In four days time a toy shop in Abingdon is to close. From what I can tell their other four branches, including the one at Didcot, are doing OK. The toy shop opened three years ago but trading conditions cannot be easy with work ongoing in the Abbey Shopping Centre.
Best wishes to them, and hope to see them, or another toy shop, in Abingdon before too long.
Such a shame. Seems that people are happy to spend £5+ on a coffee and cake each time they’re in town but we can’t keep any toyshop or kids clothing shop open (Nursery shop in Stert St aside, but that’s kind of different).
There are loads of kids in the town, where do their birthday presents come from? (*cough* Tescos? *cough*)
Agreed VK. I don’t have youngsters in my family to buy for now but on the odd occasion that I have needed toys for a Christmas ‘Box’ or Charity, I have made an effort to support the local shop there. The staff were very nice and helpful too…sad that the renovations have probably not helped either. I think this is another lesson in ‘use your local shops or lose them’.
My thoughts exactly. It was great to have a toy shop in town – somewhere that my two could buy something with their pocket money. It was also very useful to buy presents there for the numerous parties my daughter is invited to.
It’s a shame to see it go.
This is a shame another shop bites the dust if we do not start buying from our local shops Abingdon will become a ghost town . There will be no stores that means no jobs which will lead to lower house prices . I urge everyone to start shopping in Abingdon it has lots to offer such as jewellery , clothing , it now has two hours free parking so no excuses
I agree A vibrant Town Centre also has a social function. It provides a focus point where people can go for a coffee, attend a function, meet friends etc. ‘Ghost ‘Town Centres mean ‘no central meeting place’.
I’d heard (no doubt a rumour) that Tesco’s new planning application included drawings for their car park to become The New Market Place with the Town Centre becoming a car-park and bus station servicing Tesco buses running regularly to and fro along Ock Street/Marcham Road. Is this a bad dream or prescience? Heaven forfend that The Powers That Be gift more of Abingdon to the Retail Behemoth.
don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Thing is we have ourselves to blame instead of getting your meat from Mr smith the butcher we got it from the superstore the local town butcher would ask about your day he would know your name know you parents etc at the superstore you are just a £ sign . We now get our paint , clothes , birthday cards, fruit veg , reading glasses , all from the giant store we are to blame for all the empty shops
Can someone explain why Abingdon’s retail offering is struggling? One would think that with the population of the town more than doubling since 1970 and now stands at c36000, almost as much as Banbury, the retail side should have grown. Why for example has Halfords deserted such a big population? The town centre resembles a suburb like Headington not what should be a vibrant retail sector like the growth in Didcot, once a one sided high street, or Witney etc.
Wetherspoons on its own is not going to turn it around, especially as Post Office site has housing as well when perhaps an arcade could have been developed on the former commercial site.
times change – in the past you had to shop near your house, cars mean you can shop elsewhere – why shop in abingdon when you have oxford or reading as an alternative? – the mythical days described by mr G are long gone – if they ever existed at all.
Some of us don’t have cars Rudi and many, including myself, prefer the friendly, personal service of the local individual shop to the ‘anonymous, plastic, conveyor belt experience’ of the big supermarkets.
@Shell Suit – there is a range of factors in why town centres have tended to decline and the evidence suggests that the primary factor is the ‘retail offer’ – i.e. the range and quality of shops available.
In this respect Abingdon town centre suffers from not having any big shops that draw people in, whether that be a major supermarket or a department store. This is linked to having the edge of town Fairacres and Tesco and to not having had a large town centre site to expand onto. (Unlike, for example, Didcot and Witney).
There are other factors as well, traffic, parking (important but not the simple solution some claim), marketing (including the attitude and approach of existing retailers – I’ve often thought that some of our town businesses tend to be relentlessly negative – some of the newer crowd are much better in this respect), other services and facilities etc. etc.
Demographics also play a part. It’s interesting that the growth in town centre housing in recent years does seem to have led to an expansion of the evening pub/restaurant trade but not so much the retail side. That may be because a lot of people living in the town centre work elsewhere and aren’t around in the day, but do spend their evenings and weekend days here.
Many of those who are around in the daytime are probably at the lower end of the market.