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73 Victoria Road
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274 Ewell Road
pretty sad this store is closing, was the last place to buy toys for my 3 year old daughter in the high street since the toy shop opposite went a few years ago
woolworths closing comments
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Comments
I'm disappointed it's not an Aldi - it would have shaken our Sainsburys local up.
The 99p store isn't one of the better poundstores.
Poundland would have been much better.
Compare the deals at Poundland
http://www.hotukdeals.com/merchant/poundland
to the few deals at the 99p stores
http://www.hotukdeals.com/merchant/99p-stores
w00t! I'm there! Thank you Anonymous.
Excellent news,I am with the ginger person on this.
The 99p shop may employ a few local people,probably those who find it hard to secure a job,and provide a service to those who do not object to spending wisely.
Of course when I shop there I will take my Anya Hindmarch bag to stow my purchases so that I am not thought of as a cheapskate,just another Brand obsessed Surbitonian.
You can't have it both ways. You can't think of Surbiton as a non-99p-shop town under the assumption that it's somehow better than that, because if it was better than that (whatever "better" means) it wouldn't have a 99p shop.
Surbitonians can complain about the 99p shop(s), the charity shops, and whatever else, but the fact is that Surbitonians didn't or wouldn't shop in whatever was there before.
There used to be a great small place that stocked a wide range of coffee beans on the high street. I used it twice. It closed (or maybe moved?). I was disappointed, but it was my fault, so I cannot complain.
You are thinking of Traders. They moved to 274 Ewell Road where Yvonne's bakery was (before she retired).
They are still open, so don't delay, visit today.
Hi there,
I'm a journalist with the Surrey Comet newspaper and we're running a piece on the 99p store which opens in Surbiton tomorrow. I'd love the thoughts of residents about what this means for the town and whether it's a positive thing.
Feel free to email me at lrobertson@london.newsquest.co.uk or call 020 8330 9549
Kind regards,
Louise Robertson
Woolworths was in the early days the equivelant of a 99p store. Afterall it sold nothing over 6p. Is it a positive thing? Time will tell, but empty shops are bad for a town.
A 99p store! There goes the neighbourhood.
Uesful though for Hungarian breakfast cereal and cheap garden gnomes.
Surbiton does not need any more shops,or estate agents or coffee shops.
What it does need is a Credit Union [filtered word] "swap shop" so that the overburdened working classes can save,borrow and exchange goods and services without usurious charges and red tape.
How many over burdened working class people are there in Surbiton ?
Well there is me for a start and looking at the usual downcast folks shuffling along the high street I am not alone.
well its a 99p store.
Any links to this proposed 99p store, or is there a sign on the front of the shop announcing it?
A bloody £ shop........just what surbiton needs...shyah!
just seen that, another quality outlet in the high street, im not sure if a closed store is better for the high street than a 99p store, m & co will probably close soon and that will be the new large empty store in the high st
The people responsible for closing the affairs of Woolworths originally tried to dispose of the empty shops in bulk. The recently installed sign now above the Surbiton looks like they are now being disposed of separately.
Rumour is an enlarged M&S Foods or a Tesco Metro. I doubt is it will be empty for longs with these eager players looking to sell even more ready meals.
I noted only today the agents sign above the Kingston Woolworths, describes the premises as a ‘Large Shop To Let’……
There has clearly been no movement on this site, evidenced by the 'To Let' sign perched hopefully above the door. I can't say I am too surprised given the current climate, and the fact that Surbiton has had other empty shops for a few years.
More surprising is that the Kingston one has not been snapped up. The Market Place is the nicest part of the town centre IMO, and if they cannot shift a large shop in the best part of one of the best shopping centres in the country, I think they will have no chance of getting rid of the other 800 or so stores.
Anyone hear anything else on the Woolies site?
I think you'll find Woolworths used to be on Victoria Road - rather than High Street - Surbiton doesn't actually have a High Street - unlike say Kingston, which does.
Thank you for that, but I think the map at the top of this page probably dispels any confusion. Can't high street can be a general term meaning the main road through a town?
I was hoping that someone might save the 200 or so Woolworths stores in the smaller towns and reposition them slightly, but that has obviously not been attractive. It is right that the stores in larger towns are closing as they have had no relevance for at least the last 10 years.
