Meet the hardworking Americans who single-handedly saved their hometowns' dying main streets

3 weeks, 2 days ago

WH Smith's name WILL disappear from the High Street as whoever buys troubled retail giant's 500 up-for-sale stores will have to change their branding

WH Smith's name will disappear from British high streets after more than 230 years of trading as the retailer plans to sell the chain - without rights to its name. The sale would likely see the WH Smith name disappear from the British high street where it has been a constant for 233 years, since the first shop opened in …

London Retail British High Smith Street Stores

2 months, 1 week ago

The tragic decline of Britain's 'ugliest' town: How once-thriving enclave just a stone's throw from Windsor is plagued with drugs, boarded up shops and even human faeces

Daily Mail

Britain’s ‘ugliest town’ once had a thriving high street before it became filled with ‘drug dealers, prostitutes and sometimes human poo’, fed-up locals have revealed. The depressing shopping scene has forced many locals from the Berkshire town to turn their back on the once beloved high street While it is a well-known fact that high streets up and down Britain …

Shopping Council Britain Town Street Shops Slough

2 months, 3 weeks ago

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Squeezing the life out of high streets

Daily Mail

There are many reasons for the slow, apparently inexorable decline of the British high street. One might think a government claiming to be pro-business and pro-growth would extend a helping hand to these beleaguered local retailers. A National Insurance hike, steep rise in the minimum wage and cut in the business rate discount will simply be too much for many …

Business Cent Small

3 months, 3 weeks ago

Tackle business rates to prevent the death of the High Street, says Mitchells & Butlers pubs boss

Daily Mail

The boss of Mitchells and Butlers has warned High Streets ‘are going to die’ without a radical reform of business rates to offset soaring costs from the Budget. Phil Urban, chief executive of the 1,700-strong pub group behind the Harvester and All Bar One chains, said his company alone faces £100million of extra costs. The pain on the High Street …

Budget Urban Business Rates High Streets

4 months ago

Letters to the Editor: L.A.’s dangerous sidewalks forced me to abandon public transportation

LA Times

To the editor: I live on Silver Lake Boulevard. Now, because of the poor condition of the sidewalk between Berkeley Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, I either use a ride-sharing service, ask a friend to drive me, or I don’t go. To the editor: If the city of Los Angeles doesn’t have money to fund a capital infrastructure plan, officials should …

Los Angeles Sidewalks Editor

4 months ago

Letters to the Editor: Stop spreading this outdated trope about single-family neighborhoods

LA Times

To the editor: Once again, it is being suggested that those who own and live in single-family homes are wealthy and white. Such a suggestion implies that single-family zoning is inherently unfair and that every block of homes needs at least one huge box with balconies covering nearly an entire lot, just to bring these homeowners down a rung or …

Parking Space R1 Neighborhoods

4 months, 3 weeks ago

Erie's Black Business Community Weighs In on the Presidential Election

Associated Press

Local business owners and voters in Erie, Pennsylvania, are weighing the impact of each candidate's economic vision on their plans to renew the Rust Belt. While some are cautiously optimistic about Harris' proposals to support small businesses, others are skeptical of the impact that federal policy could have on their lives.

Politics Law Community Economy Erie

5 months ago

How Trump's billionaires are hijacking affordable housing

Raw Story

America’s morbidly rich billionaires are at it again, this time screwing the average family’s ability to have decent, affordable housing in their never-ending quest for more, more, more. “On the first Tuesday of each month,” notes the Journal article about a similar phenomenon in Atlanta, investors “toted duffels stuffed with millions of dollars in cashier’s checks made out in various …

Homes Housing Trump Income Houses Journal American

5 months, 3 weeks ago

American roads are dangerous. State oversight stifles safety intervention.

Slate

Later this month, San Antonio is having a block party to celebrate the renovation of Lower Broadway. They’re in the habit of building expensive infrastructure for cars and that’s what they continue to do.” Russo learned, as the head of the Oakland Department of Transportation, that a city street that dipped beneath a freeway needed a state permit, which called …

Cars Broadway Texas Road Street Lanes Dot

6 months ago

Is THIS Britain's most dug-up street? Inside the market town where neighbours have endured roadworks 27 times in just one year

Daily Mail

Fuming residents in a market town believe they have been cursed with the most dug-up street in the UK after enduring 27 separate sets of roadworks in the space of a year. The constant works left 350-yard Station Road in Wymondham, Norfolk, looking like a 'patchwork quilt' until it was resurfaced recently - only for workers to move in and …

Traffic Work Council Roadworks Station Town Street

6 months, 1 week ago

If we’re sick of buying online and the high street has died, where will we shop?

