Recession Hits Retailers in Leam

High Streets all over the country are scattered with empty shop fronts; Leamington is no exception.

R.I.P or RRP?

Two large stores in the Royal Priors  Shopping Centre have announced their closure; the recession has tightened its grip on our town.

Both Republic and HMV have launched closing down sales in a bid to shift excess stock. It is not yet clear when they will close their doors for good, although it has been reported that HMV will cease trading within the next two months.

Student opinion is split. Reduced prices excited those grabbing a last minute Mothers’ Day bargain.

However, those of us supplementing government loans and ‘daddy’ with part time jobs fear redundancy. We can only hope Topshop and Topman don’t go the same way as Miss Selfridge Leamington.

It is not just Royal Priors that has been affected. Blockbusters on Myton Road has announced that it will be closing soon, Jessops on the Parade has ceased trading.

Pubs are also suffering: The Tilted Wig and The Elephant and Castle shut suddenly after being deserted by their landlords.

3rd year economist George Farnon disagrees that these closures are a bad thing, citing Milton Friedman amongst others he said ‘It’s just the free market weeding out less efficient businesses from others’.

It’s hard to argue that Blockbusters or HMV are viable in the age of digital downloading, with the iTunes store as one superior alternative.

We can only hope that new shops and pubs will fill these empty buildings and that Leamington bounces back even stronger than before.

The bastion of employability that is Warwick uni shines bright in these troubled times…