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There appears to be a type of local business that doesn't even try to compete or to stay with the times, and I am wondering how they ever survived.
Local to me is a One Stop Shop, while just a few metres past it was a local newsagent. The newsagent was pretty rundown even before the One Stop moved in, but clearly there was enough of a local market to sustain at least one, if not two, corner shops. The thing is, the newsagent didn't even try.
The awning over the door was ripped; it was slightly set in to the row of terraces, so virtually invisible (and yet they did nothing to stand out); they had no external lighting; the 'sandwich board' sign they would sometimes stick out on the pavement was chipped and broken; while inside, they couldn't even be arsed to straighten the shelves.
Anyway, after many, many years of operation, they have just closed.
Meanwhile, farther down the street is the weirdest bike shop you could imagine. It sits on the corner of a substantial road, with no competition for miles. But the building looks (and has always looked) like a tip while, on the rare occasion that they actually opened, the mess of bike boxes and dusty, unsold Dawes bikes, combined with schraeder valve inner tubes unfolded on the floor, made it seem like you were stepping into a tornado-hit time-warp.
Yet for all that, while both shops appear to be closed permanently now, they both mysteriously managed to keep their doors open for years and years.
What gives? How do shops like that manage?
EDIT: Sorry. Wrong forum. Modes, please change.
Mob money laundering 😉
They will be businesses and buildings that are fully owned by the owner has have hardly any outgoings. As long as they have a small amount of income to keep them off the poverty line then they continue ticking along. There is a pub near us that at most must have 5 customers a night, but it keeps on going as they have hardly any costs.
There used to be a restaurant at the bottom of Park Street in Bristol for years and years that was never open but looked immaculate inside. After a few years, it also got a complete revamp. It was in a prime location and the rumour was that it was used for money laundering by a local Italian mafia group!!
ITV?
Sounds like our local pub. The landlord is retired (former IT) and runs it as a hobby.
Rarely open, he is bloody miserable, frontage needs a good paint, does food but the menu never changes...yet he keeps going.
It could be so much better as there is no other village pub for miles. But he says he doesn't need to try and is happy with it how it is.
On a national scale, WH Smiths
On a national scale, WH Smiths
Good point. Them too.
The pub thing is a shame .If they grumble along with low overheads and low profit but if they generate more income they get caned by the breweries .A bloke I know took over a run down pub in Rammy , got it full , put food on ,had four handpumps and then got screwed over .He went back to being a taxi driver - more money and better hours.
On a national scale, WH SmithsGood point. Them too.
Weird - I thought exactly that when I walked into one of their shops last week. I worked in one as a Saturday boy, over thirty years ago, so it's sad to see their decline.
There's an indian restaurant at the top of Newton Mearns in Glasgow called the Indian Platform, used to be the Malletsheugh Inn for those that know Glasgow.
I ride passed it on my commute home, no one is ever in it, ever. It's always open but never has any customers mid week.
Aye I've noticed that afore, I've a mate that stays at the house across the road. Always looked empty, arse end of nowhere up there mind you.
money laundering
More often than you'd think.
Local shops for local people?
WH Smiths mus tbe using airport and train stations to survive, those outlets always seem to be mobbed.
Our local post office (Melrose). Nice retail space, nice building, good location, touristy town. He is hardly ever open, shuts at lunchtimes and makes no use of his retail space other than to try and sell random dusty ornaments that have obviously come from a dead person house clearance. Yet, when he is open, there is a queue of people with money in their hands, and nothing to spend it on!
No effort to sell coffee, sweets, books, touristy stuff, do passport photos, ebay packing service, local post cards, bread from local social enterprise bakery etc etc etc.
arse end of nowhere up there mind you
There's lots of houses about 2 minutes away so they have a market and I can't think where the nearest indian restaurant is to there but no one seems to go.
On a national scale, WH Smiths
Yeah, but, you know [whispers] Bilderberg Group [/whispers]
More often than you'd think.
too right.
WH Smiths mus tbe using airport and train stations to survive, those outlets always seem to be mobbed.
Yep, with the exception of airports, I've never understood how they stay in business.
Yep, with the exception of airports, I've never understood how they stay in business.
