Ref. 27977-16RUMOURS of the death of the high street have been grossly over-exaggerated, say Swindon business leaders.

This week's news that Greenbridge-based WH Smith made a £135 million loss have seen the troubled retailer join a roll-call of struggling names many of which have been staples of British shopping for years.

Marks and Spencer's troubles have been well-documented, although new chief executive Stuart Rose is hoping to steer the chain to safety.

Boots announced disappointing sales recently, which it attributed to the bad weather this summer, while this week JJB Sports said its profits had slipped by a quarter, also due to bad weather and increased competition.

But Swindon town centre manager Bernie Maguire is optimistic.

He said: "Businesses are selling more and more products and it's highly competitive.

"With Smith's, there are more and more card shops, most of the major stores sell newspapers, and the supermarkets sell books, CDs and DVDs. The going's got tough.

"We did suffer badly with out of town stores a couple of years back but we are holding our own as well as could be expected. What we need to do is get specialist items on offer to attract people."

Mr Maguire says that the policy of running markets including a forthcoming Christmas craft market and other events in the centre of town means shoppers have extra reasons to come into town.

And he pointed to the Westfield redevelopment of the Brunel Centre that will see cinemas and restaurants opened in the centre of Swindon.

He said: "Swindon needs to become more than a shopping centre and this has been recognised."

Swindon Initiative chief executive Barry Lingard believes that the high street is not dead, but the increased competition means that it has become more ruthless.

"Retailing has always been a tough market, and it's getting tougher. Increases in the interest rate puts pressure on disposable income.

"WH Smith has lost its way and we hope it will recover, but there are success stories Next continues to do well."

Retail analyst Simon Proctor, from stockbrokers Charles Stanley & Co said it was difficult to take the performance of a number of companies and generalise about the sector, but took a gloomy view for high street traders about shopping trends.

"You cannot look at those results without looking at Next and Tesco and those other retailers doing well.

"But there are a range of established companies that have found their market positions eroded.

"There's a growth in retail and it's out of town, not in the high street. In the traditional high street environment less footfall is going there.

Figures released earlier this week showed shoppers had returned to the high street last month following a dreary August.

Sales recovered in September, up two per cent against a year earlier, compared with 0.6 per cent the previous month, the study by the British Retail Consortium and accountant KPMG found.

Mr Proctor added: "M&S and Boots, these are traditional organisations that have failed to adapt. In the case of WH Smith, its authority in many areas has disappeared and been usurped by Tesco and Asda."

Who's to blame?

Are high street woes the fault of out-of-town supermarkets?

A 1998 study commissioned by the then Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions found that shops in market towns lost between 13 per cent and 50 per cent of their trade when a large out-of-town supermarket opened.

"The impact of large food stores on market towns and district centres" paper found that all trade, and in particular food stores was affected.

With superstores now selling a wider range of goods, including clothes, furniture, CDs and books, the effect has increased in the last few years.

And a study conducted by analysts working on behalf of Boots looked at local economies surrounding 93 supermarkets. It found on average that 276 jobs were lost in shops when a supermarket opened within the catchment area.