View Full Version : Why dont companies open stores up here ?
Chrisf1961
19-Dec-10, 17:18
Just looking around the org there is obviously a lot of folk using the net not only at Christmas time but i guess all year round..so youd have thought that maybe your Toysrus etc etc would open smaller shops in Thurso and Wick? I know the original catalogue shop have but why not others ?
A couple of stores id like to see up here are BM Bargains and Home Bargains now the sell some super stuff....
Not enough of a population for them to make the profits from stack it high sell it cheap stuff as there isnt a fast enough turnover.
And dare I say it...delivery costs?
changilass
19-Dec-10, 17:37
They can't get the stuff up for the snow.
Chrisf1961
19-Dec-10, 17:47
Oh yes the snow lol
cazmanian_minx
19-Dec-10, 17:50
Not enough people here. Eventually they will, when they run out of other places to go (Subway is looking for franchise owners for Thurso and Wick last time I looked at their website!), but if you have a choice between opening in, say, Croydon (340,000 people in 8662 hectares of space) or Caithness (population 23,866 at the 2001 census in 101,700 hectares of space) it's a no-brainer as to where you're going to concentrate your efforts. I doubt very much that huge Tesco in Wick is profitable when you consider the staffing and other running costs, but it was an experimental build so they were probably able to write the whole thing off as development research.
orkneycadian
20-Dec-10, 09:43
Just looking around the org there is obviously a lot of folk using the net not only at Christmas time but i guess all year round..so youd have thought that maybe your Toysrus etc etc would open smaller shops in Thurso and Wick? I know the original catalogue shop have but why not others ?
Er, I think you have answered your own question!
Who is going to be daft enough to open a shop in a place where "lots of folk use the net" just so said folk can use the shops when "snow panic" sets in?
Shops can't be there just for the 1 in 5 year occaison when the net shoppers find that their presents won't arrive in time!
If you want local shops, you need to support them all year round, not just when it suits!
The folowing cartoon appeared in The Orcadian in October when the local Tesco was being rebuilt! [lol]
http://www.giddy-limit.com/Year6Archive/no.268.html
Bobinovich
20-Dec-10, 10:44
The folowing cartoon appeared in The Orcadian in October when the local Tesco was being rebuilt! [lol]
http://www.giddy-limit.com/Year6Archive/no.268.html
PMSL Thanks for sharing that - have been looking through the other cartoons there and having a damn good laugh [lol]
orkneycadian
20-Dec-10, 11:52
Aye, Alex is gey good. Giddy Limit is the highlight of paper day here in Orkney!
Er...
Homebase
EWM
Superdrug
Argos
New Look
Pets at Home
CarpetRight
Lidl
Tesco
Boots
Haldanes
The Original Factory Shop
Then there's Asda who want to open so it's not like there is a lack of nationwide shops here. Of that list the only one that was there when I moved here 18 years ago was Boots! In Wick earlier there seemed to be plenty of shopping going on, even with the bad weather.
Er...
Homebase
EWM
Superdrug
Argos
New Look
Pets at Home
CarpetRight
Lidl
Tesco
Boots
Haldanes
The Original Factory Shop
Then there's Asda who want to open so it's not like there is a lack of nationwide shops here. Of that list the only one that was there when I moved here 18 years ago was Boots! In Wick earlier there seemed to be plenty of shopping going on, even with the bad weather.
I so ye are a south mouther after all !!
I'd guess the numbers don't stack up. Too few kids and too few rich parents to keep the tills jingling in one of their big warehouses. If there was a profit to be made, they'd be here.
Companies don't open outlets up here for profit... it's mainly for street presence and writing off against tax. If they sell anything then that is fine... This goes for those franchises we all know... one will open as and when conditions are right financially...
A time will come when they will just be actual shop fronts as trading becomes more profitable and viable online...
Courier businesses are the ones to watch in the next few years and that is only until tele-porters become widspread way into the future...
Angel...
One of the biggest problems to commerce in Caithness is logistics. It is a fantastic location as far as cost of business and ability to expand and really have it benefit the local community. But moving goods up the A9 is an ugly prospect when you start figuring in the past two winters.
Goods that don't require transport (such as technical work) are more attractive. I will admit that every few months I think through the process of starting a software development company up there, but balk at my lack of knowledge of British business rules and fear that the giant, bloated government some place in the south might make it impossible to do anything useful or profitable.
Given the money a group could make doing remote "on shore" software development and support vs the cost of living in Caithness, it seems like a natural. While younger engineers might want to head off to the big cities, anyone with a family or a few gray hairs would rather have a solid community and the high quality of life.
Bruce H
KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
20-Dec-10, 22:26
Courier businesses are the ones to watch in the next few years and that is only until tele-porters become widspread way into the future...
Angel...
OK i'm struggling with your vision - do you see people nipping to Inverness with their Merlo, DDeici or JCB to pick up their own pallets of goods? HAHAHA
I so ye are a south mouther after all !!
Eh????????
Nobody would have to go anywhere outside of a teleporter station... it would come/be sent to you KOT!
oldmarine
23-Dec-10, 04:21
The Internet is a convenient place to order from home.
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