Copy for the next edition of the HUB, the Community Magazine covering Windermere, Bowness and Troutbeck Bridge is 30th September 2011.
Articles, advertising or information to be considered for inclusion should be forwarded to bill@sldt.co.uk asap.
In a survey of shops in Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness undertaken in the last two weeks the number of empty shop units identified was very similar to the results of a survey undertaken in April.
In Ambleside 11 out of 162 shops (6.8%) stood empty against 12 in April.
In Windermere 6 out of 113 (5.3%) against 5 in April although 3 shops are actively being worked upon in preparation for being re-opened.
In Bowness 5 out of 147 (3.4%) against 8 in April with 2 of the units being brand new and never occupied since completion, probably due to their location.
In July 2010 empty shops in each of the towns stood at 6, 4 and 6 respectively with Ambleside seeing the greatest increase against last year due to the loss of shops such as Homes of Football, Shinglers, Lucys Delicatessen and one large unit previously occupied by Gaynors ( who still remain very active in their other shops).
Ambleside has seen some new shops units developed within the year, all of them quickly being occupied, but business in general is felt to have suffered from the loss of student activity following closure of the University Campus, a decision that may now be about to be reversed.
1st July has seen the adoption of our new logo developed for us by Cypher Digital in Milnthorpe.
The refreshing style reflects our commitment to the high street and our role advising, motivating, mentoring and supporting to the needs of the independent retail sector.
Working either directly with private clients or reaching greater sections of the retail community through business or economic development initiatives being delivered thorough local councils we develop and deliver bespoke programmes individually orienated toward meeting the need of the particular trading environment or retail sector involved.
The Shop Doctor visited Congleton and Macclesfield Visitor Information Centres on Wednesday 15th June to assess opportunities to help improve commerciality and retail performance.
With increasing pressure on the available levels of public sector funding support required to sustain information provision it is essential that routes be found to make such Centres more commercially orientated, but in a manner that does not compromise information delivery.
In South Lakeland TIC provision is no longer generally provided by the local authority with management recently being passed to a disparate range of operators including the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce in Kendal, Lakes Hospitality Association in Windermere, and over the last three years by a private operator in Ambleside where TIC service is succesfully delivered through The Hub within the combined Post Office/TIC/Gift Shop
TV Retail ‘Guru’ Mary Portas has today been asked by David Cameron to come up with a plan to help turn around the fortunes of our ailing High Streets.
Central to the review – ordered by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – is the worrying level of sales in town centres, which have dramatically under-performed other locations.
Government figures show that between 2005 and 2010, town-centre sales grew by a paltry 1.5%, while those in out of town shopping centres grew 11.5% and non-store (mail order and internet) soared by 71.5%.
As our ‘Shop Doctor’ knows only too well there will be no simple solutions as the picture across the country is extremely complex and compounded by a range of issues that range from the costs associated with operating on the High Street , the state of the local economy, customer demographic and how supermarkets and out of town retail activities interface with the towns themselves.
Underlying this is the poor condition of many of our High Street environments, parking charges and accessibility and the individual presentation of the shops within them – and then there are the challenges of the varying levels of customer service experiences and customer perception (or misperception) of what it actually costs to shop in the High Street.
You can follow ‘The Shop Doctor’ on Twitter www.twitter.com/theshopdoctor
Following the winding up of South Lakes Development Trust (www.sldt.co.uk) Let’s Talk Shop Ltd has taken on the key business support activities originally established by the Trust to help support small local businesses in South Lakeland.
A range of support services are now available from bespoke telephone call handling in the name of the local business or general handling of transferred calls.
By filtering out unnecessary sales calls or ensuring that customers are talking to ‘real people’ rather than taking the risk of recorded messages not being picked up the service proves invaluable to small business operators.
For more information refer to our Business Support page.
