Yesterday more UK companies went into administration, and the blame continues to fall on the internet, but as our high streets continue to die, it seems the best bargains are not online as everyone thinks.

It’s been several years since a number of British retailers bit the dust, but suddenly and rather unexpectedly, creditors of a number of major UK retailers are pulling the plug on stores, calling it a day.

Yesterday administrators Deloitte called time on Moben Kitchen’s and Dolphin Bathrooms, when owner Homeform fell into difficulty. The companies, which included Sharpes, are being hacked up into pieces and sold on as pre-pack deals (companies using same operations, but sold on debt free).

The news comes just a week after retail outlet Jane Norman went into administration. Prior to that furnishing chain Habitat also went into administration. And earlier on this year bookshop and stationary chain British Bookshops closed, after a heavy investment in new stores.

It’s a strange state of affairs that seems to be becoming a trend on the British high street, supposedly after the biggest issues have past. It has been nearly five years since Woolworth’s stores closed, the biggest name to crumble since the new millenniums first recession.

Both HMV and Thorntons (trading for nearly a century) have been publicly addressing their issues, with HMV jettisoning off Waterstone, and its Canadian stores, while Thorntons plans to shut 180 of its stores to focus on internet sales. But both have made fundamental errors, HMV invested cash in the wrong places, while Thorntons products can be found in most supermarkets at a fraction of the prices found in their own stores; they also have flooded the UK with stores, with some towns and cities having as many as four stores (excluding London).

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For many stores, the rise in Internet sales have been a fundamental part of the stores failures, sales being cheaper on line, and often more convenient than high street stores. But sadly the downside of the savings means that every UK high street is starting to look exactly the same, a portion of shops empty (many Woolworths stores still lie bare half a decade after their departure), while the same stores seem to be guaranteed in every town. Is it really more convenient to shop online? It’s strange to think that only 15 years ago the only way to shop properly was either on the High Street or by mail order, the Internet raping our towns shopping areas.

But are the best bargains truly online? It seems most people you ask say that this is the case, however on Monday this week I found a DVD in an HMV store cheaper than anywhere online, a designer jacket £30 cheaper than the online price, and another major retailer who’s online prices on three products were cheaper on the high street than on their own website.

It does seem that the online bargain phase has gone, and that the big players having wiped their competition from the high streets, have now started putting their prices up, in some cases higher than before.

There was always something quite exciting about going shopping, when buying for yourself in particular; the buzz the internet offers simply does not compare, its a time to interact with friends, get a bite to eat, and seek guidance from others; all factors completely missing from an online shopping experience. While we will never truly see the death of the High Street, some products commonly available only a few years ago, now only have homes online.

If you’re an avid online shopper, maybe its time to look back to the high street, while they still stand in the way we know them.