Topic ID 1502
Walking passed yesterday I notice it was now vey empty and gone............... Anyone hazzard a guess as to what (if anything !!!) will replace it..?
Reply ID 18546
T Mobile?
Reply ID 18547
Defintely not T-Mobile. At present. Definitely not anything at the moment. One minute there, one minute not.
Reply ID 18550
So is there a unit already identified for T Mobile? I thought they had advertised for staff?
Reply ID 18555
So did I but no one seems to know where. Their press room still gives out an answering machine service.
Reply ID 18556
So why not the old Natural Clothing premisies for T Mobile? Is there something already lined up?
Reply ID 18558
quote:Well seeing as they were advertising for staff well before the NCS left and one would assume that they had secured premises before advertising then it seems reasonable to assume that T-Mobile will not be located in this particular unit. Why all the speculation anyway? It's just another empty shop in the town centre after all.
Originally posted by Ewoowar
So why not the old Natural Clothing premisies for T Mobile? Is there something already lined up?
Reply ID 18559
quote:The lease could have ended and been secured by T Mobile. I'm not sure about all the speculation. I guess the thread has just evolved.
Originally posted by Stevequote:Well seeing as they were advertising for staff well before the NCS left and one would assume that they had secured premises before advertising then it seems reasonable to assume that T-Mobile will not be located in this particular unit. Why all the speculation anyway? It's just another empty shop in the town centre after all.
Originally posted by Ewoowar
So why not the old Natural Clothing premisies for T Mobile? Is there something already lined up?
Reply ID 18564
quote:Then I'd have expected them to have a closing down sale or some other indication that they were closing, rather than suddenly disapearring.
Originally posted by Ewoowar
The lease could have ended and been secured by T Mobile.
Reply ID 18568
quote:They're part of a chain though aren't they, so perhaps the stock is just transferred to another branch? Even if it was a franchise, presumably it would have been possible to sell all the stock to another branch.
Originally posted by Stevequote:Then I'd have expected them to have a closing down sale or some other indication that they were closing, rather than suddenly disapearring.
Originally posted by Ewoowar
The lease could have ended and been secured by T Mobile.
Reply ID 18570
Can't really comment further on a public board which should give the game away. An A list type company was interested but pulled out and a week later an empty shop. Believe the owners had a second franchise in Hitchin. As for T-mobile perhaps the old Game On shop - another five minute wonder.
Reply ID 18573
Game On Gone? That was quick. I sometimes wonder if any of these new shops that open up have any business plan at all.
Reply ID 18574
quote:What I have said to so many people is my amazement at how any responsible lender would lend money to anyone who thinks they can make a fortune in retail in the current climate. Then the cynical little devil on my left shoulder says (in tune with anyone listening) is that as long as there is adequate security who cares! In a previous existence when I was employed by a very large High Street Bank staff were not allowed to borrow more than they could reasonable afford based on a multiple of their salary. Many thought this unfair given what we were lending to customers but in hindsight this was a very safe policy and no one I knew ever lost their home or ended up debt ridden.
I sometimes wonder if any of these new shops that open up have any business plan at all.
Reply ID 18582
I recall seeing the lease for the Game On premises advertised in a town estate agents. I believe it worked out at £26k pa. Time may have blurred my memory of the exact figure but whatever it was I remember calculating the revenue required to make a reasonable living from such a venture. It just isn't viable.
Reply ID 18586
quote:In addition to the £26K rent is the rates, bills (phone lines, internet access, water, rubbish collection etc) staff payments or the need to pay the bills at home, marketing, advertising, stock costs etc. The list goes on. For a new independent company to go into a square footage worth £26k rent (according to the landlord) the business had better be a sure fire winner and not focussing on a specialist market. Makes you realise why large companies move in to larger shops as well as medium/small shops being left empty. Hertford has very limited shop premises that are a)the right size to be vaguely affordable and b)in the right area for footfall. Business plans & loans? Many people have ideas but not all of them will make a living. Research can be swayed and banks need to be aware that just because someone has written a plan or is willing to put up security does not mean that there will be a long business relationship in the offing. Gorn orff topic again - sorry admin.
Originally posted by Ewoowar
I recall seeing the lease for the Game On premises advertised in a town estate agents. I believe it worked out at £26k pa. Time may have blurred my memory of the exact figure but whatever it was I remember calculating the revenue required to make a reasonable living from such a venture. It just isn't viable.
Reply ID 18589
quote:and you have forgotten to mention that the rates are probably about 1/2 again, so £13k. So on just these two numbers £39k, that is profit, not turnover.
Originally posted by farrowandfarrow In addition to the £26K rent is the rates.
Reply ID 18591
Continuing from farrowandfarrow's off-topic post, I look at this way: Calculate all your overheads, including your [meagre] salary - per week - and that's how much profit you have to make just to break even. Then look at your margins and work out how much you need to turnover - and then ask yourself why anyone would want to buy from you rather than someone else. It's tough but that's business. I'm amazed that some of the shops in town manage to survive.
