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proposals for rackhams

Yet more flats in central Birmingham, more office space, although everybody seems to be working from home and more coffee shops/fast food outlets. That will have everyone flooding into the city centre again. The area is already a shadow of what it once was. The continued loss of department stores such as this one, Debenhams and John Lewis, isn't going to improve the situation. Will Selfridges be next? :(
 
John L said:
Yet more flats in central Birmingham, more office space, although everybody seems to be working from home and more coffee shops/fast food outlets. That will have everyone flooding into the city centre again. The area is already a shadow of what it once was. The continued loss of department stores such as this one, Debenhams and John Lewis, isn't going to improve the situation. Will Selfridges be next? :(
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totally agree with you john..the flats down perry barr are mostly still empty then we will have the ones they indeed to build on the site of the old dudley road hospital problem being people just cant afford to buy or rent them...over kill springs to my mind but as i always say time will tell

lyn
 
Whatever the reason there's no denying shopping habits have changed. Maybe if they continue to build flats/apartments they'll flood the market and prices will come down.

Last time I was in town it looked like they were starting to knock down the Oasis buildings. I can't imagine there'll be many if any shops there when it's build upon the site.
 
John L said:
Yet more flats in central Birmingham, more office space, although everybody seems to be working from home and more coffee shops/fast food outlets. That will have everyone flooding into the city centre again. The area is already a shadow of what it once was. The continued loss of department stores such as this one, Debenhams and John Lewis, isn't going to improve the situation. Will Selfridges be next? :(
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I’m afraid Selfridges wouldn’t be a loss to me. Everything costs a small fortune in there.
To me the only department store that has echoes of the likes of Rackhams is John Lewis in Solihull. And every time I visit there I wonder when that will be for the chop….
 
I am afraid "shops" as we knew them are gone forever....Most of the Bull Ring "Mall" and Grand Central are for me Fancy Dan shops...far too expensive and Niche. Housing in town would be brilliant but only affordable ones i.e. council type not 300 grand Studio Apartments. Maybe some of the town workers wouldn't have to travel and that would sort another problem.
But we all know none of that will ever happen.

p.s. We used to have John Lewis in the Station complex and it too was like Selfridges and failed. People moan about Primark but at least it gets the people through the door.
 
lmr3103 said:
I’m afraid Selfridges wouldn’t be a loss to me. Everything costs a small fortune in there.
To me the only department store that has echoes of the likes of Rackhams is John Lewis in Solihull. And every time I visit there I wonder when that will be for the chop….
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Yes, it's nice to have a look around though and I've bought the odd thing from there over the years, such as birthday cards and Christmas baubles. It does bring people into the city and there are or were, always people milling around there. It might not be for everyone, but it offers something to attract people into the city and it is the last of the proper department stores, I myself would be sad to see it go the way of the other department stores that once offered shoppers alternative venues for their city centre shopping, that are now denied to them.
 
Sad to see it go too. The reign of the department store has sadly ended. I've got lots of wonderful memories of this and similar stores in the 1960/70s/80s, but that doesn't sell stock, neither do/did the pricing of the likes of Rackhams, Selfridges stores etc. To me Rackhams, was usually a one-off special purchase for clothing or gifts. Although I did use the Vidal Sassoon salon for hairdressing for a while. Despite loving to browse in there and to take in the superb window displays, I always shopped around to get a better price.

And now, with Internet shopping and access to cheaper products, no wonder department stores have fallen by the wayside.

Hopefully, sensible use of the available land will address future needs. It'll be interesting to see specifically what planners think those needs are and how they can be addressed by a site of this substantial size and position. Housing is mentioned (500 homes) but to me that doesn't necessarily seem to be the answer, especially if it's in a prime location like this, of high cost and, inevitably, accompanied by high property prices and/or rents etc. Commercial development is also hinted at, but for what ? Isn't there already enough office/business space. As for retail, well, we're back to the same old problem.

Needs some clever, relevant, and forward-thinking planning.
 
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