This shop is the last thing Jersey needs
Tuesday 30th December 2008, 3:00PM GMT.
From R McCredie,
THE speed at which negotiations took place into installing New Look in the soon-to-be-vacated premises occupied by Woolworths is breathtaking.
Curiously, Ray Shead, representing the Chamber of Commerce, told us of his tour of the existing New Look store in Guernsey. It was touching to listen to his enthusiasm for it. It would appear that the whole transaction was orchestrated from the word ‘go’.
New Look is just about the last retail unit needed or wanted in Jersey, other than by the female fashion brigade. A straw poll would at least have been an indication of what the public would prefer in Jersey but it did not happen.
Regular visitors to the UK would agree that the ideal replacement for Woolies would have been the likes of T G Hughes, Wilkinsons, even Primark who cater for children, while New Look do not. How many suitable business retail units were invited or sounded out regarding their feelings as to the possibility of operating in Jersey? Yeah, I thought so!
Any time the introduction of a food store is mentioned in Jersey, notwithstanding the fact that 80 per cent are in favour, the opposition is fierce, screaming the same old diatribe. What about our corner shops? ‘It will cost jobs’, ‘a multi-national supermarket will pay no tax’, they scream. The same vitriolic comments, uttered by the usual suspects, are echoed by the Chamber of Commerce.
Based on the logic from the supermarket objectors, it seems to have conveniently slipped under the radar that New Look is also a multi-national and will therefore pay no tax. Also, what will become of the existing ladies’ clothes shops in town? Will some be forced into closure?
Regarding our corner shops, they are rapidly being gobbled up by Spar who now manage 23 units in Jersey. Observing the events of the last 12 months, no more proof is necessary that the wishes or even the opinions of the Jersey people matter not one jot. People now seem to accept that the Jersey way is an unalterable paradox.
5 Tunnell Street,
St Helier.
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Can I just point out that no female fashion brigade would opt for New Look. It’s a kids’ shop for fashion victims… not people with actual fashionable taste.
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Agreed! Why not Ikea, they are very popular and we need more competitive contemporary furniture stores to suit the buyers of the never ending Dandara apartments. What we don’t need is yet anohter indifferent clothing outlet. What a waste of space!
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Get real, do you honestly think the public should be consulted on this matter, its not how business works, its private enterprise and things happen fast.
If you are running a company and see an opportunity and think you can make a profit, you act without delay. Which is just what New Look have done (if it’s true), no public money is involved here. Any other store had the same opportunity but New Look got there first.
Is it the right store for Jersey? Well if they turn a profit, it means the public want it.
That’s business folks!
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You won’t get a Primark and you won’t get an Ikea. A population of about 95,000 people justifies neither store opening up here. The reason why Primark sell clothes so cheaply, apart from their questionable manufactorer choices, is that they only open in places where they get thousands upon thousands of people through their doors each week. This would not happen in Jersey and therefore it wouldn’t be cost-effective for Primark to even consider opening here. And Ikea? Come on! Their stores are the size of Sark and they work on a similar principle as Primark! Neither will happen! Get a Wilkinson’s, Gap and River Island – that’ll be a good start.
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too many clothes shops in town and a few may well shut for good in the coming months new look would have fitted into de gruchy,s or voison as already adams are in recession a big space like wollies would be better put to use for serving everyone,s needs with everyday items with a quick tutnover
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i would much prefered a wilkinsons which would have been ideal to take up the space being left by woolworths.
but when did the population ever get a say?
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You are totally right Andrew. Actually to work out what shops your island can sustain you could do a quick (and very crude) Shop:McDonalds ratio.
The Glasgow postal code (G….) has 6 Primarks and 1 IKEA. Trust me, I couldn’t even hazard a guess at how many McDonalds there are in the same area but I can think of at least 30 straight off the top of my head so triple that figure and you might be approaching the real total. So guess 15 McDonalds for each Primark and 90 McDonalds for each IKEA.
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New Look does have childrens clothes.
And it has a Maternity, Mens, Plus size and an office section.
Yes it follows the ‘latest trends’ but that doesnt mean you have buy them.
And £20 for a pair of heels, no wonder i have so many shoes.
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why not turn it into a music store for old collectables lp’s etc,a coffee shop and a room for some local artists to sell their work , we all miss the music and video exchange and Jersey seems to be running short of original and different places from that of mainstream we need to attract people to the island for the good that we have and for the young also, this island has so much talent and culture, give it a chance to shine!!! Jersey used to be different from that of the UK in the early 80′s people revelled in the fact there were different things here. We need something unique and diverse and able to project to a wide of ages and tastes,,, someone put this forward or back it please this would be a phenomenal project and would benefit for years to come…
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Let people vote with their feet! I’m sure New Look will be very popular, and quite a few more stores will become vacant in the coming months. We should embrace the free market and not dictate which stores can’t come here!
