1
Maplin, Unit G2, Crossley Retail Park, Carpet Trades Way, Kidderminster, Worcs
Maplin is a specialist retail chain for home electronics and accessories. In February 2018 administrators were appointed and they hoped to find a buyer for the business. Unfortunately at the time of writing no buyer had been found and the process of closing the over 200 stores has begun. Already the Kidderminster branch shown here has closing down notices on its windows with discounts of at least 20% off everything. The chain employs over 2300 staff and it is rather a unique business. No other store seems to cover the range of items it does, though many bits of its business are duplicated by others. Its disappearance is likely to be felt by many shoppers. It joins a surprising number of national chains who have collapsed in recent years and had stores on this particular retail park.
Image: © P L Chadwick
Taken: 24 Mar 2018
0.01 miles
2
Crossley Retail Park, Carpet Trades Way, Kidderminster
On a bitterly cold Boxing Day morning, shoppers were arriving to trawl through the shops for sale bargains. The retail park is typical of its kind, characterless but useful. All the stores here are branches of big multiples, so you will find nothing here that you wouldn't find in dozens of other places in the UK. It even has its own former MFI furniture store which, when this photo was taken, had been empty for well over two years.
Image: © P L Chadwick
Taken: 26 Dec 2010
0.03 miles
3
Comet, Unit F, Crossley Retail Park, Carpet Trades Way, Kidderminster
For many years Comet along with Currys/PC World have been the two leading electrical retailers in the UK. Unfortunately the economic recession coupled with the rise of on-line retailers has hit Comet badly. Coupled with various changes of ownership in recent years, with a bit of asset stripping en route, it was no surprise when early November 2012, the company suddenly went into administration. The administrators have put most of the stock on sale with varying discounts, with posters in the windows announcing that everything must go. Unless a buyer materialises, it seems that most or all the stores might be closed in a matter of days. The shelves of this branch were already looking decidedly depleted today.
Image: © P L Chadwick
Taken: 19 Nov 2012
0.03 miles
4
Undulatus asperatus over Kidderminster
I first spotted these curiously undulating clouds as we turned north on the A456 and drove past Bewdley. I gather this type of cloud formation was only named in 2009. See National Geographic article https://web.archive.org/web/20160422070611/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/photogalleries/new-cloud-pictures/ and Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undulatus_asperatus .
Photo was taken from the retail park on Carpet Trades Way. The red brick building on the right with the rather smart yellow stock brick frieze is Sainsbury's.
Image: © Penny Mayes
Taken: 5 Nov 2010
0.07 miles
5
Sainsbury's, Kidderminster
Image: © Jonathan Thacker
Taken: 2 Jun 2023
0.07 miles
6
Currys & P C World, Carpet Trades Way, Crossley Retail Park, Kidderminster
Currys & P C World are part of the same group. They used to have separate stores on this retail park. In May 2011 the two stores were merged into what is described as a two-in-one superstore, on the site previously occupied by Currys. The upstairs floor is occupied by white goods and other electrical items sold by Currys, but the ground floor is devoted to computer items, and audio and video, including TV's and cameras. The old PC World store has been closed. It seems this merger process is likely to be carried out across the country, presumably leaving a trail of yet more empty shop units.
Image: © P L Chadwick
Taken: 21 May 2011
0.07 miles
7
Crossley Retail Park, Kidderminster
Image: © Mat Fascione
Taken: 14 Jul 2007
0.08 miles
8
MFI Kidderminster - will the last person to leave, please turn off the lights?
MFI the well-known furniture retailer is in administration and is thought unlikely to be rescued as a going concern. But their large shop on the Crossley Retail Park, off Carpet Trades Way, in Kidderminster, shut its doors to the public in September 2008. Most of the stock has gone and the doors are firmly shut, but despite this over two months later the lights over the entrance door are still burning brightly. Whoever benefits from this it certainly isn't the environment or the creditors.
Image: © P L Chadwick
Taken: 28 Nov 2008
0.08 miles
9
Mill Street, Kidderminster
Image: © Chris Whippet
Taken: 24 Dec 2013
0.09 miles
10
Royal Mail
Kidderminster's Sorting Office on the Crossley Retail Park.
Image: © Mat Fascione
Taken: 14 Jul 2007
0.09 miles