have to park in multi story car parks just to nip in to get one item, so it's easier and quicker and sometimes cheaper to just order online.
Stephanie Ashford: Private landlords need to lower property rental prices so that retail shops can actually have a chance at remaining in the long term! Surely in light of how many big names have pulled out of the island indicates that?!
Nikki Jenkins: Parking , stop making it difficult to drive into town. Now they closing road by arts centre
Maria Fernandes: This days the money its for rent and food get real
Stephen Le Roy: Whilst I am all in favour of supporting local businesses, why do they need to inflate their prices so high? When you can buy the same items online for, in some instances, significantly less than half the local price you realise some retailers prefer toSee More
Samantha Gaudin Rents, Taxes, staffing costs, electricity and lighting...and Shipping (one of the most expensive place in the world!)...then there's Parking!!
Carolyn Connor: Stop Sandpiper having the monopolies bringing in franchises and charging more than uk for the products.
Valerie Le Blancq: A market on King street. Once a. week
Philip Johnson : More 20 minute parking.
Gary Coleman: Make online shopping illegal would b a good start Philip Johnson : Stop charging VAT like B&Q and others.
Steve Phillips: It's really tough now with internet shopping being so cheap and easy... that and the lack of Sunday trading in St Helier where a whole day is lost.
Val Lowe: Some retailers have to pay high rents in Jersey to greedy landlords so they have to charge more for their goods. VAT should be deducted before GST is added but UK companies ignore this - George (Asda), Accessorize, Monsoon all charge VAT. It's no wonder people use internet shopping.
Tina Ross-Gower: More accessible parking and introduce the French idea of free parking between 12 and 2.
Russ Howarth: Jersey always been more expensive, stop asking the same boring questions, it's not going to change , ever !
Andy Brown: Don t stock up as much so able to change stock quicker to meet customer demand. So nuch tat in some of the shops that will never get sold.
Samantha O'driscoll: clothes and more stock not just the cheap crap there UK shops send here as they don't know what stock they are going to get
Garry Le Maistre: Keep some stock
Lorraine Moyse: Stop ripping people off to expensive
Janine Renouf : Need more variety it seems to be all Coffe shops, hair/nail salons and not many useful shops, some shops have been empty for years now, maybe someone needs to have a word with the greedy owners of these properties, it seems that would rather leave them empty than reduce the rent!!!!!!!
Samantha Gaudin: Have you seen the UK high-streets lately?? Just put everything into the two big department stores...oh wait that's happening already!!?
What's the next one to go...
Nikki Slous: Regular Discounts, cheap parking, more choice of clothes stores like people who sell over size 10, better rents for shop owners, less coffee shops, execllent customer service
Philippa Alexandre: Some way to make landlords lower rents and incentives to keep shops running instead of sitting empty
Josh Horton: lower rent, more car parking + access, lower prices, wider variety.. In a world where people are getting lazier by the minute it surprises me that they're removing roads and destroying car parks and THEN being confused why people aren't showing up. MorSee More
Nikki Carter: More choice..
Kayleigh Paine: There's hardly anything worth visiting in town anymore.. A handful of shops maybe? There isn't enough parking and it's way too expensive.. It's stressful going to town so many us just don't and make the most of hospital appointments by checking out the shops we really need to get something from. It's a sad work dwe live in but the truth is, Internet shopping it's stress free and so much easier and cheaper
Sabina-Jane Willow Caprica: I prefer online shopping because;
- it is stress free and no crowds of people
- it is cheaper than town
- I can find exactly what I am looking for
I avoid town like it is the plague. Whilst I am in favour of supporting local retailers, it is just way too expensive. Maybe if the landlords were to lower their rents for the local retailers then maybe there would be reasonable prices.
Andy Jay: The States only cares about Finance, the Constable seems to only care about town residents and pedestrians, Retail is left to struggle with whatever resources are left.
