And again, with the Gold Brothers...

[Calgacus]

It is possible to have overkill to have too many establishments of a particular type in one area and good planning departments should take this into account. This was a food outlet, you cannot eat tartan tat of which there is already a glut.

Tourists are not being offered a choice when the name varies but it's the same stuff with the same owners and healthy competition is an illusion. As to their workers, many of them are not locals but from other parts of the European Community who are poorly trained and educated in the merchandise and under orders to sell. They don't care if someone tries on one of the off the peg kilts and wears it the wrong way round, I have seen this happen on several occasions in the shop and even up at the Castle following a sale.

The Royal Mile needs a balance of attractions, not a rapidly growing sameness. Disney, at least, offers variety.

I've been looking at both sides of the argument in this thread and there's merit in both views.

McClef's comment however I think strikes a chord with me. What's happening here is an erosion of genuine choice and competition and the illusion of variety being set up in its place.

There is also a risk that the owners of this mini-empire gain influence, whether real, perceived or implied with the planning authorities. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is happening, I'm merely saying it's something to think about.

Having said that, I was in Edinburgh at the weekend and walked up the Mile. I didn't find any of the shops offensive to look at, at least externally, though there weren't many I'd actually cross the threshold of. The only shop that did offend my eye, and more especially my ear, was "The Pride of Scotland.com" on St. Andrew Street. I don't know who owns it.

[Phil]

Pride of Scotland is just one of the names they trade under. They have another on Princes Street and used to have a very annoying one on Hanover Street playing constant, repetitive loud music.

[ForresterModern]

If the council sees the Royal Mile as a historic venue that deserves some heritage maintenance, perhaps they should undertake to purchase up properties into which they can install businesses that they feel may provide the "air" of real historical Scotland and Edinburgh. There are "historic" zones in many cities that require maintenance of the exterior in its historic manner and can limit all manner of "threats" to that heritage by such restrictions as sign size and type, whether and how it may be lit and what it may be manufactured from, limit things like neon and noise, and have density limits for what percentage of frontage or square footage of any given type or variety of business to maintain a balance of commercial enterprises that truly meet the need of both the locals and the tourist alike. I think of towns like Rothenburg, Heidelberg, and the main thoroughfare in Munich in Germany, the Saint Germain des Pres region on the left bank in central Paris across from the Louvre, or on upstream opposite the Notre Dame on Ile de Saint Louis, or Regent Street heading west-norwest out of Picadilly Circus in London, or the pedestrian only district north of St Stephen's Green in Dublin, extending on up into the Temple Bar area. Most every "tourist" town I have been in has made the balance work -- Nice and Cannes and Bordeaux in France, Barcelona and Madrid and Granada in Spain, Meteora and Thessaloniki in Greece, Salzburg and Garmisch- Partenkirchen in Austria, even towns with lesser duration of heritage here in the "New World" like Boston, Old Town Scottsdale in Arizona, numerous areas in San Francisco and a whole long list of small towns along the Pacific Coast Highway in California, all of central Santa Fe New Mexico, Old Town Montreal, and many of the well know former mining town-cum-modern ski destinations like Breckinridge or Aspen or Telluride or Jackson Hole or Park City. All these places have figured out how to make it work in a pretty reasonable fashion. They have succeeded in making the mix of tourist and heritage and native work pretty well. Probably because of more defined development plans, restrictions, and an inherent natural instinct that in the end short term profits for the few destroy long term maintenance of prosperity for the many. The Gold Bros seem intent on taking over the whole area, flooding it with their most profitable tourist trap tartan tat shops and wringing every farthing out for as long as the tourist money train runs their way. I fear that the balance will likely be lost over time and as Phil says, the locals won't go near it, which IMHO is sad for what should be a national heritage area.

[Calgacus]

If the council sees the Royal Mile as a historic venue that deserves some heritage maintenance, perhaps they should undertake to purchase up properties into which they can install businesses that they feel may provide the "air" of real historical Scotland and Edinburgh.

Sadly, Edinburgh Council doesn't have enough cash to buy a Gold Brothers kilt. They spent it all on a madder and white elephant...

[Jock Scot]

I can see all sides in this discussion and it is not an uncommon and world wide problem in these stringent times.. However having just walked down the High Street in Fort William, then I have to say the ever increasing number of empty shops and even some of the numerous "mountain ware" shops are now closing down. Too many, far too many for the good of a community. I see the same signs, although not yet on the same scale, in Inverness, Elgin, Nairn and other towns too. Empty shops help no one, least of all the local community, so I suspect that any local council will be very happy for shops to be open for business. Short termism(is that a word?) perhaps and maybe in the long run actions of today may be regretted, in the meantime some of us may squirm, but at least there is some cash coming in to help pay some of the bills. Morals, likes and dislikes can be expensive at times, particularly so for the affected local communities.

[Phil]

However having just walked down the High Street in Fort William, then I have to say the ever increasing number of empty shops and even some of the numerous "mountain ware" shops are now closing down. Too many, far too many for the good of a community. I see the same signs, although not yet on the same scale, in Inverness, Elgin, Nairn and other towns too. Empty shops help no one

Not to mention the profusion of charity shops which must deprive shops of much business. I also wonder how much internet shopping affects High Street shops who cannot compete on price. Even supermarkets are now encouraging on-line shopping and home delivery.

[Jock Scot]

Quite so Phil, Charity shops are springing up all over the High Street, but not enough to fill the gaps. I too wondered about the effect of internet shopping. The thought crossed my mind that it would only need the addition of tumbleweed blowing down the street, that it would look more like a Holywood version of Tombstone on a bad day.

[McClef]

Shop closures are are a sad fact in many towns and cities in the UK and indeed charity shops and pound shops proliferate.

Certain streets in capital cities though tend to have a much better take up of shop space, especially in tourist hot spots. One of these is most definitely the Royal Mile. If it were anything like what has been described elsewhere then Gold Bros would not be interested.

[Tobus]

Just so y'all don't get the feeling that this is only a UK problem, we have the exact same thing going on here. As I mentioned previously, my small town is a tourist town. There was a hotel right in the middle of town on Main Street that was not doing very well (mostly due to poor management and lack of upkeep). One night they had a mysterious fire that burned it to the ground. The well-insured owner then decided to take his settlement money and leave town. Guess what it's being replaced with? A dollar store. And it was our own city council that voted to do that, despite the fact that a new hotel developer wanted to put a nice new hotel there. It's almost as if they don't want tourists to come to our town, despite the fact that our economy is dependent on tourism. That decision boggles my mind, and the minds of all the citizens here.

Anyway, what you are describing is a common thing all over the place. It's the curse of a tourism industry. But you can't have it both ways. If your local small businesses are not able to stay afloat on tourist trade, then you're going to have to choose between annoying tartan tat shops or empty streets with tumbleweeds.

Everyone wants to have a booming tourist industry that supports small local business owners. But when those small businesses just aren't making it, the choices that are left aren't very appealing. You have to go with the one that continues to bring money into town, even if it means holding your nose to do so.