Shoppers fear demise of the high street within a decade
MANY shoppers fear the internet will kill off the traditional high street within 10 years, a survey revealed yesterday.
But the poll of nearly 1,000 consumers suggests retailers could bring back sales if they introduce new ways of serving customers.
The survey comes as the Daily Express crusades to save high street businesses from competitors on the web.
Last month analysts at the Altus Group predicted that more than 23,000 shops would close this year, with the loss of 175,000 jobs.
The survey by loans firm KIS Finance shows that 61 per cent of those polled were worried the high street will be lost in 10 years’ time.
When asked what would make them more likely to shop in a store, 41 per cent said more staff should be hired to make service quicker.
Thirty-four per cent wanted clearer checks on stock availability in store, 27 per cent wanted 24-hour service and 26 per cent called for self-checkout services.
Holly Andrews of KIS Finance said: “Consumer shopping habits are changing and the high street needs to change with it.”
Helen Dickinson of the British Retail Consortium said: “Retail is undergoing a period of unprecedented change in response to new technologies and changing consumer behaviour.”
But Government policy has been slow to respond. “The business rates system is holding back firms as they invest to adapt,” she added.
AS PART of the biggest and brashest girl band of the Noughties, Melody Thornton performed in front of stadium audiences screaming wildly for the Pussycat Dolls’ eyepopping outfits, sexy moves and in-your-face image.
And now she’s one of the favourites to win ITV’s hit Sunday night show Dancing On Ice and the first celebrity to try out the frightening headbanger move, which will involve her skating partner Alexander Demetriou spinning Melody by her ankles, with her head swinging close to the ice.
Yet secretly throughout her time with the Dolls, Melody was in therapy for her low self-esteem.
“I lost so much confidence and felt really worthless,” she says. “Because it was pointed out, over and over again, that I was the weakest link in the group.
“And when you’re told, over and over again ‘You’re worthless in this group’, it’s amazing how it affects you mentally. I’d never felt insecure until I joined the Pussycat Dolls.”
Melody was only 19 and fresh from high school when she joined the group alongside Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt and Jessica Sutta.
She says that endless criticism from record label executives and frustration at Nicole constantly being given lead vocals left Melody so crushed she needed counselling.
“It felt awful, uncomfortable,” she recalls. “I was a singer, not a trained dancer, but wasn’t allowed to sing and was told I couldn’t dance.
“Imagine being on the Tube next to somebody that you don’t trust. If you took that feeling, bottled it up and felt it every night for 90 minutes, that’s how it felt for six or seven years. So it was overwhelming.”
As we talk 34-year-old Melody is in tears as she remembers how she tried to hide the emotional strain behind the pouts and posturing of a Pussycat Doll.
“Once Whitney Houston was in the audience and I sang like I never sang before. So every night I told myself she was in the crowd to give me the strength to pretend to be another person.
“I had to do something to keep going. So after each concert I went back to my room and in the shower always sang a song by Donny Hathaway called A Song For You. It’s a pretty depressing song but I was trying to find a place for my pain. I always asked for a room in a separate place from my bandmates because they would know it was me singing.”
Life in a demanding and harshly unforgiving working environment soon took such a toll Melody showed physical symptoms. “I started having panic attacks when I was in the group – on planes and random places. It was obvious my body was saying ‘Let’s stop doing this’.
“So I was in therapy when I was in the Dolls and maybe two years after that. My last panic attack was 2014.
“I’ve never taken any medication. It was definitely suggested but I didn’t take anything. I just kept thinking to myself ‘This is real life and it’s an unusual situation not a lot of people understand’. It took me years to get over it, it really did.”
MELODY is keen to point out that she has no bad feelings towards singer Nicole Scherzinger or group founder Robin Antin. “People would assume that I was so mad at Nicole because she sang and I didn’t. Well, no. That was her dream and it was coming true for her. I just wanted it for myself too. I wanted the best for everyone.
“I’m a phenomenal vocalist, you just never heard it. But it wasn’t Nicole’s fault. There was an opportunity for her there and she needed to capitalise on it. She’d been in groups prior to Pussycat Dolls so the label wanted her to sing leads. Every time I would say ‘If I could sing more then I wouldn’t be the weakest link’. But