Deputy admits Town shops promise has proved empty
Thursday 20th October 2011, 1:00PM BST.
THE same number of Town shops, 41, are empty despite Town Centre Partnership chief executive Jack Honeybill (pictured) declaring in April that they would all be full within six months.
He first made the prophecy on 21 April. With his six-month deadline up tomorrow, the Guernsey Press carried out a survey of Town and found nothing had changed.
‘It has been a slow process, I admit that, but I am positive about the developments we have made so far,’ he said.
‘I think what we have found is that there has been a shift in the properties that have been filled. For example, the shops in the High Street and Smith Street, where the opportunity for business is big, have been filled, or will be soon, so that is really good to hear.’
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I never did believe that fairy lights and granite benches would do much to stimulate St Peter Port.
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Typical politician’s response – he was totally and utterly wrong six months ago (as anyone with half a brain knew) and yet he still waffles on with entirely misplaced optimistic claptrap. St Peter Port is on the way out as a shopping centre, in 10 years time it will be nothing like it is today, primarily due to a combination of greedy landlords and internet shopping.
Does anyone want a bet on how many empty shops there will be in 6 months’ time – I’ll say at least 40.
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Steady on Phil.You’re talking about the next Treasury and Resources Minister
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Don’t worry Jack, you fit in nicely with the rest of the bunch
Ludicrous statements and promises
Impossible and unrealistic goals, with no results
On failure, the ability to lose all logic, against overwhelming evidence and just claim it just going to take longer
Perhaps you just need a few million pounds and a consultant to make it work!
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‘I think what we have found is that there has been a shift in the properties that have been filled.’
Has there? Really? Maybe Mr Honeybill’s nephew has the answers? I think we should be asking the nephew the question, if his uncle Jack helped him off an elephant, would he help his uncle Jack off an elephant?
Godfrey
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What is the problem with St Peter Port North?
Do they have any idea who to vote for?
Honeybill
Collins
Gallienne
Gollop
Matthews
Steere
Storey
What a waste of five states seats.
Maybe if JH attended some meetings once in a while…
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Phil – I agree entirely. Please can we have just once when a politician talks straight.
It was blatantly obvious that the situation would not improve and Deputy Honeybill’s prediction ended up about as accurate as that American chap who is constantly predicting the end of the world. In fact they were so far wrong I would be interested to know what evidence they were based on, apart from deluded optimism.
I would also be interested to know what “positive developments” Deputy Honeybill is talking about. The same amount of shops remain empty as 6 months ago which to my (admittedly simple) brain makes a grand total of none.
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I think the clue here to the weight that should be attached to the prophecy is in the name of the prophet. Another fail for sweet Jack.
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Posters need to steady on a little. At least he is big enough to admit he was wrong. I wonder how the future town would look if paid parking is introduced?
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Whilst we may all think we are very clever getting a ‘bargain’ on the internet (and we all do it) do we really want a situation in town where more and more shops stand empty? As islanders we need to support the local retailers who work very hard and often very long hours to try and provide us with the goods we want. The real problem with enterprise in town is the astronomical rents that some of the shop owners have to pay – many of the rents would not look out of place in the middle of London. I believe that many of the shops are owned by people who do not even live in Guernsey and are therefore more interested in the rent than the overall picture. Some of the medium sized shops in town are paying £100,000 a year in rent – that is just plain greedy. I suggest that Mr Honeybill puts all his efforts into implementing a cap on rents – St Peter Port is our most important asset.
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Empty shops
Empty words
Landlords with full pockets not prepared to let them out at affordable rates.
Will the last person to leave St Peter Port please turn the lights off…………
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Heck! Many of the empty shops in town had been empty for years, so goodness knows how Jack expected them to be filled in the last 6 months? The overriding problem is the sky-high rents and the greedy landlords that can’t see past the end of their noses. Address that issue and maybe we’ll see some life seeping back into these areas.
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Queenbee
Whilst I applaud your sentiment, a lot of people cannot afford to pay extra for goods, I’m sure if you bought all of your goods locally the amount extra you would pay over a 6 months period would be massive, and for families who are struggling as it is, its simply not faesable to ask them to pay more just to support local shops.
