Stores that will disappear from our High Streets in the next decade or so?

[blue matt]

Libraries....ours has gone volunteer-led but serves more of a community function now. Cost saving for the council....yes. Does the idea work...so long as there are enough trained volunteers but I can see that changing over the next 10 years.
As for the others...apart from a bit of holiday cash, I used a travel agents 6 years ago and before that probably in about 1999. Banks are stuffed too. Bookies....going, going....
Record shops.... a few hang on and departmental stores are becoming a thing of the past. Basically the high street is no longer needed apart from grub and booze.

Libraries down this way really are a community hub, linking a library, swimming pool, sports centre, skate park etc etc, got 3 around me that are purpose built

I popped to the swimming pool in Swindon last weekend, i was officiating at a swimming gala, the library it attached to the swimming pool, bounce park, ice rink and leisure centre, the computer section was fairly busy with people using the PC's

[surge]

We seem to have had a decade where staples of the high street were shut down/forced to move to easily accessible "shopping malls" and replaced by outlets that preyed on fads such as vaping, coffee or cocktails. Maybe the next decade will see a backlash as public reach more for healthy and sustainable choices such as "no waste shops", vegan cafes and exercise based shops.

Has the past decade seen people become less interested in their community? Or maybe having less time or money to spend in their local community? Or maybe greater access to destinations further afield which seemed more of interest?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Has the past decade seen people become less interested in their community? Or maybe having less time or money to spend in their local community? Or maybe greater access to destinations further afield which seemed more of interest?

Certainly the ability to travel more easily on our increasingly clogged up roads means people are more willing to travel further afield for recreation. People will venture further as long as something is good. I think there's an onus on towns to provide facilities and shops that people will travel for.

I also believe people have less time for their communities. Working couples struggle to pay for a mortgage nowadays. Shift patterns are very different from 20 years ago. People less willing to give up their time.

[Wales-Bales]

I also believe people have less time for their communities. Working couples struggle to pay for a mortgage nowadays. Shift patterns are very different from 20 years ago. People less willing to give up their time.

Thatcher's dream has been fulfilled.

[bobh]

Libraries down this way really are a community hub, linking a library, swimming pool, sports centre, skate park etc etc, got 3 around me that are purpose built

I popped to the swimming pool in Swindon last weekend, i was officiating at a swimming gala, the library it attached to the swimming pool, bounce park, ice rink and leisure centre, the computer section was fairly busy with people using the PC's

St Mellons library has just been revamped...
but the community centre next to it has been demolished...
apparently to make way for a mosque.

[Croesy Blue]

apparently to make way for a mosque.

Why is that relevant?