The Independent

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

Retail Online Online Shopping High Our Weekly Guide Payne Irl

7 months, 2 weeks ago

Sell-off on Wall Street: Why it is happening and what it says about the economy

LA Times

Specialist Glenn Carell works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Technology stocks have been hit particularly hard lately: The Nasdaq composite was, for a moment on Monday, down more than 10% since the middle of last week, entering into what economists euphemistically call “correction” territory. And even when things level out, the …

Economy Markets Fed Nasdaq Zandi Selling Stocks

8 months, 2 weeks ago

US cities cope with vacant offices, crime

China Daily

By LIA ZHU in San Francisco | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2024-07-10 15:32 In San Francisco's Chinatown, Thomas Tam, owner of Dragon Seed, a custom dress shop, sits behind his counter, observing pedestrians pass by his store. The exodus of tech companies from traditional office spaces, coupled with a shift toward hybrid work models, has left downtown San Francisco quiet on …

Data Cities Office City San Francisco Philadelphia Oakland

8 months, 2 weeks ago

US cities cope with vacant offices, crime

China Daily

In San Francisco's Chinatown, Thomas Tam, owner of Dragon Seed, a custom dress shop, sits behind his counter, observing pedestrians pass by his store. The city's overall office vacancy rate stood at 36.8 percent in the second quarter, according to data from real estate firm CBRE. Oakland's downtown office-vacancy rate hit 21.2 percent in the first quarter this year, a …

Data Cities Office City San Francisco Philadelphia Oakland

9 months ago

America's worst-run city is revealed: and it's not New York or Chicago...

Daily Mail

San Francisco has ranked as America's worst-run city, thanks to its looming $1.4 billion budget deficit and social problems from homelessness to crime and cash-strapped public schools. The desolate reality of San Francisco's hollowed out city center was laid bare earlier this month by footage showing every store in an entire retail block shuttered and empty. Retailers like Whole Foods, …

Cities City San Francisco New York San Francisco Boise

9 months, 3 weeks ago

How are downtowns doing? Philly offers clues

NPR

How are downtowns doing? LAUREL WAMSLEY, BYLINE: It's lunchtime on a weekday afternoon when I meet up with Prema Katari Gupta, CEO of Philadelphia's Center City District. GUPTA: We are standing in Rittenhouse Square, which is one of the great parks in Philadelphia - really large trees, lots of people enjoying what's not even a particularly nice day. WAMSLEY: One …

Cities Office City Philadelphia Live Think Npr

10 months, 2 weeks ago

Corporate real estate is on a 'cliff edge' as firms race to rethink communal spaces

BBC

Corporate real estate is on a 'cliff edge' as firms race to rethink communal spaces Getty Images Companies are realising they don't need vast spaces, which will leave a swath of commercial real estate empty in the coming years As businesses downsize in the hybrid-work era, empty offices could become 'flats for millionaires with little daylight' – or an opportunity …

Real Estate London Space Cities Commercial Companies Buildings

10 months, 3 weeks ago

America's forgotten 'doom loop' city, where $205m skyscrapers are selling for under $4m and the decaying downtown has become a ghost town

Daily Mail

St. Louis downtown has become a ghost town - with buildings boarded up and skyscrapers plummeting in value. Major cities like San Francisco have hit headlines amid concerns their urban districts are in the grip of a doom loop - but a new report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that St. Louis' decaying downtown is facing an even worse …

Cities Louis Macy Downtown Office Buildings St Town

11 months ago

Main street banking model is being squeezed

Live Mint

Regional banks posted steep profit declines in the first quarter and predicted more pain ahead. In the first quarter, most of the larger regional banks forecast that net interest income, the difference between what they earn on loans and pay out on deposits, would fall for the full year. Some regional and community banks also hold high concentrations of commercial …

