Who’s minding the stores? Not our MPs

IT IS a terrible irony that the crumbling of Debenhams and the Arcadia Group comes just as the jingle-tills frenzy of Christmas should be getting underway in proper. Where once the windows of their stores would have been full of tinsel and promise, of fake snow and fake fur, sparkly frocks and seasonal socks, now it all looks terribly hollow.

Not only has the virus put paid to those traditional jostling in-store crowds but, far more importantly, to the future of many thousands of people who work in the retail sector.

As it stands, the closure of all Debenhams stores will see the loss of 12,000 jobs. On top of that the problems faced by the likes of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and the rest of Arcadia places a further 13,000 roles at risk.

I have written before about the issues faced by our high street and how, more than ever, we must all support it

– but now it’s time for the Government to step in.

You and I can continue handing over our cash to real human beings rather than a PayPal account all we like but it’s clear that’s just not enough any more, we need a Minister for Retail and we need a plan. This is an industry which employs around three million people, many of whom are women. The salaries they draw may not support a lavish lifestyle of yachts and mansions – hello Phillip Green – but they can mean the difference between paying the mortgage or not, between keeping a family’s head above water or sinking into debt.

We cannot simply allow tens of thousands of these roles to be lost.

And if it was any other sector, I am convinced action would have already been taken.

Of course, it’s not all the fault of the pandemic. Some businesses – including Debenhams – were wobbling 12 months ago, having failed to adapt to digitally changing times. Likewise Laura Ashley and a host of others who have recently pulled down the shutters.

But the events of the last nine months have accelerated the online trend enormously. Lockdown and Tier restrictions have meant many of us had no option but to change the way we shopped, and at one stage half of all money being spent this year was done so digitally.

That doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever, though.

And don’t give me the line that structural change always means people must retrain. Yes, some staff in some sectors – retail included – may need to pivot in a new direction but this isn’t an obsolete industry.

People will always still want to consume.

What we need are fresh ideas in making the real-time shopping experience better as well as investment in our city centres to make them easier, cheaper and more attractive to access.

The crisis which is engulfing the retail sector is not going to go away anytime soon but the sooner those in power take action, the sooner a lot more people can sleep easier in their beds.