The problem here is not the shoppers, its the landlords, if rent was cheaper shops would be able to sell items cheaper and encourage the internet shoppers back into town.
Face to face retail shopping is not dead, any city centre or out of town retail park in the UK will tell you that. But prices have to match (or at least be competetive) with the internet, and until the landlords get real (the amount of times I’ve heard “I’d rather leave it empty than lease it for that amount” by a stubborn property owner) guernsey shopping will continue to decline, sad, but again anoither symptom of some of our rich upper class doing absolutley nothing to help the island they happily take benefit from.
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Town has 41 empty shops all owned by greedy land lords.So why build another ghost town at leales yard ? If its just going to make even more greedy land lords .Another stupid idea by our states. I wonder witch one is getting a good deal out of this ?
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Greedy landlords are to blame for the empty shops and they are incredibly stupid to expect a high return on the overinflated value of their properties in today’s climate.
If they were to lower their expectations and charge a rent sufficient to cover their ongoing costs they would obviously be better off than being out of pocket:there is nothing more useless than an empty property.
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The ladies hairdressers off Cobo ( Ann Ayres I think it was ) has been empty for at least three years.That’s no rental income for three years
Anyone know of another ex shop to beat that?
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Ha Ha,
well this is the non local politician that used to turn up to the all important airport fiasco well before it reached boiling point!
Anyway I can honestly say that i was once a very proud Guernseyman, I am now totally and utterly ashamed to live on this Island I just wish i had the balls to up and leave except all my family are here.
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Mr Lloyd
I totally agree with you.
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Mr Lloyd
I totally agree with you. Good post.
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It does make me wonder what has gone wrong in the last 6 months 41 times, as dear Mr. Honeybill said he was sure they would be let out by now.No Jack there was 41 empty then and there is still 41 shops empty, empty promises more like.
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The best way to keep the town a town is for the states to buy any shops that are for sale.
This way they can be the landlords.
They should rent them out at a decent price .
I assume most of the shop owner dont even live in our island all they wait for the rent monies to arrive .
We need more little shops in town that will offer us a decent bargain.. more shoe shops .children wear and ladies wear .offering clothes at a price we can afford.
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Rep Honeybill did not know what he was talking about 6 months ago, and still doesn’t; he did not volunteer his latest public fall down, he was approached by GEP and had no choice but to give an honest answer, one of a first for him.
Life giving commodity arteries are vital in a small town such as ours, his psuedo optimism was not taken seriously by the retailers and as a result his precarious credibilty fell yet another notch.
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The problem is here part landlords (who put off the local people from setting up businesses in town) but also partly States. I know (as I have been involved in the processes) that a lot of UK retailers want to come here, the only thing is a. they want to change the layout of some of the retail units to make them easier for everyone to shop in and to comply with disability legislation, and b. they want to bring in non-local people to manage the stores. The two departments standing in their way are our old friends at Environment and Housing. This puts a lot of UK retailers from coming here and this is a major factor as to why many shops stand empty.
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Have any of the landlords thought of a profit sharing scheme or a percentage of the business with traders instead of rent per month?
A percentage of the business instead of rent would surely make the trader want to make a go of his/her business.
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Can Deputy Honeybill please state what EVIDENCE his claim to fill all 41 shops was based on??
Other than spout rhetoric, what does this man do for the people of Town??
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Its clear the exodus is taking effect there just are not enough peeps around to go shopping
You know it makes sense PEEPS
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I returned to the island a couple of years ago after running a successful (small) retail business abroad. I had to return unexpectedly and my shop stock was simply packed up and shipped here with the rest of my beongings. I have not re-opened my shop here as I would have to more than quadruple my prices to be able to afford even the most mediocre establishments, my stock is simply sitting in a garage getting dusty.
@queenbee
why should I shop in town and pay inflated prices (which effectively only line the pockets of the greedy landlords) instead of buying online? Of course I would prefer to purchase locally, I like to browse merchandise before I buy and I don’t mind paying a little bit more to have my goods there and then rather than having to wait for stuff to arrive in the post but our town prices are ludicrous and it is not sustainable, it will soon be a ghost town unless rents are lowered.
