High Street Collapse

I love shopping and I have to admit I will shop around until I find the best price for an item whether it be on the high street or online, with wages low and bills high you find you need to!  I went to Haverfordwest town centre last Monday which was August Bank Holiday with my husband and I came away feeling very sad as there were no more than 8 cars in the multi storey car park and the town itself was like a ghost town.  I know people blame the larger names for killing off the trade for the local shops but this isn't the case as we went into shops like Wilkinsons, Savers, Argos, Poundland and they were all empty.  After buying a few items from Wilkinsons we made our way up to an out of town department store called Vincent Davies, and guess what, yes it was very busy with lots of people walking around with baskets and trollies full of items and there were constantly ques at the checkout.  After leaving there we went to Withybush retail park and we couldn't even park there at first as the car park was full with lots of cars queuing, the shops here include Next, M&S, Debenhams, Sports Direct and Boots and apparently T X Maxx is opening there in October.  I just couldn't believe the difference on this Bank Holiday Monday, it's the same town but it felt like you had been into 2 very totally different worlds.  Since being there I have learnt that apparently Burtons is closing down in the town centre.  I am first to admit I love online shopping but I also like to look around local towns, I don't know what the answer is but I certainly came away on this day feeling sad!