Financial Real Quarter Banks Regional Commercial Real Estate Regional Banks

11 months, 2 weeks ago

Streeting hits out at ‘middle-class Lefties’ opposed to Labour NHS plans

The Telegraph

Wes Streeting has criticised “middle-class Lefties” opposed to Labour’s plans for NHS reform. The shadow health secretary said his party would make use of the private healthcare sector in order to reduce NHS waiting lists in a move he conceded would prompt claims of betrayal from some quarters. Mr Streeting has previously warned that the health service will go bankrupt …

Labour Nhs Private Health Lefties

11 months, 3 weeks ago

The ever changing face of Britain's High Street: One in seven stores are now empty

Daily Mail

High Streets that were once the pride of British communities are being gutted worrying new figures show, with shops sitting empty and the North East the worst hit by vacancies - while retail giants like Zara and Primark are bucking the trend. Geographically, the highest vacancy rates for high streets, Retail Parks and were in the North East, closely followed …

Shopping Wales London Retail Online Shopping Sales High

1 year ago

Changing face of UK's high streets: How nearly 5,000 stores have shut in past year after retailers including Wilko, Paperchase and M&Co shut their doors - while Greggs, Domino's and Costa thrive

Daily Mail

But other firms including Greggs, Domino's and Aldi have opened more shops Nearly 5,000 stores shut across Britain last year after retailers including Wilko, Paperchase and Lloyds pharmacy shut their doors. WATERLOOVILLE: Wendy and Eric Croad, 72 and 75 respectively, have lived in the area since 1955 but regret to see the area's sharp decline BANBURY: Local resident Robert Page, …

Shopping Retail Local Marks High Plans Britain

1 year ago

Downtown DC Confronts a Grim Prospect: A Return to the Dismal 1980s

Politico

Bowser has continued to lobby the White House to bring staff back to town most days, even making common cause with some of the administration’s most strident GOP critics. Nina Albert, the city’s economic-development chief, told me the ambition was “to be a model city for repositioning downtowns to what the next new normal is.” That new normal could potentially …

City Town

1 year, 2 months ago

Nothing to see here! San Francisco journalist shares photo of tourists walking down 'GUTTED' main street in crime-ridden city, where almost all shops have now closed

Daily Mail

A journalist has shared alarming images of a once-prominent street that's been rocked by store closures in San Francisco. Instead of being graced with an array of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants, the party is seen encountering countless shuttered storefronts 'This pic infuriates me,' wrote Sandberg, a self-employed San Francisco correspondent, in an impassioned post to X that laid bare …

Union City San Francisco San District Seen Francisco

1 year, 5 months ago

Does the death of the high street matter – if we are in a new era of the ‘Playground City’?

The Independent

Whenever my parents needed to pacify three fractious girls under the age of seven, they only had to take us on a trip to Woolworths. “The idea with cities has been that first and foremost, should be pursuing economic growth, then you can do all the other stuff – you can have parks, you can have good spaces, investment in …

Space Cities City Liverpool High Street Era

1 year, 9 months ago

Opinion: L.A. and other cities are recovering, but not their downtowns. Why?

LA Times

A fiscal “doom loop.” A transit “death spiral.” The “office apocalypse.” Since the traumatic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, these pessimistic terms have been applied repeatedly to the state of our cities. Figueroa, Los Feliz and Highland Park have some of the highest population densities in L.A. County, as well as access to amenities including the USC campus and Griffith …

Housing Cities Los Los Angeles Usc Los Feliz Highland Park

1 year, 9 months ago

Opinion: Downtown L.A.’s ‘zombies’: How to fight a post-COVID plague of undead office buildings

LA Times

The pandemic-driven shift to remote and hybrid work has decreased demand for office space and will steadily lower its value. A recent Boston Consulting Group survey found that many office buildings are at risk of becoming “ zombies,” with low usage, high vacancy and quickly diminishing financial viability. Cities need to take several steps over the next few years to …

Tax Property Cities Revenue Public Owners Property Owners

1 year, 9 months ago

Wall Street churns to a mixed finish

LA Times

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a deal over the weekend to allow the U.S. government to borrow more money, a move that would enable it to avoid a default on its debt. Wall Street churned to a mixed finish Tuesday as a long list of worries looms, even if the most pressing crisis seems to be calming …

Economy Market Treasury House Biden Street Wall

1 year, 9 months ago

The Ticking Time Bomb in America’s Downtowns

Slate

They call it the “debt wall,” and it is not the kind of wall that protects you. It is creeping up for office space in particular, but don’t let downtown’s struggles cloud your vision: Most office space is suburban, and most “commercial real estate” is not office space—it is also composed of medical offices and malls and warehouses and data …

Office Commercial Buildings Interest Rates Estate Real Owners

1 year, 10 months ago

Opinion: Downtown San Francisco had a good run. Can it recover?