They seem to have done a pretty good job of getting themselves into the places where theres a captive audience - airports, motorway services and railway stations. I wonder whether in respect to their high street presence its a similar story to under performing local shops - maybe they own their high street premises so their overheads are comparatively low.
Cairn Lodge Services. 😯
money laundering
That's what the curtain twitchers of Bearsden used to think I was up to 😉
Cairn Lodge Services.
Oh god - the gloom.
Had hopes for it when Westmoreland bought it, but I think they've made a mistake.
SaxonRiderMeanwhile, farther down the street is the weirdest bike shop you could imagine. It sits on the corner of a substantial road, with no competition for miles. But the building looks (and has always looked) like a tip while, on the rare occasion that they actually opened, the mess of bike boxes and dusty, unsold Dawes bikes, combined with schraeder valve inner tubes unfolded on the floor, made it seem like you were stepping into a tornado-hit time-warp.
Is that the one on Cowbridge Road East? I thought they closed years ago!
Less than there was 10 years ago, but there still seems to be a load of 'Zombie Shops' around, they're dead, but still sort of doing stuff just waiting for something to stab them in the brain and put them out of their misery. (I've been watching the Walking Dead again).
There was a Spar type shop in Dinas for years, decades even - it shared a little precinct with a brilliant Green Grocer and a decent News Agent (the sort that old people seem to like). I used to hate going in there when I lived that way, rude staff who treated it like a sort of pub to hang around with their rough mates, patches of the filthy floor missing and dark shelves full of over-priced, weird brand processed 'food', I'm foodie but even I draw the line at the sort of crap they sold. Tesco bought the Pub at the other end , I actually think they tried to get the community to band together to stop them, then bleating in the local press about how the big nasty Tesco was going to put them out of business - they lasted about a fortnight before the closed for good the victims of the evil supermarkets, well apart from the fact that the Green Grocer is still doing well, as is the News Agent, Tesco even employ more people because as well as killing off the crap spar, they're getting custom that would have otherwise gone to bigger shops a few miles down the road.
WHSmiths always seems busy enough when I pop in, like Boots I suspect they survive by selling you sandwiches and hope you buy a magazine/book while you're in there.
The hardware shop in Bala is strange though, the owner has a laptop which they have all the prices on (ans presumably stock control or whatever), but appart from that it's like stepping into a darker version of open all hours!
That and the idea of inflation seemed to have passed them by, presumably they last re-stocked some time in the 90's.
maccruiskeen - Member
Yep, with the exception of airports, I've never understood how they stay in business.
They seem to have done a pretty good job of getting themselves into the places where theres a captive audience - airports, motorway services and railway stations. I wonder whether in respect to their high street presence its a similar story to under performing local shops - maybe they own their high street premises so their overheads are comparatively low.
This, I love 'em - a few weeks ago I was taking my Daughter to her first School Mate's Birthday, 5pm on a Sunday I remembered I needed a gift... the local petrol stations and mini-super markets had sod all, then the Wife remembers WH Smith at the services Ty Animal £12 - BOSCH.
There's an old hardware shop in quite a prominent position which is a nightmare to ever go inside of. The owner has had it years, before I moved to Hereford 27 years ago. It's full of all sorts of obsolete hardware, plumbing fittings, screws, brass door fittings, complete with about 1/2" of dust. You can't walk around it, there's so much shit on the floors between shelves.
The owner will argue with you about what you want. "No, I'd like 30 3" No.10 brass wood screws, please" "No you don't, 31/4" electroplated nails are what you want!"
I walked passed yesterday on the way to the dentist, I'm on the opposite side of quite a wide road, and I could hear him arguing with some poor bastard.
How he ever stays in business?
Cairn Lodge Services.
We had an emergency poo there in the Spring.
Eerie place. Didn't like it at all.
Aye, money laundering is a possibility, especially in the service sector. There's a big old hotel right in the middle of Brodick seafront that for years apparently had full occupancy. I never ever saw a soul in it.
I also know of a local cad that is positively shiting himself with the introduction of the new plastic 20 quid, and subsequent removal of the paper one. His house is pretty much insulated with them....
Not all business owners are aiming to grow their business to be the most successful it can be. Some people treat it as a job like any other, and if it gives them what they need, then great. Who cares if they miss out on other opportunities? Too much effort to chase it down. They aren't working for you, they are working for themselves.
