Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fife Matters: M&S closure is a sign of the times…but one we all saw coming

Another famous store will soon disappear from Kirkcaldy High Street.
Another famous store will soon disappear from Kirkcaldy High Street.

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that Marks and Spencer confirmed the closure of its flagship Kirkcaldy High Street store in the same week that the world’s first rehab centre for self confessed Amazon addicts opened up.

But it doesn’t make the news any easier to stomach.

Since it opened its doors in the former town hall in 1938, M&S has been a staple on the town’s High Street so the announcement it will shut early next year has been greeted with disbelief and disappointment.

We’ve been told staff will be transferred elsewhere, but that doesn’t answer the questions of those who will find it impossible to move to the new Glenrothes store, or what will happen to Kirkcaldy’s loyal customers.

Market forces are unlikely to lead to a sudden U-turn by the company. And despite efforts to reverse the trend, one wonders if it is time for our High Streets to just accept defeat.

Major chains are feeling the brunt of austerity. I can only hazard a guess at how independents and smaller retailers are bearing up and sadly decline often triggers a domino effect – when one goes, others follow.

It’s not hard to pinpoint the shops in town centres like Kirkcaldy which are already looking vulnerable and can ill afford to lose any more footfall.

Out-of-town retail parks still work, for now, because it’s a day out – park the car, peruse the shops, have a bite to eat and enjoy some other forms of entertainment while you’re there.

But the growth of e-commerce marches on and one can only wonder how long it is before it swallows up the out of towners too.

People shop online for a whole host of reasons, not least convenience and speed, and as big name traders plough more resources into their online platforms it’s little wonder they are disappearing from the High Street.

As sad as it is, banks, travel agencies, post offices, music shops and even fashion retailers will now never be able to compete with the services you can have at the click of a button.

I’m very much of the generation where High Streets were bustling places all week long, and a trip down to Kirkcaldy was a day out.

However, I’m very much a part of the same generation that has seen the internet take off and I can’t imagine any of us willingly parting with our mobile phones, iPads and Amazon accounts now.