Could one of the sponsers please

[lesleyuk]

Could one of the sponsers please open up a shop in Canary Wharf. I am sick of ordering stuff of the website only to be disappointed because its not quite what I expected. There are loads of card makers and scrappers here. Come on sponsers you are guaranteed at least one customer (ME).

[bevvie]

Could one of the sponsers please open up a shop in Canary Wharf. I am sick of ordering stuff of the website only to be disappointed because its not quite what I expected. There are loads of card makers and scrappers here. Come on sponsers you are guaranteed at least one customer (ME).

And Me!!! I work just down the road!!

[fruitysuet]

I'm not a sponsor but I daren't even begin to imagine what the business rent and rates would be like in that area!

[SarahK]

Would love to but wouldn't want to pay the rent and rates for that area!!

[lesleyuk]

Go on you'd make a fortune. For non UKS members you could charge well over the top they are loaded here (well except me) LOL.

Well failing that anyone fancy opening a shop in Abbey Wood then.

[Lily_My_Lovely]

I nearly did.... the rent was not too bad... but the rates? Please!

And the footfall of crafters (according to my survey / leaflet drop) was too low to warrant it.

[Lily_My_Lovely]

Lesley... why don't you shop at Artbase or the Scrapbook Lady? They are both only 20 minutes from Liverpool Street?

Or you could come to my crop in Woodford or Tanya's crop in Havering-atte-bower... we both have stuff for sale.

[CarolynUK]

or go out to the Scrapaholics club at Hartley (Wed PM twice a month or all day Sunday once a month) - retail opportunites available there too!

[katiepops]

It's not just London that's expensive for rent and rates - everywhere is the same (though obviously not as expensive as London). By the time you factor in your rent and rates, heating and lighting, water bills, staff costs etc etc etc you're looking at a small fortune every month - so you really have to be convinced that you'll be serving phenomenal amounts of customers every single day just to break even.

Kate

[lesleyuk]

I nearly did.... the rent was not too bad... but the rates? Please!

And the footfall of crafters (according to my survey / leaflet drop) was too low to warrant it.

I really think there are more crafters here that people think. Canary Wharf now has more people shopping here at the weekends than it does during the week. I think alot of the retail rents are based on turnover too.

They just opened a scribbles today and it very overpriced, the cards are horrible and its packed.

Trouble with getting out and about to artbase and crops etc is, that I work full time then home to a property we have only been in three months and needs a lot of work (time) spent on it. Plus 4 kids (5 if you include DH) Not much ME time available really.

[katiepops]

I really think there are more crafters here that people think. Canary Wharf now has more people shopping here at the weekends than it does during the week. I think alot of the retail rents are based on turnover too.

But you still have to persuade them to spend money - it doesn't necessarily follow that every crafter coming in will spend lots of money - some spend nothing, some will buy two sheets of paper, some will spend a fiver and some will spend lots. Anyway, like Lily said, it's not so much the rent that's the problem, but the rates - even up here in Brum a tiddly little shop on one of the main roads into Birmingham can cost anything from £5000-£10000 in rates - that's at least another £400+ per month on top of rent etc. It all adds up!

Kate

[ukscrapper]

I think alot of the retail rents are based on turnover too.

Even with turnover rent, there is still a base rent payable. Like at Lakeside, some of the units have a rent of £200,000 pa (for about 2,000 sq ft), the turnover rent kicks in when turnover is in excess of £2,000,000

[Lily_My_Lovely]

I really think there are more crafters here that people think. Canary Wharf now has more people shopping here at the weekends than it does during the week. I think alot of the retail rents are based on turnover too.

LOL I work in Canary Wharf (the building with the big ticker going round the outside?) so I know it quite well.

None of the Retail rents are based on turnover... they are based on whatever the landlord (or consortium who owns the buildings) wants to charge.

I'll give you a fascinating fact... London Oxford Street is the 4th most expensive retail rent IN THE WORLD at around £500 per square foot!

The most epxpensive retail space is New York's Fifth Avenue, followed by Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and then the Champs Elysées in Paris is in third place...and up until October this year in 4th Place was Oxford Street (but I beleive New Bond Street has just over taken Oxford Street now).

This massive cost in retail space spreads through the whole of Central London, a 500sqft shop can cost in the region of £125,000 - £2,000,000 rent per year depending where it is located. And properties in the Canary Wharf complex are in the range of about £50,000 - £100,000 rent per year.

Jubilee Place is slightly cheaper (but thats just to get tenants in at the moment). On the fringes of Canary Wharf (Marsh Wall, Poplar etc) properties are cheaper... but footfall is much reduced.

At the beginning of this year (March - April) I paid to have a survey undertaken of people shopping/crossing Canary Wharf. Approximately just over 2.14% were interested in crafts/craft products being available locally.

Beleive me... I had a property sorted and ready to go...as I had run shops before I was pretty confident... but when the facts were laid out in front of me they didn't make good reading. I would have needed about 20 customers a week, all spending £100 each to break even.

[charlotte41]

Maybe someone could trade from a suitcase like Del Boy....rent and rates free!
Even better from an Artbin tote, at least its on wheels for a quick getaway.
You could wear a big overcoat with rows of Prima bottles in neat little sewn in pockets on the inside and surrepticiously flash at anyone that looked like a scrapper!

[lesleyuk]

Maybe someone could trade from a suitcase like Del Boy....rent and rates free!
Even better from an Artbin tote, at least its on wheels for a quick getaway.
You could wear a big overcoat with rows of Prima bottles in neat little sewn in pockets on the inside and surrepticiously flash at anyone that looked like a scrapper!

That would do Charlotte - only prob is that I may get some funny looks from security when I ask to stroke the stash.

LOL I work in Canary Wharf (the building with the big ticker going round the outside?) so I know it quite well.

Lily you are over the road to me. I work for Canary Wharf Group and I am based in the tower. I look after the legal docs including the retail leases !!!!!!!! LOL See theres another local crafter - mind you, you wouldn' make much money out of yourself I guess. BTW I wasn't approached buy anyone doing a craft survey I would have told them what we need LOL