There used to be an amazing department store called David Morgans in Cardiff. I think it was privately owned by the family, and when it struggled a bit they couldn't be bothered sorting it out, they just sold the business, the building, and pocketed the money. They are probably living it up on a beach somewhere instead of struggling with focus groups and market research and whittling down the family fortune trying to turn things around. And I can't say I blame them either.
There used to be an amazing department store called David Morgan in Cardiff. I think it was privately owned by the family, and when it struggled a bit they couldn't be bothered sorting it out, they just sold the business, the building, and pocketed the money. They are probably living it up on a beach somewhere instead of struggling with focus groups and market research and whittling down the family fortune trying to turn things around. And I can't say I blame them either.
Agree mostly, the only thing that would cause me to think twice if I were in their shoes was the fact the business was 125 years old by the time they sold up and it provided a presumably more than decent lifestyle for their family. I know they sold for about £30m, but did they do the old Boomer trick of selling the family silver now, and let the next generation sort themselves out?
Well you could probably invest £30m somewhere else, for no effort, and make more money for future gens. Did they even have any kids? Might not have.
Perhaps they felt the writing was on the wall for a high value department store in the modern retail landscape, and are now invested in robots or something?
Cairn Lodge...
*shudders*
Needs flattened before any good will come of it.
Here's another one for Nobeer - Hourstons in Ayr. Seriously, WTF? Hasn't changed since it was Arnotts. Oh, and Prestwick Airport 😛
the fact the business was 125 years old by the time they sold up
I don't know if anyone starting a business these days would have those kinds of ambitions. There are buildings from previous eras where owners carved the name of the business and the product they made or sold into the stone of the facade. They intended their business to be a legacy.
These days people wouldn't invest in much more than a vinyl sticker.
It interesting that some of the bigger names in business have a very transient business model - Traveledge, for example, doesn't own any hotels.
Here's another one for Nobeer - Hourstons in Ayr. Seriously, WTF
Aye, absolutely, big old draughty building as well, must cost a bloody fortune in utilities alone!.
Prestwick airport is a strange one, they absolutely ****ed themselves over years ago by trying to money grab from FedEx, who then proceeded to bugger off elsewhere. Madness as it was a busyish wee airport then. I can't see much of a future there at all, sadly.
Had high hopes for Cairn lodge when it was taken over by the Tebay massive, as it's right at ideal for a brekkie enroute to the Lakes, but sounds as if it's a not going to happen really.
It's only been about a year since they took over though, not really that long to do anything substantial and they will be holding off spending any money if they are going to raze the place.
Cairn Lodge that is. But I guess that could apply to PIK as well (though that looks unlikely).
It's a shame, as it has possibly the best transport links of any airport in Scotland that I can think of, is very rarely ever fogbound or snowbound due to it's location, Can take any aircraft around due to the main runway length, it's just been so badly run over the years.
I like Cairn Lodge.
It is a bit creepy though.
These days people wouldn't invest in much more than a vinyl sticker.
Bit more sensible these days tbh. Those old stone buildings cost a fortune, and were only really possible because the owners had even more incredible amounts of money than they do now, relative to the even poorer lowly workmen who built them and mined the stone etc. So in some ways the cheapness of the buildings is a good sign.
And the business environment is changing hugely these days, faster than it was, because things are being disrupted all the time. A massive showpieces city centre building could become a liability faster than it's completed.
First job was in a cycle shop in Wolves that had been there 80+ years , bosses son was supposed to be manager but it was his Dad who did books and get things ticking over whilst numpty upset most of customers and staff, great reputation for servicing/wheel building etc based on fact mechanic worked for pro teams at time as well, I was a young naïve 16 year old but even I could tell Mountain bikes were going to be huge and also mail order was the way to get a wider customer base, "they'll never last" said the retail genius and so I left for a job in construction, think shop survived a couple of more years before closing...
It's a shame, as it has possibly the best transport links of any airport in Scotland that I can think of, is very rarely ever fogbound or snowbound due to it's location, Can take any aircraft around due to the main runway length, it's just been so badly run over the years.
Yup, run by absolute muppets. Pure Dead Brilliant summed it up perfectly I think.