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Ray
The shop that was once Trends in the arcade has been empty for a lot longer than 3 years, more like 10 I imagine. And of course the ones in the Bordage by Choi Lee must have been empty for longer than 3 years, 5 maybe?
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As a local retailer myself many things work against you.
i.) Rents similier to a large city, but footfall similier to a small town.
ii.) Frieght, many suppliers send stock free to mainland shops but nearly always charge to ship to the Channel Isles.
iii.) Wages are about twice a expensive localy. In my sector UK average for a shop assistant is £5.25 and superviors/under managers are paid £7.40. In Guernsey or Jersey you need to pay twice that to get any one half descent.
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Adding onto Kats point…
Given that compulsory purchase is the order of the day up at th airport, cant the states purchase all of the empty shops and let them at reasonable prices??
Oh no, we cant have that, this would upset some rich landlords, but remember its ok to do it with land thats been in a normal familys possesion for generations though!
I’d have thought Guernsey’s dying retail industry was a bigger issue than a runway extension that we dont need (dont get me started, it is (will be) an extension, deal with it!!)!
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Just for reference the ones in the Bordage were refurbished in 2002 and a couple of them have been empty a lot longer than that
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Sad to see the empty shops – but some local businesses do not help themselves anyway.
Went to local booksellers today and asked very dour woman what the price of this specific book was (having seen it on Amazon at £10 and WH Smith for £13.80today) she replied “£20″. “What price will YOU be selling it at?” I asked her “£20″ she said.
What would induce me to purchase something which is £10 more, just because it is a local shop?
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Guernsey went down hill when the finance industry got to powerful.Now the only thing the states are interested in is their own bank accounts and sucking up to the fat cats hiding their money in our tax haven.Get rid of finance and guernsey will be a better place.
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Having just come back from a w/e in the New Forest, I was interested to see the market town of Lymington was packed with shoppers on Saturday. I concluded that the market that morning had a lot to do with it and also the lack of big national stores which tend to remove any character from a town. The smaller individually owned shops made shopping a far more enjoyable experience. Parking of course had to be paid for, but it was not hideously expensive….. roughly £1 ph.
This story further convinces me that the Leales’ Yard development is going to be a disaster for town/Guernsey.
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Nocon,
It would also be less risky for the shopkeeper, he would get paid by the landlord if the business turns out to be loss making.
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true guern,
You have spoken against the mighty finance “industry” you will now be bombarded with reasons why Guernsey would not survive without it.Hordes of “Educated” people that have recently arrived on our shores will now attempt to convince you that they are here for the betterment of the locals, who of course, would not SURVIVE without them.
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@ sarnia expat
It is because the bookseller has to pay rent to a greedy landlord.
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D-T – For Greedy Landlords read Guerns Making a Quick Buck then!
I hope the finance industry does not desert our shores – we are sadly undereducated to deal with anything else now.
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@ Paul Le Page
Please, please, please take the post of ‘Chief Minister’. Once again you are the most level headed and practical post of the bunch ! I seriously consider your talents to be wasted on the thisisguernsey forum. We need someone like you at the helm !
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I can understand that some people will prefer to return to a simple life without the finance industry, but I fail to see how the end of the finance industry would be the saviour of the local retail sector – surely, it would result in the vast majority of the existing shops also having to close??
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What an astute and learned observation there from True Guern and Malcolm.
I completely agree that taking away the finance industry will be absolutely brilliant for Guernsey. Hope you’ve got your greenhouses at the ready for some serious tomato growing and then you can go and spend all your money in the hundreds of shops in St Peter Port that will miraculously appear overnight as a result of such a fantastic boon to the economy. In fact I think every shop in Town could become a tomato shop – see the hordes of tourists (assuming you would allow tourists onto the island) line up to buy your tomatoes in droves. You might even put Waitrose (that horrible British denizen of capitalism) out of business. Fantastic! We would be famous the whole world over.
Yes, that should keep this island going and fund your 20% income tax/no council tax/no VAT lifestyles. It’s such a great idea, maybe Jersey would copy us as well?
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Damo – I won’t be standing for the States next year but if I ever decide to, be sure to let me know which electoral district you’re in so I can move there and stand. That way at least I can guarantee myself two votes, one being mine of course!