Personally I'd like to see something like Farmers City Market (farmerscitymarket.com), there's one in Hampton Hill so the distribution thing wouldn't be too bad, plus I think it might attract people to shop in Surbiton.
We could do with a decent Lap Dancing club in Surbiton, that'll brighten up miserable Victoria Road
Smiths would be great, at the moment there's nowhere with a decent book or magazine selection on the High Street. I'd put my money on starbucks though, they haven't got a branch within 12 inches of the site so it's perfect for them!
Heard that WH Smiths may be looking at this spot. That wouldn't be horrible.
Really, where did you hear that?
Do you really think a branch of Smith's would be bad? A shop selling books, stationery and magazines? As compaired to a Lidl or a 99p store, say.
Sorry, misread your comment. No that wouldn't be bad, except for the fact that it might affect the lovely Regency book shop further down the street.
I think he said ' That wouldn't be horrible' meaning that he would be in favour of it.
Smith's would be the best possible option for this site. It is going to be too big for most retailers who will want a small store in Surbiton or none at all. It is unsuitable for a restaurant, and one of those 99p stores would just make Victoria Road even more scruffy than it is already.
Smiths has branches in other small towns liks Cheam and Worcester Park. Surbiton must have more footfall than places like that, so if they can justify stores there, they should be able to here.
This would really help to smarten up Victoria Road and hopefully attract other retailers despite the downturn. I do think that the town centre's scruffy appearance stops a lot of brand name shops form setting up in what is actually quite a wealthy town. For example, Waitrose opened branches in several 'lesser' towns before eventually coming to Surbiton and doing very well here.
WH Smith would be ideal in Surbiton. A lot of their branches have a Post Office in now, so this could be the cue for the awful Martin's store to shut up shop.
WH Smith would also sell a lot of the things that are now harder to get in Surbiton since Woolworth's departure.
I am not so sure if they would do this, though. The economy is in a very bad way, and WH Smith were struggling as a chain before all of this started.
there's no need for a shop like Smiths in my opinion. There's a great independent bookshop opposite Sainsburys and countless places to buy magazines and newspapers
Very sad indeed. I hope we get a good replacement and not a rubbish Poundstretcher or Iceland.
In the current climate it would be surprising if any retailer was interested,given the poor state of many buildings in Victoria road how attractive a site is it?
One wonders how long that new frock shop in the old Somerfields can last let alone the coffee shops of which there seem more now than even estate agents.Sadly the road will have 50% of its empty shops by the end of this year even if the economy picks up by the spring.
I agree. I did not really appreciate how big that M&Co store really is until I went in there recently. It is over two floors, and is the biggest retail space in Surbiton by some margin (excluding supermarkets). It actually feels quite out of place in Surbiton. A few, small independent clothes shops could do reasonably well here, but the fact is that most people just do not come to Surbiton to do that type of shopping.
As for the Woolworths site, I am not sure who would be interested. It is a big site (for Surbiton), so probably only suitable for a supermarkets. I can't see any of the big supermarket brands wanting to compete with Sainsbury's, Waitrose and M&S, so that really only leaves those of the Lidl/Aldi variety.
This economic downturn has come at a particularly bad time for Victoria Road. It has been scruffy for many years, but a few developments over the last few years led me to believe it might be turning a corner.
Crikey, I hope not. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic than that.
I kept on walking into Woolies in Surby and Kingston half expecting to find some wonderful deal in the 90% off sale. But sadly not, it was all cr*p.
No comments except 'good riddens' was run lazy management
I do think that the loss of Woolworth's will be felt more in small towns like Surbiton than it will be in larger towns like Kingston. I have often found Woolworths is the only place in Surbiton that sells certain items of hardware or toys. The problem is that most of the items they sell could be sourced more cheaply elsewhere.
I was hoping that someone might save the 200 or so Woolworths stores in the smaller towns and reposition them slightly, but that has obviously not been attractive. It is right that the stores in larger towns are closing as they have had no relevance for at least the last 10 years.
The main beneficiary of the closure will probably be the owner of the excellent hardware store opposite Sainsbury's which has a useful range of stuff that you cannot buy elsewhere in Surbiton
i hear wh smiths are looking to take this space, that woould be better than a tesco extra!!!
LAZERQUEST! We've talked it through in the Lamb and everyone agrees, Surbiton needs a LAZERQUEST...