What is High Street?

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Carol

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Veteran

Is it a physical place, or is it more of an umbrella term for affordable English fashion?

7 years ago

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9 replies

Latest reply was from Cardiff girl

Carla

Veteran

I believe 'High Street' is a term similar to North America's 'Main Street' - so you can extrapolate something that is available to everyone.

7 years ago

SarahD8

Veteran

I think that's right Runcarla although at least in the US we don't have a category of "main street" stores.

I'm not a Brit, but I think of "High Street Shops" as referring to national retail chains. Basically the equivalent of what I in the US would call "Mall Stores."

7 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

That’s such an interesting question. I think of it as a place - the place where the shops are in your neighborhood. But then people use it to describe stores, like M&S and Toys R Us. But I don’t feel they use it to describe a store like Walmart, but maybe they do? That is, it’s a little more fashionable or more of a treat than that.

Back to say: I don’t think it’s the same as ‘down town’ personally, but maybe it is.

7 years ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

In 2002 we lived in a small English town for 4 months. Everyone knew that the "high street" was the street in the middle of town. Its name was even High Street! It had all the brand stores like M and S, Dorothy Perkins, etc.
so from that experience, I would say it is both a real place and a concept. Of course this is only a 4 month experience and I am not British, only from British stock generations ago.

7 years ago

cindysmith

Veteran

I think of it as mall stores, but I'm not a Brit so I may be wrong. Like h&m, asos, zara, that's my impression

7 years ago

Sal

Veteran

I tend to think of it as brands/shops that are available to all, and in the past they were in the High St. It might be TopShop, Dorothy Perkins, Oasis etc... I think the term in relation to fashion came from Trinny and Susannah and Gok Wan showing that you don't need to spend designer money to look good.

7 years ago

Gaylene

Veteran

I’ve heard that term used in the UK and other Commonwealth countries to describe a town’s main retail street where residents formerly did the majority of their shopping and banking. Malls and box stores have altered shopping habits so that many of the independently owned small shops formerly found on the High Street have gone out of business.

In a fashion sense, High Street shops usually refers to stores where “ordinary” people buy their clothes as opposed to boutiques featuring designer fashions bought by a wealthier clientele. The concept of a High Street in a smaller centre was established in Victorian times as a place where the newly emerging middle class could indulge in shopping as a social pastime.

7 years ago

Laura1975

Active Member

Brit here. You're all spot on. It's both a place and a general term encompassing ordinary shops accessible to most.

7 years ago

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I agree with Laura,it’s used to refer to an actual physical place and to easily accessible fashion.There is great concern in the uk at the moment over the fate of the physical high street in the U.K as out of town shopping and the internet bite into high street sales.

7 years ago

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