Hope & Greenwood

[tomskip]

A British friend who has lived in the US for 20+ years is visiting London with her children. She is a bit nostalgic and very fond of sweets and chocolate. I googled Hope & Greenwood, in the hope of sending her in the direction of their Covent Garden Shop.

The results of my Google search are a bit odd. When I click on the official H&G page, it seems that their shop in Covent Garden is no longer there, but Google hopes my friend might find what she needs in these other nearby locations (all illustrated with helpful pictures)

1. the Aldwych Theatre

2. The Real Greek

3. Toni and Guy

Well I doubt it, given that she wants to buy small bags of sweets and isn't in need of seeing a show, a mediocre Greek meal or a haircut.

So can anyone techy explain what kind of nonsense is going on here? I find it about as useful as my Samsung phone chosing to autocorrect x to xerox or X to Xmas every. single. time.

[red devil]

I got the same 3 alternatives when clicking on the H&G Covent Garden link. The main H&G website says that it is undergoing a makeover and to ''visit again soon'' It also says they are available at Sainsburys, but that only throws up a selection of 2 types of sweet...

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplayView?msg=&langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=FY9ACmpFgTbZnsEmLA6urhb2s8fg5rVm7uBWIAomTKszpyqCFST4uNeJdq27cG5WqtYzfOCwEIwBkpGFQBfrLJiBdqYVfGieew%2BvjqTY19Q4%2FOixbzz8%2BVLX34XtH1ZIeWRf60uHSZC5Jn9tUnphHBeMBS72oyYGq70qnepI6xNa8XxVbwjZ0o7UovZ1kDcU94J5MnOxqdpv0MSY1jXQbp522PsaleL6AVLCaWHVd5FeLL0QgGxclHsP9vuChEPX%2FMN7z1CktlGPvF1ELaGuK6ZKZIbOozQYzJ1RbOME%2BpQ%3D&ddkey=http%3ASearchDisplayView#langId=44&storeId=10151&catalogId=10123&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&pageSize=36&orderBy=RELEVANCE&searchTerm=hope%20and%20greenwood&beginIndex=0&hideFilters=true&categoryFacetId1=

[ianr]

Although the page you were both looking at has the title "Hope and Greenwood | Covent Garden London" it's actually on someone else's site, www.coventgarden.london/hope-and-greenwood . The actual H&G website is http://www.hopeandgreenwood.co.uk (from which it ppears as if they're currently selling only via Sainsburys).

[pablogrande]

As alternative there's an old style sweetshop in Forest Hill - Sugar Mountain

[KidKruger]

Sugar Mountain is ace.

[Saffron]

I used to find Google really useful, but I've been getting lots of rubbish search results over the last few months. Odd. I hope you find what you're looking for -- come back and let us Forumites know how it turned out. :) I'm intrigued by Sugar Mountain... maybe a trip to Forest Hill is needed! xx

[edhistory]

Now renamed to "The Monty Bojangles Company Ltd".

??

[Sue]

edhistory Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Now renamed to "The Monty Bojangles Company Ltd".

>

> ??

What, Hope and Greenwood or Sugar Mountain?

M&S currently fulfils my tooth rotting requirements, though admittedly you don't get the thrill of choosing extremely expensive chocs one by one and having them put in a pretty little box and tied up with a red ribbon.

ETA: But hey! If Hope and Greenwood hadn't gone, we would never have had Maison Dog.

Every cloud, etc ...

[Earl Aelfheah]

Manson dog can feck oof. I miss H&G

[Sue]

So do I.

[Seabag]

Hope & G had a great business , only to fook it up

Sad really

[JoeLeg]

How did they mess up? I get that they must have somehow, but what exactly?

[tomskip]

I thought they just decided not to trade in ED any more? Plenty of businesses do.

[Sue]

They still had a shop in Covent Garden at that time, but evidently that has now closed as well and they are only selling their sweets wholesale.

[ianr]

>> Now renamed to "The Monty Bojangles Company Ltd".

>> ??

>

> What, Hope and Greenwood or Sugar Mountain?

It looks more like a takeover of H&G by Monty B.

The owners of Monty B. acquired all the H&G shares in 2015 and became sole directors.

It remains to be seen whether they'll keep it on as a distinct brand.

That said, H&G Ltd was actually being run as a dormant company from at least 2008, and still was one in February 2016, so it's not itself been the trading entity.

[PhilPhilPhil]

Selfridges used to stock H&G stuff but it looks like they've been replaced by a similarly overpriced retro sweet company, Sweets In The City...

https://www.sweetsinthecity.co.uk/products.html

[JohnL]

Well all I googled was this

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/finance/mergers-and-acquisitions/confectioner-hope-and-greenwood-rescued-from-administration/523847.article

can't read the article because The Grocer is subscription only (how will they ever get on HIGNFY)

[Seabag]

H&G took on a management person who steered the company into a brick wall essentially

They never recovered from the impact

Over diversification and egos ran amok

[Sue]

Seabag Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> H&G took on a management person who steered the

> company into a brick wall essentially

>

> They never recovered from the impact

>

> Over diversification and egos ran amok

??? How did they over diversify?

??? Why did they keep this person on if things were going so badly wrong?

[JoeLeg]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

>

> ??? How did they over diversify?

I suspect they moved away from the core business that had been a success. It's amazing how often something in this industry seems like a good idea, only to reveal itself as their own personal Stalingrad.

>

> ??? Why did they keep this person on if things

> were going so badly wrong?

I'd be willing to bet that the person concerned kept it covered up until too late. That's the risk in paying someone else to run your business.

[Seabag]

Basically they figured out what was going on way too late, oversupplied and undersold.

And when you're dealing with supermarkets etc, you get eaten alive.

Tragic, I loved their shops

[red devil]

I guess the ideal scenario (if you want to expand) is to get one of the bigger concerns on board, but making sure you retain that independent vibe, bit like Innocent drinks have even though they're majority owned by Coca-Cola...

[Seabag]

The reality is you need grown ups at the expansion point. When you get biggger you need scale thinkers, and H&G ran a very thin operation initially.

However, when books and TV come along the ego can get a bit out of hand, with the old business of getting yor hands dirty seems to be below the creators. And the peril of forgetting where the original business core dollar is mined from is dangerous. Books and TV are basically PR exercises, not careers mostly.

Then add a layer of someone else doing your negotiations while youre off 'busy' then all hell breaks loose. Sadly they realised all this at the end, not when it was happening and redeemable.