BHS: From RIP to reinvented

Having been reading up on the demise of BHS this week, I wish I'd been able to buy it for £1, as Phillip Green did last year in the BHS takeover by Dominic Chappell.  I appreciate The Guardian's view on BHS as it described and summed up the financial dealings behind the scenes as being "bang up to date, typifying the ugly realities of the modern British way of doing business even if the retail aspect of the BHS story strikes a dated note."  I have a huge dislike, like many people, of how big businesses operate to make the greedy rich even richer at the expense of the vast majority of people.

If I'd had the chance to buy it for £1 I'd have worked my vision and made it a truly British retailer.  Imagine each branch with a brand identity as well as an individualism reflecting its local community.  Stores stocking the company's own ranges of clothing, homeware etc as well as local designers work from clothing to jewellery to furniture.  This would offer a platform to support business start ups, giving the established store a brand new innovative approach and a lot of unique stock, and really provide young companies with opportunities for development and growth.  It's online store could work wonders, selling items made in Aberdeen to customers in Bristol, the way online selling should be done.  That's how thinking outside the box should be done, as people are getting bored with the monotonous look of the high street and looking for individual style available online and creating their own identity, and that's the truer version of self expression.

Mary Portas has also written a piece about the issue, again from The Guardian :) saying she'd "add some small startups that are all young British makers or designers, housing them within a market place model and then you start a business with a point of view."  I'm pleased I see myself thinking along the right lines it seems.  Thinking like this needs to speed up and gain momentum now, not trickle slowly and be picked up by the next generation; collaboration needs to get a move on now and opportunities to take the means to accumulate more wealth for the super greedy need to be recognised and used by people who have the vision and imagination for an up to date version of retail and economy to begin.