“This week there is said to have been a last-minute shopping surge that will tide the high street retailers over into the new year. But this is only because the retailers – who have to divvy up their rents tomorrow, in advance for the next quarter – have been slashing stock prices frantically in order to get the cash in the till. This may have worked short-term, as consumers wring the last drop of liquidity from their desiccated credit cards, but many retailers will surely go to the wall come January.”
To read the rest of Will’s Standard column this week, go here.