Bonnie's florist shut down

[kate7]

From internet appears that indeed Bonnie's is officially permanently closed.

[Penguin68]

For those worried about the invasion of the faceless chains it is worth remembering that the reason we have so few in LL is that the footprints of most premises are too small for chains to bother. This keeps independants here, but of course the size of establishments does restrict their opportunities and range. As rents are reviewed (and will go up) older establishments will find that their revenues per square foot (or area unit of your choice) will move out of equilibrium with their rentals. This means either moving into higher value sales (not easy for a florist) or increasing throughput dramatically (ditto). The penalties for living in a vibrant and 'improving' area are that certain types of retail outlet are priced out. Not helped when they are competed with by companies (i.e M&S) with a wider range of items for sale, some of which are of much higher unit value per sales space occupied.

In some other areas landlords have discovered that moving from retail (or commercial) into domestic usage is far more lucrative - hence the loss of shops in many of the small areas around us (Underhill, Wood Vale etc.).

[ianr]

kate7 Wrote:

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> From internet appears that indeed Bonnie's is officially permanently closed.

> Attachments: bonnies florist.docx (37.3KB)

For those who couldn't read it in their browser, it contained just the attached.

What was the source webpage?

[kate7]

ut and paste this into Google

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bonnie%27s+florist+lordship+lane&oq=bonnies+florist&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6525j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[kate7]

No need to cut and paste, just click on link

[claresy]

I'm not surprised shopless Sally's makes money with no shop overheads - I was astonished to see they were charging 20p for a slice of dried orange at Christmas and sell flowers by the stem at inflated prices. I shall really miss Bonnies - her bargain bucket ensured I've always had flowers, no matter how short of money I've been.

[mikeb]

@ Claresy - maybe forgive someone for making a little extra at Christmas? I got a very reasonable price on large bunch of lillies and other bits, plus a free bit of mistletoe (no kiss required).

[Sue]

claresy Wrote:

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> I'm not surprised shopless Sally's makes money

> with no shop overheads - I was astonished to see

> they were charging 20p for a slice of dried orange

> at Christmas and sell flowers by the stem at inflated prices.

> I shall really miss Bonnies - her bargain bucket ensured

>I've always had flowers, no matter how short of money I've been.

To be fair oranges are not cheap, and you can't easily use the very juicy small ones which are cheaper, because those takes ages to dry because of all the juice.

And it takes heat to dry them, which has to be paid for.

I make my own dried orange slices at Christmas, to hang on the tree, but I'd have been quite happy to pay 20p for a ready-dried slice, because slicing and drying them (on a rack over a radiator in my case) is a faff.

Bonnie's bargain bucket was of flowers which were well past their best and wouldn't last much longer, hence being sold off very cheaply. I do agree maybe better than no flowers at all, but I'm not sure they were a huge bargain.

[dazeykat]

I will miss Bonnie's too, Claresy.

[Earl Aelfheah]

There seems to be activity in what was Bonnie's. Anyone know what it's going to be?

[NewWave]

probably a nail salon....yawn!

[coqueliklo]

Hi Newave,

Just to let you know, Platform1 restaurant is permanently closed. I have been there couple of time.

Such a shame that Lordship lane or the neighborhood is going to be for big companies and soon

we will be surround only by Costa, Nando's and co....

[NewWave]

coqueliklo Wrote:

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> Hi Newave,

> Just to let you know, Platform1 restaurant is

> permanently closed. I have been there couple of

> time.

> Such a shame that Lordship lane or the

> neighborhood is going to be for big companies and

> soon

> we will be surround only by Costa, Nando's and

> co....

agree.. it'll just be like every dull identikit highstreet due to greedy landlords.

sad times

[Abe_froeman]

I think these landlords will get a wake up call very soon.

There are a number of shops that have been unlet for some significant time (Jaflong, the cook shop etc) that closed due to rent increases and meanwhile the big chains like Jamie Oliver, Byron etc are negotiating huge rent decreases following CVAs and their landlords are bending over just to keep a tenant in.

[Nigello]

only by Costa, Nando's -

The problem with this statement is that it takes responsibility for such monoculture away from the consumer. ?2.+ coffee and factory-farmed/sometimes-ritually-slaughtered chicken are what people want, it seems, including those who bemoan the state of the high street (and animal welfare). If people didn't want (or, more likely, if they were willing to face up to the realities of) such purchases the high street would be different.

[flocker spotter]

Commercial properties are a whole different rental regime to household stuff & its has always been common for landlords to sit on vacant properties for long periods - this is not something that side of the industry is unused to. Small business may not be able to commit to the length of arrangement required , there are outfitting costs to be considered on short leases and possibly legacy or dark rent from the previous tenants may be in operation.

[thefords]

Just wanted to add something to this thread that I'm a start up fashion retailer looking for pop-up space to get me started. An issue I have with the empty spaces is that they would be ideal for to do a pop-up until the landlord finds a tenant, they get to make some money in the meantime and its better for the high street than an empty shop... we all win but the gatekeeper estate agents are rarely willing to encourage the landlords to do this or just say no out right and the landlords seem to be some faceless, anonymous people who are out of reach and don't care about the local high streets or helping new businesses.

I don't know how to get a space at the moment, have amazing stock arriving and nowhere to put it...but I'm sure there'll be more cafes opening.

[Earl Aelfheah]

coqueliklo Wrote:

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

> Hi Newave,

> Just to let you know, Platform1 restaurant is

> permanently closed. I have been there couple of

> time.

> Such a shame that Lordship lane or the

> neighborhood is going to be for big companies and

> soon

> we will be surround only by Costa, Nando's and

> co....

That's a shame. I must admit, I only went there the once, but it was good.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Is there a big move to 'chainification' on LL? There are a handful of chains, but that's been the case for a while now. I haven't noticed a huge increase in the number of 'big names'. There has always been a turnover in indies too as far as I can recall. Am I mistaken?

[d.b]

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> Is there a big move to 'chainification' on LL?

> There are a handful of chains, but that's been the

> case for a while now. I haven't noticed a huge

> increase in the number of 'big names'. There has

> always been a turnover in indies too as far as I

> can recall. Am I mistaken?

You're not wrong, just every time this discussion happens you get people bemoaning the imminent influx of Costa, Nando's etc, but actually very little has happened. There has always been turnover on the high street, shops and restaurants have tried and failed or just decided to go elsewhere. It's a shame there seems to be such pressure on rents but when you look at the empty units I hope the landlords losing money through lack of tenants end up reducing their rent as a result. I guess that's how the market works.

n.b. Platform One is kind of a shame but I'm not surprised. The food was generally pretty good but they were hard work. When they were busy everything took ages - they needed another member of staff. The nature of the place meant you could have a great meal but if you went back you either had pretty much exactly the same thing, or a completely different chef so it was hit and miss.

[Penguin68]

Is there a big move to 'chainification' on LL?

I have commented before that what has 'saved' us from chains has been the small footprint of most LL retail premises. Most are smaller than what chain outlets will be looking for (other than e.g. Timpson's where the footprint is too large)

[goldilocks]

Walked past the old Bonnie's shop yesterday and there seemed to be lots of retro place signs (like the old street signs) and hanging baskets so might be opening up as something else shortly.

[NewWave]

Walked past today, and saw what looked like cheap mass produced shabby chic tat. retro style signs reading 'man-cave'

and some truly nasty faux gilt antiquey mirrors.

I'd much rather have the young designer in a pop up than made in china overpriced retro crap!

[Elphinstone's Army]

it's a pop up - Little Minx are going in when their lease is up

[Jakido]

Looks like there is a change of use planning application to change it into a Nail Bar.