Reply ID 18594
Exactly, so on your 23k rent + 13k rates + insurance light and heat, 4k, plus staff salaries 25k, that comes to a mere 65k a year and we have not thought about stock holding costs or fit out costs or the fact that the lease means you have to maintain the building or the owners income or VAT, so on a 100% markup you need to turnover 130k a year, so lets call that 160k with the other factors to stay in business. £3000 a week or £500 a day to stay alive. How?
Reply ID 18596
quote:So you can see why the high street is threatened and all-party politicians are pushing for a review of how supermarkets operate in order to try and save the high street; this inlcudes rate relief for smaller/independent shops.
Originally posted by SMHquote:and you have forgotten to mention that the rates are probably about 1/2 again, so £13k.
Originally posted by farrowandfarrow In addition to the £26K rent is the rates.
Reply ID 18597
Thankyou. I don't know why I felt the need to express thanks or who to but it came out none the less. Credit must go to those who have the balls to operate a small retailing business in this environement. I don't want to see the town centres die, especially not Hertford. And the Tesco's of the world do not care whether the independent trader survives or wilts beneath their shadow. There is so much more to shopping than the price of a loaf of bread.
Reply ID 18607
quote:Too bl**dy right. Shopping, town centres and high streets are a vital social part of the town for all generations. Lose this and the town (any town) loses its life and will end up as a soul-less commuter town. And as for Tesco's £2.1billion profit? GNNNNN!
Originally posted by Ewoowar
There is so much more to shopping than the price of a loaf of bread.
Reply ID 18610
Couldn't agree more....which is why when units like this become empty it becomes more of a worry. The rent is probably on the high side and for most major multiple the space is a bit too small. Which means it's got to be an independant that is more likely to move in. Taking £500 a day is not easy in any retail guise at the moment..............
Reply ID 18614
quote:The landlords expectations of rental income and what their property is worth aren't helping anyone either. They want the money but are not willing to compromise to enable shops to be let, hence properties being on the market for ages and a town becoming ghostly.
Originally posted by flowerbar
Couldn't agree more....which is why when units like this become empty it becomes more of a worry. The rent is probably on the high side and for most major multiple the space is a bit too small. Which means it's got to be an independant that is more likely to move in. Taking £500 a day is not easy in any retail guise at the moment..............
Reply ID 18616
everything changes every time I take a walk in to town. I don't get in to town very often (unfortunately for Farrow & Farrow, as they could retire if I did!!), but it appears a new shop has opened and another closed.
Reply ID 18618
quote:Fair - we can take orders over the phone you know, and can deliver if you live in Hertford[:D][:D][:D] (flicking through a Knoll armchair catalogue...[:D])
Originally posted by thefair1973
everything changes every time I take a walk in to town. I don't get in to town very often (unfortunately for Farrow & Farrow, as they could retire if I did!!), but it appears a new shop has opened and another closed.
Reply ID 18629
The worse case scenario would be to end up like Hoddesdon [url="http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/news/mercury/hoddesdon_mercury/2006/04/21/tower%20centre%20may%20make%20way%20for%20flats.lpf"]Tower Centre may make way for flats[/url]
Reply ID 18635
The shops in St. Andrews Street seem to do fairly well.... are the rents a lot lower there, or are they just more appropriate for the target market?
Reply ID 18653
I have noticed that the travel agents on cow bridge have moved to Fore Street and the shop now stands empty - lets hope this is not for long !
Reply ID 18656
Went to Hoddesdon for the first time in ages last Monday. How on Earth did they get permission to build that monstrous block of flats?
Reply ID 18665
You dont know the half of it. When they built the tower centre, they bulldozed a whole load of buildings all the same age as the swan pub - 16th century! it was 60's liberalism tho, wouldnt happen these days.
Reply ID 18727
The Shops in St Andrew Street find it just as hard if not harder... there just isn't the footfall, people don't walk to the other side of town!
Reply ID 18747
I was speaking recently to the people who ran the antique centre on St. Andrew Street that closed down a short time ago. They are of the opinion that it is almost impossible to run a small business in Hertford with the rents and rates as they are and were not at all complimentary about the town as a whole. They much prefer Ware, which, in their opinion, has crept up on the rails over the past few years and stolen a march on Hertford. I have to say that I can understand where they are coming from.
Reply ID 18748
To be honest, shopkeepers in Ware are finding it hard too.. especially in Baldock Street, where 4 businesses have either gone bust or relocated. Parking restrictions in Baldock Street car park have paid a very big part in this, as it now costs £2.80 to park for 1 hour! ... the council have alot to anwswer for.
Reply ID 18755
Tesco get the blame for individuals shopping habits again......[:)]
Reply ID 18759
The parking has gone up in St Andrew street car park as well.... how often can the council put the prices up???
Reply ID 18761
what??!! grr I have to park there later today, hope I have enough change!!
Reply ID 18763
i think its only gone up by 10p.... but 10p is 10p!