Vicky Carr is a journalist turned writer who grew up in Harrogate and returned in her late 20s to raise her family here. Find her on Instagram @vickycarrwrites.

It hasn’t been a great start to the year for shoppers in Harrogate.

Long-standing luxury footwear brand Russell & Bromley has disappeared from James Street, along with LK Bennett – a favourite of the Princess of Wales.

Daniel Footwear has announced it is closing its Parliament Street doors, along with all three other branches around the UK.

Just this week, it was Clintons that became the latest victim of pressure on the high street.

In many cases, these brands have announced they’ll trade online instead. It’s cheaper for them to do so, and arguably it gives shoppers more choice from a warehouse than they would have in a high street shop.

But have you done much online shopping? I have – and let me tell you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

For a start, the nightmare of unreliable sizing that we all experience between different shops (and even within the same shop) is multiplied by a factor of 100 when you then have to organise returns and replacements – especially if you’ve got an event coming up and you’re relying on a dress or shoes being right when they arrive.

As someone with very narrow, flat feet, my success rate with ordering shoes online is exactly 25% - and I’ve only ordered two pairs. That 25% was scored when I ordered a pair of Adidas trainers from Next and only one shoe turned up. A perfect fit, but not exactly a successful order (compounded by the online ‘help’ service offering me a 50% refund if I kept the single shoe. Maybe I would have got really, really good at hopping, but on balance I decided to return it for the full refund).

It’s experiences like this that make bricks-and-mortar retail valuable – yet the rate of change in Harrogate town centre suggests there’s more to it than that.

When I was a child, my mum sometimes took me to Russell & Bromley for my school shoes. I don’t recall what the shoes were like, but what I do remember is standing at the till waiting to pay, and the paperwork being sent whooshing through a plastic tube from top to bottom floor. You could see it flying around at high speed – it was the most thrilling thing to a six-year-old.

Likewise, I remember going to a shoe department in the old Victoria House, before it became Sunwin House, then Beales, and was then knocked down in favour of a fancy cinema and some empty restaurants.

That shoe shop had a huge machine that looked a bit like a treadmill. You stood on it and put your foot inside a large square hole, then a series of parts would move in, stopping when they connected with your sock. A precise foot measurement would appear on the screen, resulting in the perfect fit.

I also remember the cave of wonder that was Beatties toy shop on James Street, as well as the little shop in the Lowther Arcade where I bought a tiny gardening set that I treasured for years. I loved the children’s trolleys that always made a trip to Safeway more exciting – and of course, the travellator at Asda, which provided hours of entertainment.

Those memories have stuck with me for more than 30 years. It’s not about the products (although I am still slightly bitter that I was never allowed the shoes with the unicorn hidden inside a clear bubble in the sole). It’s about the experience.

Despite the challenging landscape facing Harrogate, there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful – and they’re all about the experience.

Beyond the chain retailers in the very centre of town, there are some real success stories in Harrogate. On Commercial Street, one of my favourite places to visit in town, you’ll find retailers that have been going for many years, successfully keeping loyal customers happy while attracting new shoppers through their doors.

Meanwhile, Cold Bath Road always seems to be thriving, with units hardly ever standing empty, while the Montpellier Quarter has a brilliant variety of businesses offering everything from books and artwork to locally-made toffee, all sold by staff who have bags of knowledge about what they do.

James Street has had a higher turnover of brands in the last few years – yet there has never been a shortage of high-end brands waiting to take a spot and try their luck. I’m particularly happy about the arrival of Me+Em and Nobody’s Child in recent months, and we’ve got Gail’s bakery preparing to join them, too.

There is doubtless still change ahead in the town centre, and each departure will feel like another blow. We already know that a sword hangs over the head of TG Jones (formerly WH Smith) as its national owner prepares to close almost a third of its 480 UK stores. Within its walls, the town centre’s only Post Office also faces an uncertain future.

But change doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Introducing more residential space will help the town centre to feel busier – less like the ghost town many fear each time another closure is announced.

A mix of retail, residential and other attractions can help to keep Harrogate thriving, even if it doesn’t look like it did 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

The businesses that survive will be the ones that really meet the needs of locals and visitors, and offer an experience we can’t find elsewhere.