Charity shops are ‘bad for Bridge business’
Friday 14th August 2009, 2:00PM BST.
THE influx of charity shops on the Bridge is bad for business, according to a retailer who is moving out.
‘It has never been a pleasure selling here,’ said Ken Smith, owner of The Bridge Furniture Shop.
He has traded on the Bridge for six years but is now hoping to move back to a more rural location.
Mr Smith said the shop had never been as profitable as at its previous location, Grandes Rocques.
‘People were coming in to buy there, but 70% of the customers on the Bridge are just passing on their way to get their prescription or to go to the charity shops. The rejection rate seems to be a lot higher,’ he said.
While the influx of charity shops in the area – seven in the St Sampson’s centre – was good news for them, it was not conducive to business.
‘Some people have unrealistic expectations. They are coming in here and expecting the same prices,’ said Mr Smith, who used to employ nine staff but now has just one.
He said there had been a chain reaction with one shop closing after another.
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these shope do a service to thos who cannot afford your high prices charged for your goods ,
better for charity than to line your pockets
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your furniture is well over priced mate anyway
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I have to agree with the above comments. The bridge is the wrong demographic for his shop, he made a bad decision moving there.
I can assure him people are not turning to second hand, 20 year old furniture having gone there to buy from him.
The charity shops have filled premises that would otherwise be left empty. I suggest Ken Smith evaluates his own mistakes before laying blame with others.
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Funnily enough I always thought that this shop itself was exceptionally common. Full of naff furniture and the windows plastered with posters advertising terrible lookalikely acts (+ the REAL Jimmy Cricket!) at the Wayside Cheer and now the now defunct Strawberry Farm. That coupled with yet more posters advertising laptop and PC sales and those awful adverts on Island FM……. Altogether hardly gave the image of the upmarket retail outlet that the owner thinks it was.
I thought it actually fitted in quite well down there!
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I think lots of people are window shoppers nowadays. Local shops are good to look around to gauge what one wants and likes.
To then go home and find the same products can be purchased online for around a 45% saving, delivered to the door, its hardly surprising people are doing lots of looking and keeping their hands firmly planted in their pockets.
Mr Smith you are far to expensive and your stock is so old the antique shops might be interested.
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Agree with above comments. Also with a lot of people having to make cutbacks not everyone can afford to pay for new furniture these days.
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I’m not sure charity shops can be blamed for another shop’s failure. The rise of Internet shopping no doubt has accounted for the loss of some business – that’s hardly the fault of the charity shops is it?
Also, the fact that tough economic circumstances has caused people to tighten their belts is not the fault of charity shops either. Furniture is expensive at the best of times and many people are being more shrewd with their money and not buying new – especially when good quality furniture can be picked up second hand at a fraction of the cost.
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I have to agree that his prices are too high, lived back in Gsy from 99 – 03, went furniture shopping, but got nothing from him.
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Ken, you are making the right choice, get out now whilst you can mate, because once that mass burner has been built no one will be able to use the Bridge because of the massive health risks. We will then have two ghost towns all because of greed and deception. Talking of the mass burner and the health implications, which firm of advocates will be brave enough to take on the powers that be when the property values do eventually plummet, businesses go to the wall and the health of those in the vicinity also plummet….Watch this space I say……..
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your furniture is overpriced just like the strawberry farm was overpriced and just like that you blame it on evrey people and not ken smith well mr smith you are a bad bisnis man and you willnot tern a profit this year.
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Sorry but I have to agree your furniture is naff and very overpriced – especially for this climate. Try opening up on London’s Oxford Street !
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sign of the times mate. People can’t afford luxury items such as furniture, but they can afford charity shop clothes. Now go and source the price of sour grapes.
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Pete
Will it just be the Bridge that gets polluted or will it spread further than that? It’s not that far as the crow flies from the incinerator to St Peter Port, will the pollution reach there as well?
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Anything that stops his flippin radio adverts is fine by me.
You are not on the bridge and you dont sell furniture
Thank you and goodnight
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You reap what you sow Mr Smith
People have had enough, we live on an island where people will always talk to each other if they have a bad experience shopping somewhere.
The Strawberry Farm is also struggling and no doubt the Wayside will be next.
To blame it on the charity shops beggers belief and just goes to show that he will never shoulder any of the blame (It’s always someone else’s fault.
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MT
The Strawberry Farm closed last year!
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Pete
There are incinerators in lots of other places. How many of these other places ahve become ghost towns because of health fears?
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the smoke coming out of the power station is much worse than what will come out of the waste plant….stop trying to scare the public with lies and start to focus on the real problems…traffic, jobs, schools, nurses etc etc.
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It is better that the charity shops are making money in the empty shops than no-one making money at all and all for a good cause – eh??
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A few years ago we we’re staying with some friends who live in a small country town in the UK. And they told us that the local council were against any more charity shops opening in the town, as they said they had been bad for business. So believe him or not Mr.Smith is not alone in his opinion.
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It seems from the above comments that the empty shops on the Bridge are empty for the same reason as in Town
I thought they were only empty of ‘proper’ tenants because the Leales yard developers needed them to be out
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