Companies You Expect To Disappear Soon After Hours

[Sad Professor]

With the news that more and more businesses are shedding jobs or entering into Administration, what companies do you expect to disappear soon?

Debenhams has just announced today that a further 2500 jobs are to go, that is on top of 4000 cuts made in May. They have been struggling for a while and I can't see them surviving much longer.

 

[Gemma]

WH Smith won't last much longer. I'm surprised they are still on the go, to be honest. Never busy and overly expensive.

 

[Sad Professor]

WH Smith won't last much longer. I'm surprised they are still on the go, to be honest. Never busy and overly expensive.

Yes, the WH Smith stores in the high street are dire. The motorway services ones are a little better.

 

[Franco Pinion]

WH Smith won't last much longer. I'm surprised they are still on the go, to be honest. Never busy and overly expensive.

Many central Post Offices have closed their doors and decamped inside of WH Smith.

It would seem very unlikely these "partnership" stores will go as the PO is still a necessity in towns & cities, even if the smaller PO branches are disappearing from villages and suburbs.

Debenhams would seem like the next department store that could slip into administration.

Many hospitality based companies are also going to struggle

 

[Bandit]

Many hospitality based companies are also going to struggle

The Restaurant Group, which owns Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's, announced well before Coronavirus that it was going to close ninety sites overall. That was just under a third of all of them. It really doesn't matter how subjectively popular they are; it's the business model that's shot to pieces, and Wagamama will be (at least in the short term) particularly badly affected by the fact that such a lot of their branches are in covered shopping centres, which are struggling most with footfall at the moment.

 

[Son Of Jack]

New Look are planning a company voluntary arrangement to get the rents on their stores reduced. Their second CVA in 2 years. In store sales down 38% compared to pre-lockdown.

Makes you think they might be on borrowed time.

 

[Son Of Jack]

Argos are another shop that I feel may be on borrowed time or at least on the verge of shutting outlets, I don't know how their outlets are doing in Sainsbury's but it only takes another national or large set of regional lockdowns to affect them

 

[Fraser]

M&S have just announced 7000 jobs going over the next 3 months. Not going to be much left on the high street soon

 

[Welshy]

Argos are another shop that I feel may be on borrowed time or at least on the verge of shutting outlets, I don't know how their outlets are doing in Sainsbury's but it only takes another national or large set of regional lockdowns to affect them

Argos are fine. The Sainsbury's takeover has worked well, they've closed a load of shops and taken space hollowed out from an existing Sainsbury's store, and the customers they've lost from closed town centre stores have been offset by customers gained from Sainsbury's shoppers. The lease and operating cost savings are massive. It's also a neat strategic fit of a non-food (relatively high margin) retailer with a predominantly food retailer.

 

[Mouth]

The high street is knackered without major changes. Covid 19 has just quickened its inevitable demise.

I think the market will find the correct rent for private landlords once things settle. They can't keep on charging shops what they do and expect any tenants.