Instead of a White Stuff in ED, I'd like to see...

[panda boy]

Hmmmm, ok very fair point.

There is always the internet though, or mail order for such essentials? Do we really need a whole shop to cater for these things?

(I know what you mean about ?20 cupcake tins though!)

[Huguenot]

Is there a simple formula to the kind of shop that's possible?

For example: rent is ?3,000 a month, salary is ?2,500 pcm for a full time, and ?1,500 for a part time, with overheads (not including stock) at say ?1,000 a month gives running costs at ?7,000 a month without considering tax.

If you got your products at 50% of sales price, that would require at least ?15,000 a month in gross sales.

My figures are probably way out (so please someone else feel free to do a better job!!), but even so...

...is a shop on LL really likely to sell ?3,500 worth of socks or pants or guitars or independent music every week? You can see why they'd prefer to sell just 35 things at ?100...

[MadWorld74]

I've always wanted a hammer with a flowery design at ?25.00, and then there's the blue 'retro 50's kitchen' fish slice at ?15.00...taken a trip into that new kitchen shop on LL near the EDT? Can't even afford a carrier bag in there!

Honestly sometimes I think people in ED are either bored out of their sculls, or have no sense and alot of money to buy such tat.....um...maybe both. Looks like the honest little indep. record store will have to wait. Thanks Huguenot for putting things into perspective.

[georgia]

Yes - I would much rather have an M&S or John Lewis or some other similar shop, as I would use these, as opposed to a kitchen shop (nice as it is I am sure, though I haven't ventured in as can't see me ever buying anything there).

[MadWorld74]

I have to say no to M&S and no to John Lewis, even though I use both. We have to keep LL independent or at the least with small chain businesses. If you want the high street go to the high street. That's what keeps ED unique. Keep some differentation between the London areas!..else we all blend into one big SHOP.

[panda boy]

This very morning a shop keeper was telling me that some shops down the highstreet can pull in ?30,000 PER WEEK... (No names mentioned, but towards the goose green end...)

I still lean towards having a record shop though. Firstly if the book shop can survive with it's eclectic collection of reading material, and Roulier White hasn't folded in the 1st year, then i see proof that if a shop sells what people want it can do well.

I understand the need for a cheap pants shop though, and as it isn't just one empty shop we're talking about, maybe both underwear and music could live happily in harmony?

[panda boy]

And i'm with MadWorld on this. Agree 100%

(Got your PM, ta)

[georgia]

Yeah independent shops that sell 'retro' fish slices for ?15...

Independent shops are great - if they sell stuff we actually want. Actually I would like to see more bars / restaurants opening in LL instead of shops.

[MadWorld74]

Happy musical pants?...

[MadWorld74]

georgia bullock wrote... Actually I would like to see more bars / restaurants opening in LL instead of shops.

Yes! loads of bars and restuarants please then maybe LL will become known as 'The Strip' and be one massive bar. Costa Del East Dulwich. We could all get together outside the holy grail of The Strip (outside The Mag) and have a fight after the pubs and bars have all shut....with our trendy fish slices in hand as weapons?

[panda boy]

More bars and restaurants? Wow. What are we missing that we havn't already got?

Ok a couple of other world cuisine places wouldn't go amiss.

Then again it may be a question of lookinag after what we've got before we wish for more.

I for one am still mourning the loss of two trees that closed before christmas and never opened again.

Served a great tagine...

[MadWorld74]

The Two Trees Lounge? It's round the corner from me. I saw it being demolished over the weekend. There was this guy up a ladder with an iron bar ripping the frontage off whilst clutching a Bud in the other hand. Talented. If only th Co-op actually sold FOOD!! we'd be okay. It's like an Eastern European market when I go in there (expect Eastern Europe markets probably sell more food than the Co-op!)

[panda boy]

Its a real shame it's gone. Was run by a lovely guy, very friendly.

Wasn't too pricey, good food, interesting decor. Shame it didnt have an outside bit round the back instead of on the road.

Been there for donkey's years too, survived all sorts of things.

Now it's gone for good.

*sigh*

Wonder what that's going to be...!

A Fat Face?

An even more expensive kitchen shop?

No, i've got it, a 4x4 showroom!!

[MadWorld74]

What about a tanning shop?

[Keef]

Air on the G string perhaps? Sorry :-S

[MadWorld74]

You said you wanted a guitar shop Keef, didn't you? As does Panda Boy (I can't help but wonder what your real names are because quite frankly I feel a bit daft writing to Keef and Panda Boy!)...but anyway enough of that. Forest Hill area is set for big things I can imagine.

[Keef]

Come on, surely it isn't too hard to guess what someone calling themselves Keef might really be called ;-) Not quite getting the Forest Hill bit, but I'm feeling very very slow today!

[MadWorld74]

I dont know you might be called something like Tarquin and just be slumming it on this website by using the guise 'Keef'...not that there's anything wrong with the name Keith, Keef.

[panda boy]

You mean you're a person mad world?

Damn, i thought i was addressing the whole mad world.

(panda boy is a work thing, working too long hours, eyes resemble panda eyes, as they do now. I don't actually sit in trees and eat shoots, that much anymore...)

And what are your ideas on the forest hill section?

[spymum]

Pandaboy, I am laughing like a drain at the phrase 'the anti-christ's tea room'! Mind if I use that some time?

And MadWorld 74 is right - happy musical pants is clearly what we need. An independent music store, selling music, guitars, easy-to-play tabs plus a well stocked pants section! - plain/simple and complicated/fancy.

We should club together and put this idea to the Dragons Den!

spymum

(Blog: Posh Mum)

[MadWorld74]

You mean you're a person mad world?

Damn, i thought i was addressing the whole mad world.

(panda boy is a work thing, working too long hours, eyes resemble panda eyes, as they do now. I don't actually sit in trees and eat shoots, that much anymore...)

And what are your ideas on the forest hill section?

You can view me Panda Boy as the world in it's entirety if you like.....I like the idea of hanging out in trees very much..

Forest Hill? It just has the 'feel' you know, that's it's soon to have the makeover of all makeovers.

[panda boy]

Spymum, feel free to use the phrase as liberally as you can. It is the truth.

And madworld, i'm waiting for the new forest hill section with baited breath, i'll keep my eyes peeled...

Time to get back up tree for a nap...

[SimonM]

>> understand the need for a cheap pants shop though, and as it isn't just one empty shop we're talking about, maybe both underwear and music could live happily in harmony?<<

On fairly regular visits to Cambridge we also visit the market there for the stalls selling nothing but socks, underwear, records, second hand books etc etc...They all thrive and flourish, as I am sure they do in similar market in other towns. They don't have all the outgoings a "proper" shop premises would involve. Now if only North Cross road market could expand in this direction - perhaps if the bit from Willow to LL is closed to traffic on Saturdays? - then this might be a viable way forward?

[SimonM]

>>An independent music store, selling music, guitars, easy-to-play tabs plus a well stocked pants section! - plain/simple and complicated/fancy.<<

I keep seeing variations of this cri de coeur in here - does the music shop on Upland Road not fit the bill then?

[MadWorld74]

SimonM wrote:

I keep seeing variations of this cri de coeur in here - does the music shop on Upland Road not fit the bill then?

No it most certainly does not! It's alright if you sing in a choir and want sheet music for Verdi?s Requiem, and definately not alright if you have a musical instrument (that's not a violin, a triangle or a recorder!). Do you know of record stores like Sister Ray in Soho? That's the type of place we could do with. But less gloomy inside...