Chloe Godfray: people go online or go away to the UK because it's cheaper than Jersey it has always been a expensive to live here, people nowadays are looking for cheaper options because it's not like the salary goes up as much as the Tax Does.
Michael Lihou: sorry but I wont shop loacly if I don't have to ...jersey has overpriced itself now ...cheaper to shop online or overseas
Joyce Curtin: It just is not a pleasant place to be. I visit town for these reasons 1) Voisins and Feelunique if I don't want to wait for an order on line; 2) EasiYo yoghurt from the pantry shop if want it urgently and 3) every 5 weeks a visit to my hairdresser. There is absolutely no incentive to go to St Helier.
Daniel Clark: Lower rents, allow more high street retailers, primark for one
We just lost the chance of another pound shop, because the rent in the old Next building is £550,000 a year .
Sandra Geary: Better opening times, why can't shops open later and close later, a few weeks ago I left work walked up town but very few shops open, there were lots of tourists with no where to go apart from de gruchy or m&s, it was a missed opportunity. Sunday opening should be considered too
Lindsay Applegate: Like everything rents , private, housing, to too high time to lower them
Andrea Almasi: Regular discount good idea, and lot more above in comments. Opening time change would be good idea. The town is full after 5pm also, but shops are closing.
Edmund Zeltins: Car parks Saturday must be free of charge and that will make big change Steven Andrews : Take VAT off.
Helen Davies Morgan: High prices plus GST and now 20% retail tax will increase them further. Limited choice. Expense and difficulty parking - and talk of a 20mph speed limit will snarl town up more. Wait till a 'living wage' puts prices up again ....
Melanie Luce : Need to look at places like Liverpool or Brighton which are always busy. Liverpool has a huge area pedestrianised, plenty of parking and transport links and live music usually playing with bands promoting their music. Brighton has managed to retain itsSee More
Paul Harris : Why would I want to walk round town when there are no shops worth going to bye anything from.
Kate Alexandra Winder: Lower rents so that we stop losing our valuable shops!
Like mothercare! Where on earth are parents expected to buy big ticket items like prams from now?! And it's all very well having lovely boutiques but if all you want is a 3 pack of baby grows, you're not going to want to spend £25.00 on one! (Lovely as those places are).
Sky high rents deprives all of us! And they wonder why we all shop on line!
Samantha Blampied: I think they should have a short stay car park in town where it's 2hrs free. Electronic, and if you go over it has a higher charge than if you parked somewhere all day. This will prevent people from abusing it. But also encourage people to pop in and out of town.
But the crucial issue is rent!
Gary Power: Free parking on a Saturday
Ryan Knight: Allow in shops we want, increase opening hours, pedestrianise town ... its all common sense stuff look at successful shopping areas in the uk..
Sarah J Wheeler: Defo more affordable clothing shops,primark matalan, atleast one of those shops needs to be over here,not everyone can afford to shop in de gruchy etc on a regular basis,I also shop for clothes on line because again you do t have the greatest choice and now mothercare has gone apart from george where else can you get reasonably priced kids clothing from
Phil Renouf : IF UK stores operate empty shops in our high street with invoicing operations that claw money offshore for a tax advantage, local people don't benefit. If our local retailers are pushed to peripheral positions in a ribbon surrounding the high street, tSee More
Kerrie Mizon: I work in town and still do my shopping online. The only time I venture in is if I need a card or wrapping paper as I like to choose these in person. I can't remember the last time I actually went into town for shopping, it's not relaxing as I'm constantly clock watching to make sure I don't get a ticket. Fix the parking issues and increase choice, problem solved. Now where's my £500,000 consultancy fee
Helen Davies Morgan: Hopefully Kirsten Morel , Deputy for St Lawrence will pick all this up and feed it in....
Tarnia Adams: And shops that are not part of sandpiper either
Dominic Elliott: Free parking and lower prices, rent control needed as well, why should it cost us money before we've even started shopping, stupid, much cheaper on amazon and less hassle, no traffic jams, queuing for parking etc, better things to do at the weekend