Axminster Tools Warrington & Newcastle CLOSURES.

[XTiffy]

menatarms,
When I made a similar comment not long after joining I was quickly told that like the Tv, I could turn it off!
Jacob would be lost if he could not pontificate on every subject under the sun.

 

[niall Y]

Having and maintaining lots of stores, was always going to be a policy fraught with risk. I have dealt with Axminster from the very early days. Their familiar logo, in all its changing forms, is on much of my workshop equipment Because I lived in London they were to all intents and purposes , always a mail order firm, simply because I had no access to their original shop in Axminster. All credit to them, that they managed to build up a business from such an out of the way location. Their catalogue was the key, which I'm sure many of us looked forward to receiving each year.
I could never, then, fully understand their need to set up stores across the country, Especially at a time when many other specialist stores, were switching to on-line only and closing their premises. Perhaps it was a form of nostalgia on part of their directors, which has now come to bite them on their rear-ends.

 

[Spectric]

and whenever I’ve been in one of their stores it’s not exactly been busy.

This is just a sign of the times, a change in how children grow up and what they get involved in. Woodworking and other hobbies are really an extension to what we got involved in years earlier and I bet that for many round here born in the sixties & seventies that visiting a model shop was very common growing up and that it was these pastimes that sparked our interest today, we were just so much more hands on and are leaving a void behind us and is why we have lost so many model shops, Maplins gone and unfortunately the likes of Axminster are paying the price.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We also grew up in environments where things were repaired ot rebuilt - if someone in your family couldn't do it they probably knew a man in the village who could. Sheds full of tools weren't uncommon. Most young people now wouldn't know where to start even if they had the tools.
(Having said that my neighbour's eleven year old went home and told his father that his friend's dad had built a room in the attic - "you'll never guess what he did, dad - he cut the Fink Trusses.")

 

[Sachakins]

his friend's dad had built a room in the attic - "you'll never guess what he did, dad - he cut the Fink Trusses.")

, what a twit.
But you don't know what you don't know.

 

[Blister]

I think they have left the downsizing far too long , Should have started this when covid arrived.
The massive amount of money they need to pay rental / rates / advertising / heating / lighting / wages must be a killer .

 

[Sachakins]

I think they have left the downsizing far too long , Should have started this when covid arrived.
The massive amount of money they need to pay rental / rates / advertising / heating / lighting / wages must be a killer .

It's always a trade off between customer service, reputation and support versus business costs.

You can read on this forum and elsewhere how woeful service is from online only dealers as there is rarely anyone knowledgeable.
Daresay these are same people who complain retail shop is so expensive to online prices.

It's hard for any business to compete on reputation and customer service in stores nowadays, since the majority of today's buyers just search for the cheapest price and don't consider after support, until it blows up in their face, then watch them moan, squeal and rant on a forum.