Cairn Lodge just needs to have the indian burial ground reconsecrated and it'll be fine
Those old stone buildings cost a fortune
Its not so much the stone as the permanence of the declaration. I think the only example I've seen in recent years of anything so optimistic is the new Scottish Ballet building.
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I recall getting a 'cappuccino' in Cairn Lodge a few years ago, lass opened the instant nescafe powder pouch in front of me, poured it into a grubby mug, added hot water and wanted to charge something like £2.30 for the pleasure. I left, thirsty but not any poorer.
Awwww! You didn't hang around for the "Froth"?
I recall getting a 'cappuccino' in Cairn Lodge a few years ago, lass opened the instant nescafe powder pouch in front of me, poured it into a grubby mug, added hot water and wanted to charge something like £2.30 for the pleasure. I left, thirsty but not any poorer.
That incident is probably why they stopped turning the lights on. If you'd not seen how grubby the mug was you'd be non the wiser. 🙂
I like these old quirky businesses run as a hobby. Some are just waiting to be bought out by developers, isnt there a wh smith minging carpet fan club somewhere. The previous ceo kate swan ran down the old high st branches to fund the travel locations.
On the subject of Melrose Post Office
https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/business/melrose-post-office-to-stay-put-for-now-1-4602419
There's a bike shop near me, it's been going as long as I can remember. We used to use it to buy bits for Grifters and Boxers. It's basically the bottom floor of two terraced houses knocked together. The front looks like it's not been washed in years, you can barely see through the windows. I popped in a couple of years ago for something random, an inner tube or something. Stock is overpriced and all over the place, and the bikes he sells are high-demand things like Diamondback and Raleigh. The guy running it looks to be about 100 - probably the same bloke who was there in the 80s. How he turns a profit I've no idea, probably has zero overheads and does it for fun like others have suggested.
WHSmith must be on to something, they have started to put post offices in them in small towns when the actual post office closes down.
Argos is one that baffle me, every time I walk past one I am always surprised that they are still in business.
anyone know Mackay's in Aberdeen? im 34 and its been there all my life- unlike me who left Aberdeen 5 years ago. An incredibly weird clothing emporium. Those who know, know..
Argos is one that baffle me, every time I walk past one I am always surprised that they are still in business.
They've been bought by Sainsburys. They seem like a bit of an old-school model but with a lot of businesses moving towards "click and collect' as buyers are getting frustrated with mail-order home delivery having a distribution system and a business model based on handing things over at a counter they're probably onto a winner. You can opt to have ebay purchases delivered to your local Argos for instance and they're a distribution facility for retailers that don't have a high st presence anymore such as Habitat.
I think their older High St premises days are numbered as the key to it is quick access for customers but they've also got a fair few retail-park stores so having the ability to have your stuff delivered to somewhere you can easily drive to the door to could prove pretty popular.
The Sainsburys buy out means that distribution ties in with the rest of their stores too, so when I need to order short notice deliveries and can't wait around at home for them I'm able to pick them up from the customer service desk at the sainsbos (although they don't thank me for it as its usually something heavy!). Although other couriers have tie-ins with shops for collection and drop off Argos's distribution and store are based around handling much larger goods than most parcel companies and shops can deal with.
hooli - MemberArgos is one that baffle me, every time I walk past one I am always surprised that they are still in business.
If you want to truly appreciate Argos, go to a city centre one on Christmas Eve, it's like the end times.
But actually i find them pretty good- decent prices, good update of stock, easy pickup or delivery... They were pretty well placed to get into online sales with fast delivery.
Argos is ace, no question returns IME and as said, click n collect suits me better than delivery.
Im sure i read somewhere whsmiff were doing pretty good financially , i much preferred john mingeys who seemed to be bought over by wh
As a young teen making up your own papers at 6.30 am a couple of times along with the Peoples Friend , Dandy or Beano a copy of Mayfair must have accidentally found its way into my bag and then ended its years in a hedge
There are some ghost shops locally like the 2nd hand book shop that an old lady sits in with no heating and no customers all day. I assume the overheads are low and she has a pension of some sort for actually living off. Another 2nd hand junk ('antique') store that just shut actually.
in Japan our landlady had a restaurant a few doors down from us in a backstreets residential area that had about 10 seats and once in a blue moon had a dinner party of famous guests, sumo and politicians and the like. Rumoured to be yakuza money laundering. She gave us dinner once when we'd just renewed the rental. But again, she had the building sitting there and probably minimal outgoings so could run it as a hobby.
