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The death of the brick and mortar toy store

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Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#81

Post by Citizen_Lame »

voidUpdate wrote: post #58

What country are they in? The list of shops seems to suggest belgium/the netherlands. Because in the UK, I often go to toy shops with my partner. There's probably two shops in the same shopping centre you could call "toy shops", as well as a GAME which sells video games. All three of them sell lego, as well as quite a few other shops. There's also a Cex and a mini Cex if you want to buy video games and get ripped off…

GAME is bankrupt and was a shit for a long time, WH Smith is also closing lot of stores, B&M is selling tat and is half empty. But none of these are toy stores.

Retail in the UK is very much dead, unless you need barber and vape shops.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#82

Post by sokka_h2otribe »

pif wrote: post #77
armenarmen wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK Commercial is priced at a multiple of rent. So when an owner still has a loan on a building that was based off of multiple of 3000/mo and decides to rent it out for 1500/mo it effectively cuts the value of that building in half. Just an accounting issue for someone who owns it out right, but devastating for someone with a loan. I think this is why you’re seeing landlords offering multiple free months of rent no…

> devastating for someone with a loan Sorry, I can't understand why. Could you please expand a bit? I don't get how decreasing the value of the building makes the loan more difficult to repay.

The backing of the loan is in part based on the value of the asset, so you need to add collateral to accommodate a reduction in the asset value.

Basically you have to pay a lot more if the building value goes down

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#83

Post by ErigmolCt »

conductr wrote: post #32
gbear605 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we go to usually around 2 birthday parties a week during school year That's honestly impressive, some 70 birthday parties a year, plus presumably some extra in the summer.

It's a lot. Us parents joke how insane it all is but realistically it will taper off soon as kids start having smaller birthday celebrations. At this age it's kind of a "invite everyone in your class/grade" and has naturally reduced a bit already as boy/girl only parties started. I think next year or two it will become more common to have "invite 3-5 good friends to an event" type of birthdays and that will reduce it…

This matches my impression that kids’ birthdays have become less of a "party at someone's house" thing and more of a small event-industry category

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#84

Post by mavamaarten »

TrackerFF wrote: post #70

Many years ago I found myself unemployed, and had a year where I pretty much took any job I could find. One of these were in a sorting facility for one of the largest shipping / postal companies. On my first day, the very first thing I noticed was how a select few companies / online stores accounted for something like 80% of ALL the shipment that came through the facility: Clothes (with Zalando probably making up hal…

I'm honestly not really that surprised by that. All (except clothes) are prime examples of products where you don't really care who sells it to you and how it looks in the packaging. People want a certain product and want it the cheapest. Why would you go to a real store to look at that product inside of packaging you can't open, with the added cost of the person behind the counter?

I mean a Lego set is a Lego set, whether you see the pictures on the box or online.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#85

Post by redsocksfan45 »

jmyeet wrote: post #41
kurttheviking wrote: post #6

I own a reasonably well performing indie bookstore. I've noticed for the model to work you need a critical mass of other local shops clustered to make the trip an experience for families and diverse tastes. My working theory is that three of such small businesses are sufficient and could operate well with a common inventory strategy and manager (e.g. a bookstore, a toy store, and a tea or candy shop...nothing that sp…

So there are a few versions of this. The most common in the US is the strip mall. This is a largely American, soulless construct of commercial space with parking out front, typically on a major road. There are lots of reasons why this flourished in the US. It's a symptom of society being so car-dependent, which is by design. Rents here are typically lower than other options so some businesses can survive in strip mal…

[dead]

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#86

Post by [deleted] »

rationalist wrote: post #19
gbear605 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we go to usually around 2 birthday parties a week during school year That's honestly impressive, some 70 birthday parties a year, plus presumably some extra in the summer.

I think it's more scary than impressive. What kind of adults are all of those children going to grow up to and become, where multiple parties are the weekly norm?

[deleted]

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#87

Post by wvbdmp »

ofrzeta wrote: post #46
bombcar wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I've noticed is that even dying downtowns want insane amounts of rent; I think you have to be able to buy the building to make it work. However, that's not as unrealistic as it may seem, because the city itself often owns a decent amount of downtown, and can make a deal.

It's really baffling that even in the shittiest areas rents or property prices are insane. It seems the capital owners just don't care or don't lose enough money to care. They should be expropriated. Of course that won't happen.

I see this also, but I don’t get it. An empty building still costs a bunch of taxes and upkeep and still rapidly deteriorates without tenants looking after it. Aren’t these people hemorrhaging money? What do they have to show for it? My city actually handled a majority of the rent so a business could revitalize a large-ish property that had been empty for years. Of course it failed as soon as that deal ran out.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#88

Post by domh »

Citizen_Lame wrote: post #81
voidUpdate wrote: post #58

What country are they in? The list of shops seems to suggest belgium/the netherlands. Because in the UK, I often go to toy shops with my partner. There's probably two shops in the same shopping centre you could call "toy shops", as well as a GAME which sells video games. All three of them sell lego, as well as quite a few other shops. There's also a Cex and a mini Cex if you want to buy video games and get ripped off…

GAME is bankrupt and was a shit for a long time, WH Smith is also closing lot of stores, B&M is selling tat and is half empty. But none of these are toy stores. Retail in the UK is very much dead, unless you need barber and vape shops.

Smyths toys is doing pretty well in my town, in an out of town centre retail park admittedly. It is situated in a fairly new retail park that got built exactly behind the old one where Toys R Us used to be. That got knocked down and replaced with warehouses. Must be cheaper to tear down and start from scratch than try to modernise after being vacant for a few years.

Town centre is lots of barbers, vape shops and betting shops. Few new independent bars and restaurants seem to be breaking through thankfully.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#89

Post by [deleted] »

wvbdmp wrote: post #87
ofrzeta wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really baffling that even in the shittiest areas rents or property prices are insane. It seems the capital owners just don't care or don't lose enough money to care. They should be expropriated. Of course that won't happen.

I see this also, but I don’t get it. An empty building still costs a bunch of taxes and upkeep and still rapidly deteriorates without tenants looking after it. Aren’t these people hemorrhaging money? What do they have to show for it? My city actually handled a majority of the rent so a business could revitalize a large-ish property that had been empty for years. Of course it failed as soon as that deal ran out.

[deleted]

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#90

Post by watwut »

rationalist wrote: post #19
gbear605 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we go to usually around 2 birthday parties a week during school year That's honestly impressive, some 70 birthday parties a year, plus presumably some extra in the summer.

I think it's more scary than impressive. What kind of adults are all of those children going to grow up to and become, where multiple parties are the weekly norm?

You know, 15 years old later, it is really truly completely irrelevant how many parties you went to as 5 years old.
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