LA Times

Pedestrians walk past the headquarters of First Republic Bank, which was seized by regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase Bank, becoming the latest San Francisco business to topple. First Republic Bank, another San Francisco success story, went under after it couldn’t retain its wealthy customers and was sold to JPMorgan Chase. Now barely a day passes without the San Francisco …

Tech Bank Work City San Francisco San Francisco

2 years, 5 months ago

Ghost-town San Francisco: Tech entrepreneur shares snaps of woke city's deserted downtown midweek

Daily Mail

A San Francisco tech entrepreneur has shared startling scenes of the deserted downtown of her city, with the previously bustling streets void of people and eerily quiet. Tech entrepreneur Michelle Tandler spent the week photographing desolate San Francisco during weekday mornings, in areas that would have been bustling with workers pre-COVID Tandler noted that the normally bustling downtown was eerily …

Crime Tech Office Remote Work Work Workers City

2 years, 5 months ago

In drawn-out recovery, NYC inches out from COVID’s shadow

Associated Press

NEW YORK — As kids returned to school last month, people watching New York City pull itself out of COVID-19’s shadow wondered whether workers who fled Manhattan’s office towers during the pandemic would finally return in a rush, too. “We’re certainly entered a changed relationship between office workers and their offices,” said James Parrott, director of Economic and Fiscal Policies …

Pandemic New York City Office Workers City New York Manhattan

2 years, 5 months ago

In drawn-out recovery, NYC inches out from COVID's shadow

The Independent

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy As kids returned to …

Pandemic New York City Office Workers City Manhattan Bowles

2 years, 8 months ago

San Francisco's small businesses are closing in waves as city devolves into an open air drug market

Daily Mail

San Francisco's small businesses are closing down in waves as tech workers remain slow to return to the office, it has been revealed - a consequence of the woke city's continuing woes since the start of the pandemic. San Francisco's small businesses are closing down in waves as tech workers remain slow to return to the office, it has been …

Crime Market School Tesla Office Google Remote Work

2 years, 10 months ago

Final-hour rally yanks Wall Street from maw of bear market

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Wall Street rumbled to the edge of a bear market Friday after another drop for stocks briefly sent the S&P 500 more than 20% below its peak set early this year. “Whether or not the S&P 500 closes in a bear market does not matter too much,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments. …

Economy Stocks Market Inflation Investors Fed Street

3 years, 2 months ago

Hong Kong’s travel curbs biggest challenge to business: AmCham

Al Jazeera

Survey by American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong finds 60 percent of respondents view curbs as biggest concern. Hong Kong’s harsh travel curbs have become the biggest challenge to doing business in the international financial hub, a survey of US businesses has found. In the latest survey released by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong on Wednesday, …

Business China Hong Kong Survey Kong Hong Joseph

3 years, 4 months ago

If Sunak was the visionary he claims to be, high streets would fare much better

The Independent

Having covered many of the annual set pieces, I am well versed in their rhythm, the raising and lowering of the chancellor’s volume, their speeding up and slowing down. The traditional high street retailers must somehow try and combat online shops, uphill with their arms tied around their backs. So, it goes on: the playing field stays tilted heavily in …

Business Online Treasury High Rates Street Business Rates

3 years, 6 months ago

Thieves are targeting Broken Hill small businesses that are locked down and unable to trade

ABC

Police say a recent spate of break-ins suggests thieves that might otherwise steal from empty houses are instead targeting small businesses that have been forced to close during lockdown. Key points: Several Broken Hill businesses have been broken into this month Police say thieves are targeting empty closed businesses because homes are occupied during lockdown Local grocer says it is …

Hill Businesses Store Broken Hill Schinella Targeting Broken

3 years, 6 months ago

Adapt or else: Downtown businesses cope with new reality

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Downtown businesses in the U.S. and abroad once took for granted that nearby offices would provide a steady clientele looking for breakfast, lunch, everyday goods and services and last-minute gifts. “There’s no question, it’s hard for business districts like ours, we miss our workers,” said Jessica Lappin, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. “Nobody misses …