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Jack, that might seem like the best idea, but in an island where space is at a premium the fact that one shop will become very profitable in Jersey does not mean that another shop wouldn’t be even MORE profitable in Jersey. But this is something that can’t be known without doing some proper research first.
So I guess some research is needed to determine which shop would bring in the most business as once New Look is in there it could be a long time before actual grown-up women get anywhere half-decent to shop for clothes!
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New look are going to have to take serious money to make that size of a store pay its way and put a lot of other shops out of business in the process – 90000 people can only buy so many clothes. Oh and by serious money i am talking about £6-8 million a year
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woolies is a big store and should be kept as such,not another run-of-the mill clothes shop whenever i was in uk it was,nt very busy at all in fact they were having 1 day week sales everything half price on 1 day each week to try and attact customers in june i had a look in but nothing special caught my eye,its the last people wan,t in these turbulent times
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Bella, it’s hard to work out what you’re actually saying here, but if you are simply saying that the one space previously occupied by Woolworths should again be occupied by ONE shop then I struggle to know who (according to the trade they would get in Jersey) could feasibly rent that entire space.
I actually doubt (given that the New Look in Glasgow is smaller than the space your Woolworths used) that New Look can actually cope with a space that size. If New Look can’t do it then few clothes shops will be able to. H&M maybe, but maybe not.
Splitting the space would surely give more choice to the people of Jersey, more rent (no doubt the owners charge the typical Jersey hideously greedy rent rates) and more sustainability. That must be good for Jersey surely.
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What we really need to have at woollies place is Asda in which you have a good choice of food as well as clothes hardware and all sorts they have good quality as well as choice at very good prices that meets the pocket for all old or young we have much too many glad rags for the young not enough style for the mature people with a we need a good mix and match choice,
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Localliz, unfortunately it isn’t enough space for an ASDA, not even remotely. Even the smallest ASDA store I’ve been in is much larger than the space occupied by Woolworths.
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To whoever said that New Look sells childrens clothes they do not. they sell teenager clothes. you only have to go onto their website to see this
An Asda is not feasible either. there is no parking around the area for any supermarket.
The best thing they can do with that site is have one store on the top floor and another on the bottom.
And its all very well saying ‘They sell shoes for £20′ who honestly cares really? the novelty will wear off from it. Jersey needs a shop that will cater to all walks of life not just the fashion obsessed.
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Last time I checked teenagers (except the very eldest) are children! And personally I consider a 19-year old a child still.
But semantics.
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Why do people always use the excuse about parking there are lots of large stores in the UK without parking such as Oxford the first that don’t allow cars in and it has not caused any problems its just a busy the Corn Market and people spend more time in town now than ever without the hassel also Manchester Come On have we all gone so lazy, there is always a way shopping trollies and the Bus services are very good. Maybe we should be charged a fee to bring the cars in town, the traffic is a headache already , Iv’e long given up taking my car into town I can now shop at ease You should try it Its much more pleasant whithout preasure
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lidl or aldi would fit the bill and give us town folk a better choice of food ,we can,t get to iceland,without having to get 2 buses each way and the checkers express in town is 15% dearer than the 1 in st.brelade,even 1 floor in woolies would do for st.helier for a different range of groceries
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Leah
You might think they are still “children” but they fight and die to protect your right to be outspoken.
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You can’t have a retailer that requires customer parking so that rules out large food retailers – end of.
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What’s your point PJG? Who is currently fighting and dying for my right to be outspoken? No-one, there isn’t any need. That’s not what the current wars are about (if that’s what you were trying to get at). So the deaths of our military personnel are most definitely NOT on my shoulders!
Believe me, if I think my right to an opinion (or that of people around me) is threatened I will be the first to get up and fight for it. And there are many ways to fight for your rights that occur everyday in Britain and have nothing to do with going to war.
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Leah your attitude just makes me sad. A child is like my own daughter who is 2 years old. With adams going bust, and mothercare being extorshionate this leaves me BHS or m&s which both have small childrens clothes areas.
I believe that new look appeals to a minority of the island which are already served by other shops, whereas we need something like woolworths to replace it.
And they might still be ‘children’ as far as you are concerned, but some of those ‘children’ realise what a bad idea new look is.
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Lets keep war at bay and out of this we just need to live and eat and keep warm to survive that would give us all peace of mind and body
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What saddens me is people pretending these kids are adults just because they try and copy adult behaviour instead of letting these children enjoy a proper childhood (something to which every child should be entitled).
Kids are desperate to grow up faster than their minds can cope with, adults should be helping them enjoy a proper childhood! And yes, teenagers are included in this. Teenagers are behaving more like adults but are in fact less mature than previous generations were at their age. Just because they get themselves pregnant, drink, do drugs does not mean they are mature enough to deal with the consequences of such actions (which is what being an adult is!) In fact, it’s quite clear that they aren’t mature enough to deal with the consequences.
Our children are being ruined by adults helping them have their childhood snatched away from them, just look around you and you’ll see it.
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