Three high street retailers, once commonplace in Britain, have been put on the official 'critically endangered' list after numbers have dwindled over the last decade.
Shop-spotters used to regard the Jessops, Dixons and Thomas Cook as a staple of any good high street, but now sightings are so rare as to be notable. One facebook post containing a photo of Jessops says "Is this the last one ever?".
It is feared that these names could become extinct within the next few years - a fate that befell Woolworths, John Menzies and Bejam.
Some blame the introduction of non-indigenous shops - voracious predators such as the Starbucks or Pret a Manger - for unbalancing the delicate ecosystem leading to the decline in numbers of native retail outlets, but the rise in local outlets Oxfam, Age UK and The Children's Society suggest that it is not only predation that has dwindled their populations.
Others point to the rise of the disease trafficwardenitis - typified by painful town centre parking charges - as being behind the decline in numbers.
Whatever the cause, it appears likely that without corrective action we will soon be losing even more commercial diversity and waving goodbye to some more well-loved high street shops.