Reader question:

Please explain "decline of the high street."

My comments:

This means traditional commerce - traditional ways of doing business, buying and selling etc - is, on the main, on the wane.

On the wane means becoming smaller, as the moon gets smaller when it's on the wane, when its illuminated area begins decreasing after a full moon. Other things on the wane means they're also decreasing, becoming less vigorous, less influential or less extensive.

Which explains how traditional shops and businesses are faring these days. As customers increasingly buy stuff online, traditional shops, i.e. real shops on the street are having fewer and fewer customers, hence their decline.
Oh, high street. That in the old days referred to the main street or the biggest street or perhaps the only street of the village or small town. High street, or High Street was thus called presumably because on this street, the decibel levels were high, as there must have been a lot of shouting and shouting back going on. In other words, there was a high level of hustle and bustle, i.e. a lot of activities.

Today, high street stands for the busiest commercial district of a city, its down town area where the most important and biggest business transactions are done and dealt.

Okay?

Okay and all right. Here are media examples of high street, both as noun and adjective:

1. If you're visiting Britain for the first time and wondering what local people mean when they direct you to "the High Street", you are not alone. The High Street is one of those phrases—and places—that is so much a part of everyday life in the UK that local people hardly ever feel the need to explain to visitors and tourists.

What's in a Name?

People in the UK use the term the high street the way Americans use the phrase Main Street. A high street is the main commercial and retail street in a town. In big cities, each neighborhood or district will probably have its own high street. In a small village, the high street may have little more than a mailbox, a public pay phone, and a small convenience store. At the very least, a high street usually has a pub.

- "The High Street" and High Street Fashion, TripSavvy.com, June 4, 2019.

2. With English non-essential stores free to open from Monday (with health, social distancing and hygiene regulations met), Underlines Magazine assesses the mind-set of those consumers who will be coming out to shop on the High Street again.

A forward thinking report by The Green Room advises that brands and retailers will be faced with a different level of consumer expectation – one that they have never encountered before. The last 3 months have not only had profound effects on working and home life but also on emotional and mental wellbeing. From mid-March onwards everything we took as familiar changed more or less overnight and meant rapid changes for retail and brands who supply them. The ‘new normal’ is not quite here yet as we are transitioning at the moment between the period of the ‘eye of the storm’ when the pandemic struck and the gradual easing of lock-down, which many consumers are treating with extreme caution, and there is much uncertainty still in our day to day lives. Many who have been furloughed have been ‘protected’ against the financial chaos and worry for some time, but as the deadline to continue to furlough staff passed on 10th June, there was a wave of redundancies in the retail chain.

No-one has been untouched by the changes we have experienced – social distancing (and therein distant socialising), increases in home exercise and surge in active wear and loungewear garment sales, our largest IT and service companies having the vast majority of their staff working from home, our only entertainment being home entertainment and the mental health effects of such rapid and seismic changes to our lives.

- WHAT WILL CONSUMERS EXPECT FROM THE HIGH STREET NOW? UnderlinesMagazine.com, June 12, 2020.

3. WITH a week to go before face coverings are compulsory while shopping, it is time to get yours.

But which is best for your needs? Whether you want to stand out in the crowd, twin with your family or put comfort and safety over style, there is a mask for you.

Here, Clemmie Fieldsend looks at ten of the best from the High Street, rating them out of five.

Most practical

Wolford plain black, ￡20, wolfordshop.co.uk

AT the higher end of the price scale but it is treated with a UV light to kill bacteria, viruses and germs.

It comes up high on the bridge of the nose, low under the chin and covers full cheeks. Made with soft, bra-like material for comfort. Waterproof and breathable, too. Wash at 60 degrees.

My favourite mask.

RATING: 5/5

Most trendy

Bandana-style floral and space print, ￡12 for two asos.com

MADE with double-layered fabric, with an adjustable fit around the ears.

Doesn’t hug your chin, but this makes it feel like you have room to breathe.

Disclaimer states it’s not a medical device, but it will tick the box for wearing a mask.

Wash at 40 degrees.

RATING: 3/5

- Ten of the best face coverings from the High Street for every occasion, TheSun.co.uk, July 16, 2020.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：張欣 編輯：丹妮）