Ayr is nothing but ghost shops though. Last time I went into Debenhams the only people there were the shop assistants...
Argos is ace, no question returns IME and as said, click n collect suits me better than delivery.
I believe their returns process has been shook up a bit since being taken over by Sainburys. Basically if anything has been switched on, or they believe it has, they won't take it back.
Obvs you can probably get round this, but just relaying what one of the managers told me the other month.
Sainsburys is voodoo. How do they hold an entire catalogue of stock in their store room?
All the chat about low overheads, how does this work with business rates? A shop still needs to pay rates doesn't it, even if they are not making money? And rates are not cheap
Argos is one that baffle me
It's the Iceland of non perishable goods.
Too late to edit but I meant Argos not Sainsburys. How do they fit all the stock in to their store rooms?
there's one in Louth Lincolnshire, me and the wife said exactly the same thing just last week, we've never seen another oneanyone know Mackay's in Aberdeen? im 34 and its been there all my life- unlike me who left Aberdeen 5 years ago. An incredibly weird clothing emporium. Those who know, know..
Ayr is nothing but ghost shops though. Last time I went into Debenhams the only people there were the shop assistants...
Actually yeah, Ayr has an entire town centre this topic could apply to. Kyle Centre especially can't be on anything but it's last legs by now. Thankfully they have razed the Forum, time will tell if it will make a difference.
Entirely the fault of the council. They threw everything into Heathfield then twisted the knife by building Ayr Central. Place is a joke. I remember the high street being packed from the bridges, up to the Wellington Cafe and back round to Burns Statue Square. Now it looks like something from the Walking Dead barring that little ****y shopping arcade off the Sandgate (Alloway Street?).
Argos is one that baffle me, every time I walk past one I am always surprised that they are still in business.
I thought they were going to go under during the credit crunch as the catalogue appeared dated compared to online. The fact is though they have small low rent stores in convenient locations and low staff count unlike the out of town sheds that are now failing, they've adapted to online sales very well. The purchase by Sainsburys has made them more convenient, I now show at argos more than amazon, they pay their taxes too.
For years Ive assumed that whsmiths were going to go under due to how shabby the stores look.
Our local cost cutters looks like a early 90s Russian show with rows of empty shelves and old magazines, I can only assume the postoffice in it keeps the whole thing going.
Vodafone
They could be good but they can’t be bothered
Argos in Edinburgh is right in a prime location that must be very expensive
[b]Corson Hardware[/b] in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. Ostensibly a common or garden hardware shop, now more frequently figures as the locale for an elaborately staged role-play game in which one party (playing the part of "a customer") attempts to buy an item (indeed any item) from the shop, whilst the other (assuming the role of "Corson") must find means of refusing. For those interested more detail on the rules, scoring and so on [url= https://citythreepointzero.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/corson-the-rules/ ]here[/url].
Estate agencies must be a good answer for this.
Also been in some restaurants near here, enticed in by some Groupon the missus found. Walk in to be confronted by a... "smell" . Places are usually empty, everything could do with a wipe down and the toilets are *shudder *. Don't care how nice the food is if they can't get the hygiene right.
Heir to what would have been Morgan's in Cardiff is living it up as Post Office manager in the Antarctic.
Well, he was the last time we saw Tudor at a forestry meeting before he went out to start.
a copy of Mayfair must have accidentally found its way into my bag and then ended its years in a hedge
A great bit of hedgepron backstory, redmex. The role of determined paperboys was probably generally under appreciated by those out of ‘the know’.
Theres a DIY/Hardware store near me its really well known but incredibly poorly organised.
I think I could quadruple their income without too much investment.
I prefer Argos over Amazon anytime as their price is reasonable with good accessibility.
At Newcastle Quayside there are several Indian Restaurants that have remain opened for years but always empty with no customers. Weird. 😯
When I worked for Homebase a while back (9yrs) they were bought by Home Retail Grouo who owned Argos. We started using Argos Delivery services and back office stuff. Managers I knew went to Argos stores and were amazed at how well they were run at very busy times, their logistics behind that shop counter are stunning.