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Town is a hotch potch of rubbish English chains and outdated local businesses that fail to meet the demand of any discerable demographic.
As someone who is:
a) local and
b) more local than the rest of you
….I am free to state that St Peter Port is an anachronisim.
Bring back the days of Tudor House, Besants, Baker’s Bazarre, Bucktrouts tobaccanist, Pioneer etc etc
Sarnia Cherie and all that.
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Paul Le Page
Make that 3 Paul
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More local than you – but at least it’s not as “English” as St Helier, eh?
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@ Paul Le Page
I’m to the castel me eh !
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I agree with a lot of what all of you say, that said I have a few statements of my own to make:
1) Completely agree with extortion rent. However a rent reduction (or any overhead reduction)will only work if the retailers also reduce their prices, I find it hard to believe that many will want to do this. Take a look at petrol for instance. When oil prices drop our price on the pump continues to rise, we never see a reduction.
2) I also like to support local shops if I can (that said I also shop online). But the service and prices in a number of them pushes me away. Staff do not know what they are selling, so you get blank looks when you ask a question. They push you to buy what they have in the shop and have little interest in getting what you actually want, only just last week I had a retailer say I can order what you want but we don’t generally like to do this (do you want the sale or what!). The prices are well above online or uk retail prices (in some ways linked to rent), but if you ask why prices are the same as UK RRP you’re advised it’s due to shipping (I don’t think shipping is 20%). Then there’s delivery time, I’ve lost count of the amount of times it takes weeks to receive something you’ve ordered (why do this when you can order online and receive within a few days). Lower rents and retailers get their ship in shape and we could see a return to people supporting local retailers again.
3) Getting rid of the Finance Industry is a tricky one. I work in the finance industry so are likely to be biased to it. It has unfortunately become our bread and butter, but this is mainly due to the island (Government) taking advantage of our unique situation of being offshore and having the skilled work force to provide this service. If we were to lose this industry, the big question is what would replace it?? Does anyone have an answer for that? I very much doubt it would ever be Toms and Fresias again, although it would be nice to think that Guernsey could return back to it’s old ways, realistically it’s not going to happen. It would be nice to see a debate on what could be the new dominant industry in Guernsey. That said losing the Finance Industry would mean a huge drop in the Economy, we would lose a large proportion of the workforce (I hear some of you cheer at getting rid of workers on licences, but they also contribute to a huge amount of income in the island how will that be replaced). The lack of demand should reduce prices in the island (properties, products, services), this would effect everyone. The building trade would take a large hit, the retail sector would take a large hit, transport would be hit dramatically. There’s a lot to think about, rather than just to say getting rid of the Finance Sector will be our saviour. Unfortunately for a number of you I think not.
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Oh I loved Bakers Bizarre!!
It would be nice to have some really unique shops in Town again.
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…Paul, I would have no problem whatsoever voting for you if you ever stood…but please leave your religious beliefs behind if you were elected…that is always the frightening bit…
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Taz
Get yourself up to the old quarter, you’ll find a few unique shops up there.
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I am sure that Sunday opening would solve this issue. The shopkeeper would have more trade to cover the rent and in turn could lower prices. A win all round me thinks.
Time Guernsey was a bit more forward thinking.
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@Phil
I know there are some in the Old Quarter, just find that they only open when I am at work!
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Sunday opening would not help.I spoke to many who asked for a license to open on a Sunday and they said it was a waste of time as folks only wanted to peek into the shops and not buy.They had to pay staff extra time and of course the cost of extra and heating for an extra day .. so not worth it.
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I went into a local stationery shop specifically to support it to order some blank books only to be told they didn’t have in stock and their next order wasn’t due in for another two weeks.
I told the assitant I was buying them locally to support the local retail trade. I even hinted that he order them on line and telephone me when they came in (and no doubt marking up the price by a few quid which I had no objection to).
The assistant’s reply? Wait two weeks or go home and order them off Amazon!! Unbelieveable. This experience is not unique to me and I am aware of similar experiences friends have shopping locally.
I’m afraid to say most of my shopping this Christmas will be done on-line mainly due to unhelpful shop staff, who I would dearly love to support!
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