A Viewpoint Original Report: A Jinxed Shop???

Most of the pieces you read here on Viewpoint are commentaries on items in the news or on the net. And most of the time, I'm happy to do just that. Just occasionally though, I like to do some original reporting of my own. The recent posts on CNBC Life have been posts that were not originated from a web piece but from something I spotted on screen whilst watching TV myself. A post asking if it was time the Home Internationals returned to the football schedules was another piece not inspired by something I could link to on the web. So you see, I do follow other things besides what goes on on the web.

Just recently though, I have been noticing in my own town, a growing trend of shops closing down. A sports goods shop closed last month, after a long time of trying to sell off the remaining stock they had. Focus DIY's store out of town is in process of selling off all their remaining stock and closing down, apparently to be replaced by an ASDA supermarket, according to my local sources. And now, a toy shop that opened in town just months ago is closing down as well. They had been based in a store that in recent years has housed everything from a newsagent/card store, to a CD/DVD store and now this, only for them to be closing too.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is not the first time a shop has closed in our town. Hell, many years ago, it was thought that the heart would get ripped out when a popular local department store closed. But it didn't get ripped out, it just adapted. But for one particular shop location in the centre of town, to be so unstable, in other words, to not have a store stay there for a length of time beyond a couple of years in the last 5 years, is quite unusual for Truro. In fact, this is the first time that I can think of in my lifetime that any shop location in town has seen any rapid turnover of shops. Twice, Calendar Club have been there, then Foop, who went to the wall, and now, Hawkin's Bazaar has decided to sell up. And all this has happened since McColl's sold up some years ago, on account of it being too close to WHSmith, who are about two doors down the road from this site.

I can't say that the economic situation looks bad, because it doesn't, but is it the case that that particular shop location is jinxed in some way? I hope somebody moves in there and proves me wrong.