The death of local shops

I happened to visit Henley-on-Thames today. The weather was good and the streets were crowded with people.

What struck me as odd is that there were so many shops that had closed up and were for sale. It was almost difficult to know whether this was recession led or whether there was a redevelopment plan and shops were coming to the end of their leases.

But, it is interesting to  note that whilst ‘major’ shopping centres appear to continue to thrive it is the secondary shopping areas for which the recession is proving to be very bad. This death knell has been sounded before, but could the end be near for local shops and is the crisis in the Post Office network a sign of a wider retail malaise?