Non-motoring > WH Smith Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Robin O'Reliant Replies: 19
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 Sun 9 Mar 25 22:00 
 WH Smith - Robin O'Reliant
I see WH Smith, one of the iconic Hight Street names are on the brink of going under as far as the shops are concerned.

www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/09/two-buyers-left-buy-wh-smith-high-street-division-alteri-modella

I'm not surprised, I had a book token to cash in recently and they had a very poor and much reduced selection of books on offer, and the other stuff they sell like stationary can be had for a fraction of the price elsewhere. It's a far cry from the days when Smiths was stacked wall to wall with books and it was the go to bookshop.

Every time I've visited one for a good few years now I've noticed how few customers are ever in there.

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 Sun 9 Mar 25 22:23 
 WH Smith - zippy
A family friend works for them in one of their franchised post offices.

They hate it there and are aiming to take early retirement. Apparently management is appalling.
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 Sun 9 Mar 25 22:29 
 WH Smith - martin aston
They no longer make their money on the High Street. Our local one is a large unit, poorly stocked and staffed and often deserted in terms of customers. On the other hand their airport and stations outlets are booming. They will retain those.
They are a very old company and are sitting on a large cash mountain. They are financially secure but it makes sense to sell the underperforming high street operation.
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 Sun 9 Mar 25 23:44 
 WH Smith - smokie
When Wokingham Post Office, a "proper" post office, which always had at least 4 windows open and nearly always had a moderate queue, was shoehorned into Smiths not so many years ago there were promises that service and staff numbers would remain the same. Kinda difficult as it only has three positions, and I've only ever seen two of those occupied at most - but as the queues frequently stretch the full length of the shop I avoid it like the plague.

I wonder where the Post Office will go now.

Reminded me that a couple of weeks back I wanted to get my international driving permit for upcoming US trip. It seems that NO proper post offices do them any more - even including Reading, which was a BIG one. But there are two PO desks in Co-ops around town which do do them. So off I went to the Finchampstead one, which people had told me was good but hard to park at. There is a proper PO desk in a separate are with the full glass screen and huge bags of parcels etc etc so I waited there in behind one bloke, only to find that driving licences are handled by the shop assistants in the ordinary part of the shop, which surprised me.
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 Sun 9 Mar 25 23:49 
 WH Smith - zippy
>>I wonder where the Post Office will go now.

I guess sub-post offices?

Our not so local one was alone, attached to a independent grocers, was on a quiet road for years. In the last couple of years they have built 3 housing estates around it.

Service is very good.

They are going to be raking it in!
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 07:59 
 WH Smith - Zero

>> They are going to be raking it in!

I doubt it, few people need a post office, and those that do - the elderly - is, er, not an expanding market
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 07:56 
 WH Smith - Zero
WH Smith serves(d) a market sector that no longer exists. NEwsprint? ciggies? Cards? records? CD's? paperback books? dont exist, High street? no Footfall. In short its no wonder they have been cutting cost in the stores.

As for a "post office"? simply no need for them, they will disappear,
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 10 Mar 25 at 07:57
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 08:05 
 WH Smith - Bromptonaut
>> As for a "post office"? simply no need for them, they will disappear,

Well we've had two goes at getting rid of one here and each time somebody else has stepped up to the plate. Agree it'd never be self supporting on its own but because it's part of a bigger village store that does all the other stuff like Evri, gas/electric pre payment etc. it's thriving.

It's also massively increased the shop's footfall. I used to go in there and find it deserted 70% of the time. Now there are other customers in there all the time.

Sure, you and I can use Apps for banking etc but there's a significant cohort of the population who cannot or will not.

I've had three cheques recently from DVLA, TfL and an Investment Provider. Goodness knows why all three couldn't have done a bank credit but they didn't. The first two could probably be paid in via Santander's App but the third is over their limit for that method.

Paying them in at the PO saves schlepping into town to deposit them.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 10 Mar 25 at 08:08
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 08:32 
 WH Smith - Zero
We used to have 4 sub post offices within walking distance, now down to one. I expect it to be gone in the next 4 years. As for cheques, most banking apps allow you pay in online using a photo.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 08:49 
 WH Smith - Bromptonaut
>> As for cheques, most
>> banking apps allow you pay in online using a photo.

