I have listened to the Government’s announcements about making it easier and quicker for budding shopkeepers to take advantage of the increasing numbers of vacant premises on the UK’s high streets (which, let’s face it, in our recessionary times are likely to stay empty without some kind of alternative thinking).
I quite like the idea of having my own pop-up shop so it’s as good a subject as any for my latest blog post.
“Baldwin’s 70’s Emporium” is my working name for my shop - Mrs B. thinks “Ade’s Tat Shop” or worse “Ade’s Shit Shop” would be better and of course she is completely entitled to her opinions.
My shop would buy and sell things from the 1970s. It would be a haven for those with a preference for heavy pattern fabrics and ceramics, bungee cord light fittings, orange and brown plastic, coloured glass, flared trousers, lava lamps and twist dial telephones! I’d be in my own 70’s heaven every day and able to interact with other similarly minded retro enthusiasts.
Surely I’d make my fortune!
Well, actually I am not so sure, because being an enthusiast and running a business are two distinctly different things and would selling seventies stuff be the ruination of me? In all honesty, probably and here’s why:
1) Are the banks actually willing to lend to new start-up businesses at the moment?
2) Is setting up a new business in a recession a sensible decision anyway?
3) Regardless of my preferences, kitsch stuff has a limited appeal. How many of those buyers would walk past my shop front (in Daventry for arguments sake)?
4) The internet, which is what is killing the high street, is a better environment to advertise and trade niche products to niche audiences.
5) A website and a secure lock-up would surely be cheaper than high street rent and rates.
6) If I had to pay high street rent/rates, what would I have to add to my prices to cover those costs and would my limited numbers of buyers pay the inflated prices?
7) Ebay is the best site on the internet to buy and sell anything and, on that basis, why would I not just have an Ebay shop front instead? In supply and demand terms, Ebay is also the perfect tool for finding the right price for any item!
8) Being a collector of stuff, would I just be at risk of buying more stuff than I actually sold through my shop?
9) How long before kitsch is considered naff all over again and nobody wants to be seen dead with anything worthy of that label?
As a marketing manager, I have some answers for some of the questions above but I also have this firm belief that the only way a business has any long-term success potential is have a decent business plan based upon decent research - neither of which I have created nor carried out.
So, it is with regret that Baldwin’s 70’s Emporium will remain a flight of fancy for the moment. I bought the website address though just in case. Ade’s Shit Shop may still be available for purchase if you are interested.
How successful will the initiative be to re-open empty shops? I have no idea although I have my doubts it will make a positive difference. I could foresee a scenario where shops are rented by the day to market traders or ‘car boot’ type sellers that will be there one day and gone the next – this would probably work but it wouldn’t look beautiful.
Me, I could always set up some kind of garden shed based museum instead and showcase my existing collection of tat to like-minded enthusiasts for a limited entrance fee. There could be mileage in this idea so I’ll stop writing now and ponder on it for a while.
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I quite like the idea of having my own pop-up shop so it’s as good a subject as any for my latest blog post.
“Baldwin’s 70’s Emporium” is my working name for my shop - Mrs B. thinks “Ade’s Tat Shop” or worse “Ade’s Shit Shop” would be better and of course she is completely entitled to her opinions.
My shop would buy and sell things from the 1970s. It would be a haven for those with a preference for heavy pattern fabrics and ceramics, bungee cord light fittings, orange and brown plastic, coloured glass, flared trousers, lava lamps and twist dial telephones! I’d be in my own 70’s heaven every day and able to interact with other similarly minded retro enthusiasts.
Surely I’d make my fortune!
Well, actually I am not so sure, because being an enthusiast and running a business are two distinctly different things and would selling seventies stuff be the ruination of me? In all honesty, probably and here’s why:
1) Are the banks actually willing to lend to new start-up businesses at the moment?
2) Is setting up a new business in a recession a sensible decision anyway?
3) Regardless of my preferences, kitsch stuff has a limited appeal. How many of those buyers would walk past my shop front (in Daventry for arguments sake)?
4) The internet, which is what is killing the high street, is a better environment to advertise and trade niche products to niche audiences.
5) A website and a secure lock-up would surely be cheaper than high street rent and rates.
6) If I had to pay high street rent/rates, what would I have to add to my prices to cover those costs and would my limited numbers of buyers pay the inflated prices?
7) Ebay is the best site on the internet to buy and sell anything and, on that basis, why would I not just have an Ebay shop front instead? In supply and demand terms, Ebay is also the perfect tool for finding the right price for any item!
8) Being a collector of stuff, would I just be at risk of buying more stuff than I actually sold through my shop?
9) How long before kitsch is considered naff all over again and nobody wants to be seen dead with anything worthy of that label?
As a marketing manager, I have some answers for some of the questions above but I also have this firm belief that the only way a business has any long-term success potential is have a decent business plan based upon decent research - neither of which I have created nor carried out.
So, it is with regret that Baldwin’s 70’s Emporium will remain a flight of fancy for the moment. I bought the website address though just in case. Ade’s Shit Shop may still be available for purchase if you are interested.
How successful will the initiative be to re-open empty shops? I have no idea although I have my doubts it will make a positive difference. I could foresee a scenario where shops are rented by the day to market traders or ‘car boot’ type sellers that will be there one day and gone the next – this would probably work but it wouldn’t look beautiful.
Me, I could always set up some kind of garden shed based museum instead and showcase my existing collection of tat to like-minded enthusiasts for a limited entrance fee. There could be mileage in this idea so I’ll stop writing now and ponder on it for a while.
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