London Calling: Online shopping decimates Main Street

Retail stores in the U.S. have suffered since online shopping has boomed, and the same trend is taking a toll on shops in Britain. CBSN contributor Simon Bates discusses this and more in this week's London Calling.

[@davidellis5141]

No need to get lost in the supermarket ! Shop on line.

[@Naber_Dan]

@@batboy3746 loosen up scrooge

[@stoneyll]

"London Calling'? I was hoping to hear a Clash song~! I want my money back~!

[@blaisegordon1]

Meatloaf

[@davidellis5141]

Don't have to shop with the zombies of death , and get lost in the supermarket.

[@wesleyrodgers886]

Thrift shops. Bookies and takeaways. Ugh.

[@ovilacote4778]

retail has done this to themselves! last week our toaster broke and when we went to Walmart and sam's club they did not have toasters in stock so we ordered one from amazon. I get very tired of stores not carrying common basic item and wasting my time going store to store to find an item. I order online and receive the product quickly without wasting half a day driving around looking for somethin that is easily available online.

[@SomaraSon]

Retail is changing it’s not dying.

[@RIXRADvidz]

the shoppe workers will have to adapt or die. go get jobs with the delivery services that closed he shops, move on to other businesses that are thriving in the new economy, stop depending on the past to uphold your Future, You Have To Create Your Future, no company or job is going to do it for you.

[@BaithNa]

This is only the beginning of the massive expansion of automation. We'll have to move past the mental imprisonment of the workforce and adopt a UBI in the short term or we'll see civil unrest. The abolition of the monetary system is the long term solution but its such a futuristic concept that most people cant comprehend the notion.

[@ravensmith2492]

Every other example where financial "experts" predicted that the end of employment was looming, they were proven wrong. Yes, a lot of jobs will go away, but they always get replaced by new, different jobs and job markets. They said the same thing about the telephone, about Henry Ford and his "evil" motorcar, and about the personal computer.

[@BaithNa]

@@ravensmith2492 I never said that employment would end. I said we have to move past the mental imprisionment of the workforce ie the belief that a life without work is a life without purpose. I also think there will always be a place for humans in the service industry. And I've never seen anyone saying all jobs would go away. you should re check those sources

[@ravensmith2492]

@@BaithNa I understand what you're saying, but I think that universal income is immoral, because I think that stealing from others is immoral. It's not that a life without work is without purpose. You're looking at it the wrong way. Instead, consider that you have to trade things that others want for things that you want in a free economy with free people in it, in order for that economy to continue functioning. If you want something, you're going to have to have something of equal value (maybe your labor) in trade. That's how being free works.

[@BaithNa]

@@ravensmith2492 I dont think you understand the concept of UBI in the context in talking about or the result it would achieve. Watch the Zeitgeist films on Netflix if you want a better understanding or sub to the Majority Report. I do want to know if you are against taxation though? Are you one of those libertarian types? And what are your thoughts on the NFL and other sports organizations getting free stadiums from cities? On that note, how do you feel about corporate welfare, money in politics, generational wealth and the inheritance tax? All of those things are currently "stealing" from you far more than a UBI would and the UBI would also pay you because its universal. And a UBI can be extracted from the one percent and never impact your taxes.

[@fourmula4812]

folow this with your....teeth

[@stevehotspur]

There is no Main Street in Britain it's the High Street.............Simon Bates should know better. We don't call them thrift stores they are charity shops...........

[@25bmax]

Notting stays forever. Everything change that's also including me. Few more years I will be gone just like the high street.

[@sunchicheng5108]

Ever since online shopping all local shop die slowly!

[@Naber_Dan]

Duh, ya think. Same thing Walmart is trying to do. I shop local.

[@ravensmith2492]

What's wrong with stores converting to online?

[@Naber_Dan]

@@ravensmith2492 jobs, tax revenue, vitality of a city, life as we know it.

[@ravensmith2492]

@@Naber_Dan When Henry Ford and his evil motor car threatened the massive railroad industry, was it logical for railroad backers to suppress Ford's crazy "horseless carriage" ideas, and petition that people should support "the norm?" No. The very idea of a FREE MARKET is that small businesses need to either adapt to changing needs of their customers or they die. Those jobs will be replaced by new jobs and new industries. There is NOTHING wrong with online companies who found a better, faster, and more efficient way. You are immoral if you want to try to suppress that.

[@Naber_Dan]

@@ravensmith2492 shop local buy American maga

[@claudettes9697]

70,000 jobs in 3 months in retail!? Brexit will break Britain. ☹

[@ravensmith2492]

Why? You don't think britons were smart enough or strong enough to run their own country before the EU ? Do you think Brits need the EU to trade with other nations, and to control that trade so it benefits them?

[@claudettes9697]

@@ravensmith2492 No, and yes, if you want to eat.