Business London Pandemic Office Restaurant Workers Detroit

3 years, 8 months ago

This is what the high street of the future will look like

Wired

John Timpson knows a thing or two about the high street. The impact of the pandemic on our towns and cities has, he says, been seismic: “What we have seen is ten years of change on the high street all in one go, but it’s been all the negatives, without any positives,” he explains. “Town centres need to have a …

High Street Shops Timpson Pilkington Town Centres

3 years, 9 months ago

Why Wall Street is in a rush to get workers back in the office

CNN

New York CNN Business — Wall Street is wasting no time getting its employees back into the office — whether they want to be there or not. Marshall Sandman, a 29-year-old former Goldman Sachs investment banker, said Wall Street is rushing back to the office in part because of a desire to reestablish the traditional mentor/mentee model. “And we don’t …

Employees Office Work Investment Banking Rush New York Cnn

3 years, 10 months ago

Minneapolis’ business community is still reeling one year after George Floyd’s murder

CNN

New York CNN Business — It’s been 365 days since George Floyd was murdered by a police officer on a Minneapolis street. Local business leaders say rising crime and a divided state government have obstructed their city’s ongoing recovery from both the pandemic and the civil unrest that erupted following Floyd’s death. “We don’t have an accurate number, but it’s …

Business Community Local Islam Restaurant Minnesota State

4 years ago

'We Don't Have The Luxury To Fall Apart': Black Businesses Get Creative To Survive

NPR

'We Don't Have The Luxury To Fall Apart': Black Businesses Get Creative To Survive Enlarge this image toggle caption Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR Entrepreneur Keitra Bates stands in a gleaming glass-front retail shop in a new development on the south side of Atlanta. Enlarge this image toggle caption Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR …

Business Black Image Smith Businesses Bates Reynolds

4 years, 1 month ago

The high street is dying – it’s time to stop pretending otherwise

The Independent

Every crisis has a pivotal moment, the point when the gravity of the situation hits home. This is it now – it’s the awful prognosis, the final rejection, the filing of divorce papers, the realisation you’re driving a car that is going to crash. We’ve been here before – the Centre for Retail Research estimates 54 chains failed last year, …

High Street Debenhams Boohoo Topshop

4 years, 2 months ago

How Minneapolis small businesses banded together to survive COVID

Al Jazeera

Small firms weathered the economic fallout from COVID-19 as well as the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police this year. Small businesses like Bloomstrand’s make up 99.5 percent of businesses in the US state of Minnesota, and they employ nearly half of Minnesota’s private workforce. “I think I’ve gained trust through social media by being …

Business Social Media Coffee Small Businesses Minnesota Covid Things

4 years, 3 months ago

Life, death and pandemic greet California’s struggling Main Streets

LA Times

Konstantinos Varelas twisted a string of blue komboloi — Greek worry beads — outside his family’s restaurant on Main Street in El Monte. They love streets with activity,” said Miles Orvell, a Temple University professor and author of “The Death and Life of Main Street: Small Towns in American Space, Memory and Community.” “They love the idea of living in …

Pandemic Small Businesses Los Colorado Small El Monte Pasadena

4 years, 4 months ago

2020 US election: Wall Street rallies as Main Street reels

Al Jazeera

The odds of the United States Senate flipping to Democratic control are growing slimmer, which is good news for Wall Street but likely spells protracted pain for struggling workers and businesses. Even if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the Oval Office, a Republican-controlled Senate could quash his biggest economic priorities, including proposed tax hikes. But rock-bottom interest rates are …

Congress Democrats Senate Republican Fed Wall Wall Street

4 years, 5 months ago

From Detroit to Oakland, pandemic threatens urban renewal

Associated Press

DETROIT — Downtown Detroit was returning to its roots as a vibrant city center, motoring away from its past as the model of urban ruin. “All of that I think has been upended, and I don’t know when it’s going to recover.” In Cleveland, the downtown was thriving before the pandemic with two new residential towers opening and paint maker …

Pandemic Office Workers City San Francisco California San

4 years, 6 months ago

Footfall ‘not returning’ to city centres as office workers stay at home

The Independent

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The latest monthly BRC ShopperTrak footfall monitor revealed that UK footfall slid by 34.3 …

Retail Cent Centres Continued City Centres High Streets Shopping Centres

Meet the hardworking Americans who single-handedly saved their hometowns' dying main streets

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