Private equity ownership of retail is rarely a good idea. At Modella-owned TG Jones, the High Street successor to the 234-year-old WH Smith, franchise and job losses are underway.

The dramatic loss of market share at supermarkets Morrisons and Asda since the boards took the private equity shilling in 2021, in top-of-the-market deals before interest rates surged, is proof enough of how destructive private equity ownership can be.

Both have struggled under the weight of debt, and a lack of pricing power has given German no‑frills retailers the opportunity to acquire customers and sales volumes at their expense. 

Private equity owners boast that, without the regular financial reporting demanded by public markets and the need to face shareholder resolutions and dissent at annual meetings, they can take bolder decisions that are impossible in the listed‑company sphere.

In the highly competitive world of grocers, smart retail skills at Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which have both invested in better prices for consumers, also played a part in the decline of Morrisons and Asda in an age of elevated inflation and cost-of-living strains. 

Nevertheless, when Aldi and Lidl first burst onto the UK grocery scene, the leading supermarkets were sceptical of their ability to progress.

One leading supermarket boss told me that the practice of planting themselves on roundabouts close to superstores was of limited value. 

It was assumed that the German invaders would fade away as other discount shopping franchises, such as Kwik Save, had done in the past.

Instead, Aldi now has a market share of more than 11pc and Lidl around 8pc and, in the current dire economic circumstances, with food prices set to soar, they could yet make further progress.

The raging dispute between incumbents Sainsbury’s and others, which seek to end a perceived regulatory advantage enjoyed by Aldi and Lidl that blocks the UK all-service food chains from opening stores nearby, shows how threatening the discounters have become to the established order. 

Aldi and Lidl can claim that because they do not provide the full service offering of the UK supermarkets, they should be protected from expansion onto their territory.

What consumers want is the best prices and maximum choice of shopping locations. Indeed, these days High Street and local stores, such as those operated by Tesco and Sainsbury’s, offer much more limited ranges.

Doubtless, the Competition and Markets Authority, enthused by the growth mandate from Rachel Reeves and the Treasury, will want to remove any rules which interfere with competition, faster planning decisions, and new jobs.

In many cases, private equity is seen as the buyer of last resort when the boards of listed companies give up the ghost. 

Too often in the retail sector executives, instead of investing and fighting for the future of their enterprises, see debt infused buyouts as an exit route. 

The destruction of companies such as department store group Debenhams, music and video distributor HMV, electronics retailer Comet and Phones4u are cases in point.

The fear must now be that TG Jones could face the same fate.

It is cautioning that dozens of its 480 High Street stores may have to close unless landlords are prepared to grant a 100 per cent rent holiday. 

Eight stores are already shuttered and with the group claiming ‘weak consumer spending’, thousands of jobs will be placed at risk.

Global economic conditions have changed dramatically since Modella, the owner of Hobbycraft, bought TG Jones last year. 

But the idea that it has brought the historic stationer to its knees in a matter of months is poppycock. The private equity plunderers like to think of themselves as the smartest people in the room.

But an uncaring attitude towards customers, employees, suppliers and landlords has done and continues to do real disservice to high streets, shopping, and the public interest.

The failure to prepare for the unexpected, in a volatile geopolitical environment, shows rampant short-term thinking and naivety bordering on stupidity.

In the end, it is the lives of ordinary, hard-working people and consumer choice which suffers.