Retailers are beginning to panic

Worrying signs are starting to emerge from all areas of the high street. A whole host of retailers have been subject to speculation as to their futures over the last few days and some of the biggest names are now holding one to three-day 'spectaculars'.

The list of retailers reportedly suffering woes includes:

Dixons Stores Group's share price has collapsed in recent days and was trading as low as 11p per share today - basically valuing the company at about 10 days worth of sales. The owner of Currys and PC World is reportedly struggling and many see it as poorly placed to survive a prolonged downturn. When buying some items, there are some advantages to buying on the high street rather than the internet. Unfortunately, I don't think electrical goods fall into this category, and certainly the level of service on offer is surpassed by other high street retailers.

Woolworths is in desperate talks to try to sell the business. The timing is the most interesting part of this. It has been well-documented that Woolworths has been struggling for many years, but trading must be very bad if they are considering a sale before the key Christmas period. It has been suggested that the retail giant could be sold for £1...

M&S are holding a 20% off sale tomorrow (Thursday), with some of their stores staying open until midnight.

Debenhams - are holding an unprecedented sale. "10% off cosmetics and fragrances, 25% off absolutely everything else" they were trumpetting in their e-mail this morning.

Not to be outdone, middle class favourite, John Lewis are responding. After several weeks of reporting disappointing sales, I received an e-mail from them this afternoon stating "Prices lowered today. Today we are responding to a competitor's event"

I think I'm going to make a personal assessment of the gloom and will check out Oxford Street tomorrow.