Scott Wright: Collapse of M&Co should set alarm bells ringing

Reading over the notice in the window, I remember thinking that I hoped that the family-owned M&Co would find a way to survive, that a buyer would come forward to save jobs and stores and keep some six decades of clothing retailing tradition intact.

It proved to be a forlorn hope. Just one week later the news came that there would be no happy ending for M&Co. All 170 M&Co stores will now close for the final time in spring, taking with them the livelihoods of nearly 2,000 people and sealing the demise of yet another established name on the Scottish high street.

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Administrators struck a deal with Peterborough-based AK Retail Holdings, owner of Yours Clothing, to take on the M&Co brand, but not the stores.

It has become a familiar theme in the retail industry, with companies taking on the intellectual property of failed retailers such as Debenhams, Made.com and, just recently, Paperchase, allowing their brands to live on in the virtual world while no longer existing in bricks and mortar.

In reaching the end of the road, M&Co has followed in the inglorious footsteps of the numerous major retailers which have failed in the UK in recent years. Woolworths, BHS, Debenhams, Top Shop and, in Scotland, department stores Watt Brothers and McEwens are among the many household names that have disappeared from the high street as the retail landscape has changed beyond all recognition. And with the ongoing cost-of-trading crisis still in full swing, they are unlikely to be the last.

The reasons for the decline of the high street have been well-documented. In essence, we no longer shop the way we used to, often preferring to buy what we need online or in large destination shopping centres – which also offer leisure activities such as cinemas and restaurants – on the edge of towns. Moreover, at the moment, many of us just do not have enough cash in our pockets to spend on non-food items, given the current rate of inflation and rising interest rates.

The pandemic stripped many Scottish towns and cities of life. It now seems yet more major change is likely – and it does not look like it will be for the better.

Furthermore, it is not only retailers that are feeling the heat. Pubs, restaurants and cafes are pulling down the shutters for the last time at an alarming rate, their prospects having been undermined by the high cost of doing business, weak consumer sentiment and, especially in city centres, factors such as a dearth of taxis and unreliable public transport.

It is a pattern that is rightly causing concern and it is not alarmist to say we are at risk of losing the soul of our towns, villages and cities, as outlined by Glasgow publican Billy Gold in a recent interview with The Herald.

Mr Gold pointed out that, while there was every chance the major corporate brands of the leisure world would have the financial firepower to withstand the current cost crisis, sole traders were at greater risk of failure.

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Speaking to The Herald, he read through a sheaf of newspaper cuttings carrying stories of independent businesses that had closed for good in recent weeks, several located not far from his Hielan Jessie pub in the east end of the city.

Mr Gold fears that the more cities such as Glasgow lose independent businesses, the more they will become bland and faceless, stripped of the individuality and character that tempts people out of their homes to the local bar, café or restaurant – or perhaps even independent deli or grocer – in the hope of meeting friends or neighbours. In short, it is the loss of community he fears.

“We make city centres, towns and villages attractive places,” Mr Gold said. “We often are the last man standing in some places, after the post office shuts and the bank shuts.

“Where do you go to shoot the breeze with your nearest and dearest or your neighbours or people in the same street?

“The only place that is left is your local pub or maybe your local restaurant and café. I’m not advocating that everybody goes and drinks alcohol to excess. Places like hospitality generally – we are often the last place that is left in a district.”

Mr Gold is right to highlight the community role played by hospitality businesses in villages, towns and cities and to allude to the relentless erosion of bank branches and post offices that has blighted the country in recent years.

Traditionally, these hubs collectively generated a sense of vibrancy and vitality that brought communities to life. It may seem like a romantic notion, but it would be wrong to dismiss the difference that a pub, café or bank branch could mean to people who are lonely and in need of human contact.

The collapse of M&Co will only add to the sense of emptiness in many of the rural and island towns in which the retailer operated.

The loss was summed up well by Western Isles councillor Frances Wilson, who said this week: “M&Co will leave a big gap in Stornoway and the wider island community, offering as it did an alternative to online purchasing.

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“This was certainly needed for those who are digitally excluded, or who struggle with online shopping.

“The shop was an important and successful part of our town centre, having actually expanded from its original premises into the larger, current shop vacated, ironically, by Woolworths.

“The decline of the high street is a nationwide issue, but is particularly noticeable in island towns, where there is no close-by alternative for customers.”

M&Co will not be the last business to fall foul of the current economic crisis. That makes it all the more urgent to find new ways to restore vitality to our villages, towns and cities.