Bob, what can anyone Government or otherwise do if stores are too large, too expensive, selling stuff that no one wants any more and in a style that no one desires?
The Government could insist on better focussed (vocational or specific?) education and training for responsive forward facing ideas. Make those who are supposed to manage better managers, better able to understand the roles that they should fulfil, trying to equip them to master and manage the need for changes. I have used Maplin in the past, its prices were high and its stock often backward facing, but they could sometimes be useful for the odd small part. However, when they were selling a £40 item for £30 more than the place the other side of the road, they faced a hard sell to me.
I was getting daily e-mails up to today, but it was the same stale items that I did not have an interest in buying three months back, I still did not. A proper education scheme should prevent any more Maplins, but the silly squad comes in several styles. Maplin appear to have been burdened by overly high levels of debit, as have other outfits that have stopped trading over the years. There is huge value in the saying never a lender or a borrower be. Some limited borrowing to directly support trading can be helpful, but living on almost unlimited credit will kill most businesses.
Oh, and yes I do sympathise with those now out of work, been there, done that got the tee shirts, which time then destroyed.
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