Mine has a limit of £1k for that.

The trick for the 'Post Office' is to become a portal for much more than buying stamps and cashing pensions. Parcels whether for businesses or return of goods is huge and growing. Self help arrangements for other government services, even when digitised, is another opening.

The bit of Universal Credit that failed totally was the plan for it to be solely digital with no phone backup.

If you assert you need to claim by phone you can; the last gatekeeping of that facility ended during the pandemic.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 09:00 
 WH Smith - Terry
For more than a decade I have wondered how WHS stayed in business - prime high street sites (owned??), unit sale of possibly less than a fiver, large supermarkets selling basic stationary ranges + cards etc, Waterstones selling books.

Similarly Post Offices - most of their traditional business now online - pensions, passports, motoring forms etc. Parcel service competition. Don't have the volume to keep a local service alive.

They could/should have provided a general banking service for the high street banks whose branches have closed in droves. They had the locations and trained staff - unlike WHS.

Sympathy for those relying on jobs, and many remaining PO users who are often elderly - but the world moves on (actually moved on 2 decades ago!) and these two organisations did not.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 09:12 
 WH Smith - Bromptonaut
WHS in Northampton used to be on two floors with a very significant frontage.

A few years ago it moved across the precinct into less than half the space on one floor and it's shrunk again since there. Other than a railway magazine I try and buy every month rarely go in and that's quite often picked up elsewhere.

Stationery like pens and the A4 notebook I use for work is easier to pick up in Tesco or wherever Mrs B does the shopping.

I wondered briefly if the high st presence might reappear as John Menzies but the whole concept of newsagent plus has had its time I think.

Do WHS in Central London still fill up at lunchtime with people browsing magazines etc?
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 10:04 
 WH Smith - Zero
Bring back Finlays.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 11:16 
 WH Smith - zippy
>> As for cheques, most banking apps allow you pay in online using a photo.
>>

It's not that straight forward though. I use accounts with different banks (not grouped) and they all have difficulties with the cheque / photo process requiring several attempts before the cheque is accepted.

Also, I know several people without smartphones and a few without any mobile phones who cannot therefore use these services.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 11:47 
 WH Smith - R.P.
My local branch as a kid closed many years ago - (certainly pre-1973) it was replaced by an excellent indie newsagent/shop which stocked everything a schoolboy could want (except a computer flowchart stencil !) - it was brilliant, it closed quite recently and replaced by a branch of Specsavers. The one in Rhyl (nearerst big town these days) is about to close. All very sad, but I can't remember really when I last visited it. I believe that the larger Llandudno remains open - next one along the other way is Chester, once an epic work of design with a glass lift ! May pop to Chester tomorrow
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 11:49 
 WH Smith - R.P.
Our foodbank uses Nat West - it has improved a lot over the last couple of years, capture of my boat race was iffy and very annoying at times. I don't get any cheques for my own accounts, I know that Lloyds use it.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 13:53 
 WH Smith - Rudedog
Photo cheques are 50/50 on my phone, doesn't seem to like the blank picture of the back of the cheque.

Big Bromley PO is now upstairs as part of our WHS. Son did his driving licence renewal there, in and out in 20 minutes which included new photo and paperwork. Got it less than a week later.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 16:56 
 WH Smith - Ted

My last cheque came from some Gov dept. It was a refund for something and was for about £1.25. It went in the bin...not worth wasting time to go and cash it !

Ted
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 21:51 
 WH Smith - Fursty Ferret
I hate WH Smith and am not sorry to see it go, although I would quite like the airport and railway stores to go with it. They rank alongside EE and Ticketmaster for evilness.
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 Mon 10 Mar 25 21:56 
 WH Smith - zippy
>> I hate WH Smith and am not sorry to see it go, although I would
>> quite like the airport and railway stores to go with it. They rank alongside EE
>> and Ticketmaster for evilness.
>>

FF, you leave us with no doubt as to your lack of love for WHS :-D

May we ask why?
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