When I was still there I found out Argos were the biggest furniture retailer in the UK. All from a catalogue and website. Simply amazing.
Actually yeah, Ayr has an entire town centre this topic could apply to. Kyle Centre especially can't be on anything but it's last legs by now. Thankfully they have razed the Forum, time will tell if it will make a difference.Entirely the fault of the council. They threw everything into Heathfield then twisted the knife by building Ayr Central. Place is a joke. I remember the high street being packed from the bridges, up to the Wellington Cafe and back round to Burns Statue Square. Now it looks like something from the Walking Dead barring that little **** shopping arcade off the Sandgate (Alloway Street?).
A perfect storm of clueless elected councillors who don't really understand how a 'town' works, Charging folk to park in town and yet free parking at Heathfield, taking cars away from the town centre, and the big elephant in the room IMO - Silverburn and the upgraded A77. I can be there in 25 minutes, granted I hate the place, but to some it's a day out, bizarrely.
There is also the issue of rates and some bizarre payments that owners get for having empty shops, I recall reading about it before, vacation rates or summit, in some cases they receive more than they would renting out the shop.
we don't do ghost shops just empty one with school kids artworks in the windows to make them look open.
and it's tanning salons that get run for money cleaning duties.
on the other side of the coin in the next town we have a bakers/cafe that's so busy mainly because it's a time warp of the 70s and it's everyone's dirty secret breads good too. it's nickname is dirty Harrys
I’m struggling to see how Prestwick has the best transport links of any airport in Scotland. Go on enlighten me.
It has a train station, a bus stop, a taxi rank and it is next to a road.
You could probably also get there in a boat if you really tried.
Or a plane.
I’m struggling to see how Prestwick has the best transport links of any airport in Scotland. Go on enlighten me.
I did say 'possibly', but anyway - rail link direct to Glasgow and Edinburgh, which neither Glasgow or Edinburgh has, unless you count the tram as a train. Road links as good as either of those two airports as well, Can't compare to Aberdeen as I have no experience of that tbh.
Not saying it's 'better' per se, but that it is on a par IMO, certainly not far enough behind to explain it's decline.
Reminds me of the American banker in Mexico apocryphal story...
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
I’m struggling to see how Prestwick has the best transport links of any airport in Scotland. Go on enlighten me.
It probably takes as long to get into Glasgow city centre from Prestwick as it does from Glasgow. Only it doesn't involve 2 seperate journeys as per Glasgow or Edinburgh since it has it's own connected station. There are trains through as far as North Berwick so Prestwick automatically wins at straight through journeys to both cites (weirdly). GARL is long dead and the new vision seems to be watered down crap, Edinburgh has the Gateway but that's still a(n expensive) tram ride away and only serves the east coast unless you make another change.
Driving, yeah slower but it's still pretty much straight onto the A77 and away you go.
If you know of anything better then feel free to pitch in.
[quote="franksinatra"]How do they fit all the stock in to their store rooms?Place near us is a bit like a self service version of an electrical goods only Argos. You'd be amazed how much stuff you can get on a shelfing system when it goes up 5 or 6 metres, there's exactly *nothing* on display and the aisle is only wide enough for a forklift. The TV aisle probably has 1200+ TVs in the space that someone like John Lewis displays a couple of dozen. You can get a shit load in when you stack it high and deep with the absolute bare minimum of access space.
And on the money laundering thing, i used to stay in a small hotel during the summer as part of a team rider deal. I reckon the only time the hotel was busy in the entire summer was the night the tour stopped in the next town over. Same for the restaurant.
Yet the office regularly had several hundred thousand francs on the desk in the office.
I know the team was crooked as hell. But i suspect the cash in hand we were paid was a drop in the ocean compared to what was being "arranged" through the hotel and restaurant.
The WHS in Chippenham seems to be busy any random time I go in there, but it honestly has little competition in town, while there are a number of shops, like Wilco and the two small supermarkets Tesco and Waitrose do a few magazines, and there’s a Waterstones for a good range of books, but WHS does lots of mags, pens, stationery, books and art stuff that just isn’t available unless you go to Bath twelve miles away.