Body care relocating
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@Adam 13327 wrote:
Agreed although I’m yet to be completely convinced that slashing parking charges tomorrow would have a noticeable effect.
Yesterday’s committee meeting notes from Wrexham.com sound very much like the familiar group of councillors and officers stubbornly denying the decline they have presided over. Whilst dismissing others as treacherous doom-mongers.
Simply put, the decline will continue as long as they do…
I’ll just try and convince you Adam. You know that I run a business. In the year 2001-2002 my business recorded a turnover figure of £550,000 for the year. Every 1% of turnover that we added or subtracted equated with some £5500. We operated on a Gross Profitability of about 40% so that some £2200 of every £5000 taken went to offset costs. A 5% +- equated with £27,500 worth of turnover or some £11,000 against costs.
Essentially, we are talking about the difference to a business in Wrexham of that type of between 1 extra customer in every 100 or perhaps 5 extra customers in 100 parking up and coming into a local business. Whilst you might not think that a difference of 1 in 100 extra people visiting the town might make any difference, business people do not. Each extra customer gained or lost is the very life blood of small scale enterprise!!
……..just to add……it is not just Car Parking charges……..it is about every little thing that we can do to make the town an attractive place to conduct business. It is about clearing up the aggressive begging on Bank Street……it is about supporting the Heritage trail……it is about transforming the Markets (primarily by lowering the rents)…..it is about pressing for Business rates to be reduced….better signage……and so on
Regardless of the gloom and doom that we hear on this site for much of the time, it is possible to encourage and sustain enterprise in this town of hours. I have traded in Bank Street for 12 months. I think that my shop is a very sexy little beast…….others can do the same…..with the right support from the Community at large
The highest occupancy of retail units is still the top half of Regent Street from Watersones up past McDonald’s towards St Marys and King Street.
It is interesting that all of the shops on the left are one single Landlord– this appears to be making a difference re 100% occupancy compared with other areas of towns with multiple landlords. This is just an observation and not really sure if this is the case how a similar model could be adopted in other parts of Wrexham with such a large mix of landlords.
Island Green is another similar area with nearly 100% occupancy – why single landlord and controlled car parking directly outside shops.. Shops like ARGOS with their order on line and collect instore all helps to drive up footfall. The only empty space is HMV.
If you want to invest in a shop in town it would look like top of Regent Street and Island Green are the best bet.
Why is there no promotion of the trains to Central Station — many ares of the country would jump at the chance of a station so close to shops yet does this get promoted to people who live ion the line towards Liverpool.
Why don’t a group of smaller retailers come together and pitch for the HMV store– footfall, shared costs, joint marketing looks like it could be win win for everyone.@99DylanJones 13344 wrote:
Why don’t a group of smaller retailers come together and pitch for the HMV store– footfall, shared costs, joint marketing looks like it could be win win for everyone.
^ that is an interesting idea!
One thing from the meeting that stuck in my head was the discussions with landlords from the Council.
The Council is landlord on comparatively low number of commercial properties in town, however has the oompf to talk to major landlords. It appears there is a handful of landlords with a large proportion of the town, and they are being engaged by the Council to try and do something positive.
The interesting comment was that such landlords are going to have to make an effort to change as their current business models no longer work.
I would imagine that is where pop up shops and arts based ventures have gained space well as it negates the business rates obligations – and as with most things it comes down to £ !
Noticed yesterday while walking to work that a new independent cake shop is opening in the old Bistro Imagina on Chester Street. Shop will be opening at the end of the month and going by the pics on the website, looks like its going to be a nice little place.
EmzCakes Wrexham <link to the website for those who are interested.
Dylan and Rob make vitally important points.
There is another oh so vital fact. When I came into retail, the rates paid on commercial properties were never as much as 50% of the rents. Now many shops pay more in rates than they do rent. As flexible as some landlords are, a rent reduction will only help so far with costs and whilst rents have fallen everywhere across Wrexham, the rates are still based on peak rental values.
Crazy
Ratebale value on which Business rates are based were due to be reviewed last year but the Government has delayed this until 2016/17. The reason for this is that rentals in many areas have fallen due to available floor space that the ratable values would have gone down with a result that Business Rate income would have fallen for the Government and then onward transmission to all Local Authorities.
This would mean a very significant reduction in income for Local Authorities and ultimately the delivery of services.[QUOTE=99DylanJones;13344
Why don’t a group of smaller retailers come together and pitch for the HMV store– footfall, shared costs, joint marketing looks like it could be win win for everyone.This is a good idea that has been talked about before.There are however many problems that can arise from a joint venture.One solution would be for the landlord to split the shop area and try and let it off to smaller retailers.This could help everybody.The system is not new,the Council already do it in the form of a market.The problem with the Council market is they charge high rents and do not plough back any of their rich pickings into the venture.
@99DylanJones 13349 wrote:
Ratebale value on which Business rates are based were due to be reviewed last year but the Government has delayed this until 2016/17. The reason for this is that rentals in many areas have fallen due to available floor space that the ratable values would have gone down with a result that Business Rate income would have fallen for the Government and then onward transmission to all Local Authorities.
This would mean a very significant reduction in income for Local Authorities and ultimately the delivery of services.You are quite right here Dylan……if, however, you look at the post on the size of local government that I put on today, you can draw your own conclusions. Ultimately, someone has to pay for all those bureaucrats that the likes of Flintshire have added to their bloated budgets since Clwyd was scrapped
@jimbow 13356 wrote:
This is a good idea that has been talked about before.There are however many problems that can arise from a joint venture.One solution would be for the landlord to split the shop area and try and let it off to smaller retailers.This could help everybody.The system is not new,the Council already do it in the form of a market.The problem with the Council market is they charge high rents and do not plough back any of their rich pickings into the venture.
I think that you are quite right here Jim. I suspect that several entrepreneurs need to approach the likes of the landlords who own the unit that was HMV’s or TJ Hughes and offer to take the entire unit……..on condition that if one or more of the original co-signatories pulls out or is liquidated, the residue of traders are not joint and several for cost. The landlord has to endure risk (that a component of his rent disappears) but it may be preferable for a landlord than a unit sitting idle
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