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Stand Up For Seaton (SU4S)

Community Action for Seaton's Regeneration Area, 80% owned by Tesco - a floodplain on a World Heritage site bordered by nature reserves, tidal river, the sea and the unspoilt town. SU4S is a state of mind - no members, no structure, no politics. SU4S has objected to 2 planning applications by Tesco, including one for a massive superstore/dot com distribution centre which led to the recent closure on the site of 400 tourist beds with the loss of 150 jobs,a gym and pool - all used by locals.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Rent free Christmas

A commentator in the previous post suggested that landlords in and around Seaton, in particular those whose tenants are the local shopkeepers, might look to help said tenants.
These are difficult times, even the big successful retailers are attempting price cuts on a massive scale...so what would be in the interest of those landlords?

High street retailing is suffering no matter where you live in the UK, small businesses report difficulty getting support from banks, startups might well not happen this coming year... so come on landlords, a lower income is better than none at all, and you don't have to be the first..see here

+++update+++ Dorset Echo appear to have SNAFU'd the article; for those who missed it, the headline was...

A HOUSING company has given 2300 tenants a Christmas gift of two weeks’ free rent to help with the credit crunch.


Although a quick google reveals other locations looking at this idea.

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7 Comments:

At 9:10 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Seaton innovate - you must be joking! No-one in this town has done anything to encourage shoppers to come in , not landlord or business. Point me to one shop that has made an effort to join the 21st century.

 
At 6:34 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry, except Daniel and Alexander.

 
At 7:42 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And Bag end Bags is great too...

 
At 4:27 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So was Seaton Electronics !! but look what happened to them!

 
At 10:22 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Customer service is important in local shops - making you feel that you are important to them and that they are going that "extra mile" that you don't get in chain stores. How many shops do you know in Seaton where you are greeted by miserable, rude and moaning shop keepers.

One immediately springs to my mind with several others close behind!

 
At 9:31 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

the comment was not to suggest that landlords might help their tenants - although that wouldn't be a bad idea. It was pointing out that landlords need to drop rents if they wish to attract new businesses.

With more people shopping on the internet commercial rents will need to fall so that retail shops can get closer to internet pricing. Or we lose shops on the high street except for things like hairdressers which are personal service.

Shop in local shops regularly and chat to the shopkeepers and you won't find them rude or grumpy.

 
At 10:16 am, Blogger archmaster said...

Yes, it's a bit of both, over the years the big sheds have increasingly expanded their range of online retailing..if you take amazon(which has no high street ptresence), what started as books and cds has now grown to cover everything from kitchenware to gadgetry. In their wake they have a lot of small online startups selling through their "marketplace"
who are either small shops or working from home. Admittedly not everyone is going to go and shop online, but I would argue that over the next ten years, the vast majority of shopping will be done there. There is a time where landlords need to look at helping their existing tenants to both weather the spending downturn, possibly to give them breathing space to develop new strategy, but also to make it possible for new ideas in retailing to come forward.

OK if I think online is going to dominate, why startup in the highstreet? Not everybody will be able to work off a kitchen table, a lowrent base near the centre of town will help facilitate that "space" problem, they won't need to be in a business park and have a "passing trade" opportunity. For the landlord they get an income...which is better than none.
All of this is caused by a shift in social patterns across the country, it isn't Seaton specific, but Seatons landlords and businesses could start to look at working on a partnership level to offset the short and longterm problems they both face.

The added pressure of the superstore will impact on the "passing trade" aspect they have now as both Tesco and Sainsbury deliver here, so the strategy there needs to be how they compete in that arena.

I'm not trying to preach like I know the answers, I wish it were that simple, but the businesses and landlords need to be thinking about these things, ideally collectively rather than on their own.

 

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