"wounded horse" wrote in message
...
Well, our local B&Q here in Lincoln is having a hard time by the
look of it.
Their plumbing/heating range has been 50% missing for 3 months and
when I
enquired as to why there was virtually no stock of toilet
valves/parts I was
told that their supplier had gone bust. Sounded like a tall story
to me.
The one thing that jumps out at me every time I go in there is a
lack of
customers. Midweek, you're lucky if there are three (of 14)
checkouts
going. The demoralised attitude of the staff - and the frequency
of staff
turnover - is there for all to see. How they pull it round is
anyone's
guess. I would imagine the sales of the big ticket items has gone
seriously
tits up and they won't make money selling packets of woodscrews. I
was in
there a couple of days ago on a Thursday late morning and the car
park was
10% full. Desperation hangs heavy in the air.

One of the things that grates with me is that I have been going
there three
times a week on average for small plumbing bitrs - mostly toilet
but a
number of showers/trays/low level toilet suites - and there is no
regular
customer recognition. The staff are not trained or geared for it.
They're
not there long enough anyway. When is someone at high level going
to
recognise that to pull themselves out of the deep deep mire that
they are
in, they are going to have to hire - and pay for - better quality
staff who
dig in and who will stay longer than 3 months.

The way they recruit staff doesn't help, all they seem to want is
someone who can jump when told to whilst being able to read a string
of numbers, knowing the actual difference between a set bolt and a
coach bolt (or what ever) doesn't come into the equation....

They have built a business
on nothing other than perceived price with poor staff and now they
are
reaping what they've sown. It is not enough to post a greeter at
the door
with a rictus grin trying to shove a leaflet at you and hoping
they'll ride
this out.

The problem is often made worse by, when actually finding something
in stock, not being able to get through the check outs in a
reasonable time - I've lost count of the times that either myself or
some other customer has chucked the goods onto a staff-less counter
and walked out, having waited for service whilst members of staff
chat with each other in the aisles... This at a store that does seem
to have full shelves and 'motivated, and some long standing, staff.

They have lost sight of their core business and now the internet
operations are hovering like vultures. 22 closures and undoubtedly
more to
come. A good example of greed once again. The size of the stores
tells you
that.

I hope screwfix don't go down with them.


Unless they recover quickly, or close / dispose of B&Q, I suspect all
the companies within the Kingfisher group will suffer - if not
Kingfisher it's self, this sort of problem have dragged other groups
down before, and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of such collapses
either...