> Steve Firth wrote:

>> Conor hotmail.com> wrote:
>>

>>> No, Doug, you're wrong. Village shops died the death because people
>>> with lots of money moved into the villages and these people had
>>> shopping requirements above the basics a typical village shop
>>> provided. I remember the village shop in Kirkburn where I lived in
>>> my mid teens..basically nothing more than someones front room and
>>> it'd been that way for decades.

>>
>> Even that's not true. Our village shop was, when I moved here, run
>> from someone's front room. It was basic in the extreme, shelf
>> stacking often consisted of three baked bean tins stacked in a
>> triangle. And miles of empty space.
>>
>> Despite that it was well used and most of the locals (a mojority of
>> whome are in the rich, stinking, category) used the shop regularly and
>> the owner was able to retire having saved enough during his tenure and
>> selling the shop for a decent amount. The next owner completely
>> refurbished the shop and made it a decent place to visit with a Post
>> Office Counter, Lottery, Video Rental and Dry Cleaning to boost the
>> income over running a simple shop. Again they're doing pretty well and
>> most people shop there and several bank there.
>>
>> I should say they *were* going well. However they are now threatened
>> with closure because the Post Office wants to close them down. The
>> death of the village shop in all the villages around here has been
>> due to the Post Office, bus companies (removing ticket sales from
>> local shops) and to WH Smith who refuse to supply newspapers and
>> magazines to some shops, i.e. the shop used to sell them but WHS
>> decided it was more cost effective to sell through garages or in the
>> town.

>
> Shock gasp!
>
> You're not seriously suggesting that there are factors other than cars which
> causes village shops to close?
>