Going postal
This lunch time I needed to post a small package (some films to be processed) so on my lunch break I went to the Post Office on Corporation St, in the Morgams Newsagent on the corner near the new Tesco and Forbidden Planet. The queue was to the door so I figured by the time I got to the front of it my lunch break would be long over. Onwards I trudged tot he Post Office in the Big Top (behind Beaties and right next to WHSmiths), it has been closed down! From there I trudged up New St to the Post Office at the top of Pinfold St and Hill St, like the Corporation St Post office there was a queue to the door. Despondant I returned to work.
Who the heck decided to close the Big Top Post Office? We’re not talking about some tiny subpostoffice int he middle of nowwhere that gets 2 customers a week. Everytime I’ve been there it has been busy, it’s right in the centre of the main shopping area and only likely to be more central when the Eastside/Masshouse (i.e. back side of Digbeth) developments come online. Also, of the three city centre Post Offices, it was the only one that was a proper post office. Corporation St is an after thought added to a news agents whilst Pinfold St is a funny shape which impedes queue management..
Gah!!!!!!!!
I only just discovered they closed down the central post office next to WHSmith. Can’t understand why. It was handy, being right in the middle of town, and ALWAYS busy.
They had a poster on the doors just after they closed. If I remember correctly, it explained that the whole building had to be sold to some private company, for renovation. I haven’t seen anything going on, though.
If the whole building has been sold then that’s going to affect a lot of businesses, including WHSmith and BHS. Why would the Post Office close but those shops are still in operation months later with no signs of winding down or opening alternate branches.
You could argue that BHS is facing competition from House of Fraser (at the more expensive end), Marks and Spensers and Primark (another shop in that building) at their cheaper end. Maybe even Selfridges and Debenhams. There is, however, no real competition for WHSmith in Birmingham. Borders, in the Bulring, tries but falls far short on range of stock, square yardage and customer handling capacity. They’d need something of the scale of their Oxford St branch to cope, it’s not just size, it’s philosophy.