It is easy to bombard folk with figures from dubious, questionable sources that tell nothing of the story that lie beneath. When we address elements of society that are affected by Covid, Brexit, changing tastes and fashions, or even acts of god, we are too quick to refer to a poll taken in 2006 from a sample size of 100 people. Lies, damned lies and statistics are wrong 100.1 per cent of the time, so I shan’t bother trying to pull the wool over your eyes regarding retail and its current plight.

The high street is not so much on its knees as struggling for its final breath after being stripped naked and dragged through the streets off the back of a rusty old jalopy. It has then been subject to a frenzied attack as we collectively maul the stricken carcass. Captains of industry continue to be incredulous, even after the tipping point, as we see the likes of Debenhams, Arcadia and other former big hitters finally get relegated from the premier league.

And so, on the precipice, as many other old timers are, they cling to hope in this, the season of goodwill. They pray, against logic, and despite the huge online corporate juggernauts killing them with a death of a thousand price cuts, as they say the right things up until the point the guillotine comes crashing down. In addition to competition, they also face the perfect storm of Covid, a ludicrous tier system that looks as if it were designed by the Only Connect question setters, and Brexit, as they see the cards are not so much stacked against them but suffocating each and every fibre of their bottom line beings.

As a final annual throw of the dice, they pin their hopes on the Boxing Day sales: the time of the year when we all have a bit of disposable income in our back pockets thanks to auntie Gladys who threw us a nifty in yesterday’s Christmas card. It is that time when overpriced items you can buy cheaper online are finally discounted in store, as we gear up to not get too hungover for the morning as the intention is to get to Next at 6am to avoid the crowds and get your mitts on some of the good clobber. Yet, even with this retail bone, the cat is out of the bag in the shape of online. We are now too aware as to the intricacies of high street overheads. We know they have extortionate rents to pay, staff to feed and expectations of shareholders to fulfil.

The sales have also changed due to greed, desperation, or both. The American import of Black Friday became huge a couple of years ago. Fast forward and it is now Black Friday week, and in some cases month. Retailers attempt to get in as early as possible with many having never ending closing down sales that go on, seemingly, for decades.

The sales are now never ending and expected, as if the Iceland business model is being used by all and sundry. The appeal of queuing up outside Next in the cold mid-winter has now waned as we stand behind a proper shopper who has brought along five bags for life in anticipation of the bargains they will gleefully take home and likely never use.

The sadness is that with all the help retail arguably need due to competition, Covid, lockdowns and tiers, they have been agents of their own demise. Like black cabs who did not act pro-actively by challenging Uber at the outset, retail continues in denial as to what it can do to save itself, whereas the truth is that it is on life support with a terminal illness.

So enjoy one last hurrah, as we stand out in a socially distanced queue in anticipation of picking up an organic cotton work shirt for a fiver, as it may well be the last chance you get before we become fully submissive to the likes of Amazon. Theirs is a retail river that will continue to be as successful as their business practices have been innovative, yet ultimately ruinous.

  • Brett Ellis is a teacher