It was Tom Baker, the greatest Doctor Who, who said that going into WH Smith makes you want to open a vein and I know how he feels. Sunday morning. 10am.
The Sauchiehall Street branch. Half-empty shelves. Patched-up carpet.
A Photo-Me booth. And a large red sign with the word of doom: CLEARANCE. I wander round and think: it’s sad when a familiar shop gets like this.
I remember it happening to Woolworths and Debenhams and all the others, and then I think: how often did I go to those places? I felt a twinge and a pang in 2009 when Woolies closed down but I hadn’t bought anything from them for years, so I’m part of the problem, and so are you. We say we want the high street but we stay at home and scroll, scroll, scroll, because it’s easier, cheaper, better. They can still make it work in some cases.
I’m writing this in Waterstone’s which is just down the road from the Sauchiehall Street branch of WH Smith. There was a time, you’ll remember, when people said bookshops were doomed because Kindles and online shopping were the thing. But Waterstone’s concentrated on making their stores pleasant places to hang out and have a coffee and a cake, and they sell other things as well as books, so they got over the wobble and have a future.
It’s much trickier with a place like WH Smith. Like Waterstone’s, they could have invested in making their stores more pleasant places. But the owners admit investing in replacing their famously bad carpets (which have their own mock.
