来源：《卫报》
日期：2021年1月26日
It is still possible that Jenners, an Edinburgh department store and one of the fixtures of Princes Street, will be rescued in some form or other. Observers have speculated that the announcement it is to shut is a show by its owner, Mike Ashley, aimed at extracting more generous terms from the landlord. But coming in the same week as news that Debenhams has been sold to the internet retailer Boohoo, a move expected to lead to the closure of its 124 stores, the prospect of Jenners disappearing has the feel of the end of an era.
詹纳斯是一家位于爱丁堡的百货公司，也是王子街上的老店之一，仍有可能以某种形式获得救助。观察家们猜测，它宣布关闭是其主人迈克·阿什利的一场表演，目的是从业主那里获得更慷慨的租金。但就在同一周，有消息称Debenhams已被出售给互联网零售商Boohoo，此举预计将导致其124家门店关闭，詹纳斯有可能消失，让人感觉到一个时代的终结。
Department stores may not mean much to some people. Even before the pandemic fast-forwarded existing trends, shoppers were moving online one after another. Once, Zara was known for its super-speedy supply chain. Last year, it was Boohoo that made a killing, after being among the first to ditch existing lines and move into the loungewear that it realised customers would want when stuck at home.
百货公司对某些人来说可能意义不大。甚至在新冠大流行迅速推动现有趋势之前，购物者就成群结队地上网购物了。曾几何时，Zara以其快速的供应链而闻名。去年，却是Boohoo赚了一大笔钱。该公司是第一批放弃现有产品系列，转而进军休闲装市场的公司之一，该公司意识到顾客呆在家里会想要休闲装。
Cities such as Edinburgh, or London, will find other uses for flagship sites in world-famous locations. But the closure of Debenhams branches from Portsmouth to Dundee, with the loss of 12,000 jobs, is a dreadful moment. Last year, there were 15,700 shop closures, and 176,700 retail job losses. One of the reasons the pandemic has hit the UK so hard, economically, is our unusually heavy reliance on consumer spending. The 13% of GDP derived from recreation and culture is a larger share than any other G7 country. Even after the arrival of internet retail and streaming services, Britons like going shopping, eating in restaurants, staying in hotels and being entertained by arts and culture.
像爱丁堡或伦敦这样的城市，将在世界著名的地段找到旗舰场地的其他用途。但从朴茨茅斯到邓迪的Debenhams分店的关闭，导致1.2万人失业，则是一个糟糕透顶的时刻。去年，有15,700家商店关闭，176,700个零售岗位流失。英国在经济上受到疫情重创的原因之一，是我们异常严重地依赖消费者支出。GDP的13%来自于娱乐和文化，这一比例比其他G7国家都要高。即使在互联网零售和流媒体服务到来之后，英国人还是喜欢购物、吃饭、住酒店，欣赏艺术和文化。
Not everyone is suffering. Food retailers are doing well, as are bookshops. But in recent years sales have stagnated as Debenhams struggled to cope with heavy debts built up under private-equity ownership, having been taken over in 2003. Three funds collected 1.2bn in dividends in less than three years. Meanwhile, Boohoo has emerged intact from last year’s scandal of illegally low wages. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, is 70bn richer than he was at the start of the pandemic.
并不是每个人都在受苦。食品零售商和书店都过得很好。但近年来，Debenhams的销售一直停滞不前，因为在2003年被私募股权公司收购后，Debenhams一直在努力应对其积累起来的沉重债务。三支基金在不到三年的时间里获得了12亿英镑的股息。与此同时，Boohoo从去年的非法低工资丑闻中毫发无损。亚马逊(Amazon)创始人贝索斯身价比疫情暴发时高出700亿英镑。
Clarity on business rates might have helped Debenhams find a buyer who wanted to run shops as well as websites. Ministers should regret that they didn’t provide it. The question that they, along with mayors, councils and local business leaders, must now address is how these shops are to be repurposed in ways that will help our towns and city centres to come alive again.
明确的营业税率可能会帮助Debenhams找到一个既想经营店铺又想经营网站的买家。内阁大臣们应该懊悔他们没有提供这样的税率。他们与市长、市政服务机构和地方商界领袖现在必须解决的问题是，如何改造这些商店，以帮助我们的城镇和城市中心重新焕发活力。