The first thing that struck anyone emerging from the tube was a flier promoting House of Fraser’s discounts. Uniqlo and The Perfume Shop also had people out on the streets giving out fliers.
Perhaps most disconcerting of all was that it was possible to spend 15 minutes on the pavement outside Topshop with a BBC camera crew without disturbing any shoppers seemingly – there was plenty of room for everyone.
The only distraction was the fumes from the parade of empty buses and the street felt quiet. The appalling state of many of the stores at the eastern end of the street, from Sports Direct to the apparently half-converted Zavvi didn’t help and even Marks & Spencer’s renovated Pantheon store lacked the pizzazz of its earlier refurbs.
Today is payday and localised events such as Oxford Street’s closure to traffic represent a big opportunity to draw back shoppers, but Christmas is late coming. The question is whether it will come at all.
Whether it be DSGi’s warnings that Currys’ hitherto good sales of white goods have tailed off, or the mutterings of downcast fashion retailers, this week has reinforced concerns that consumers are being much more careful.
In this week’s issue of Retail Week, out today, BRC chairman Sir Geoff Mulcahy begins his column by saying: “The retail industry is on the brink of the first sharp slowdown in consumer spending for years.” For those retailers already having a tough time, some long, cold months lie ahead.
Yesterday’s trading update from Kingfisher was better than expected. In contrast to DSGi the previous day, the international performance – with the exception of China – was consistently good and perhaps more significantly in the bigger picture, B&Q’s sales performance was robust.
Getting the DIY giant back on track is going to be a long haul, but third-quarter trading looked as though things are going the right way. The numbers suggest that if B&Q chief Ian Cheshire was not already a shoo-in for the role of group chief executive, he probably is now.
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