AGENT PROVOCATEUR
Where have all the good times gone?
W
ithout wishing to conjure up thoughts of Little Britain, it’s that “bitty” time of year when Christmas is over with all its tinsel and glitter, the sales are on, the shop looks a mess and the weather is awful. Snow is good for business (depending
upon the depth) and warm weather is good for our “souls” - but not the other way round… We raise our eyebrows heavenward when the holiday adverts start to appear before the pine needles have dropped, but at least views of golden sands, sunshine and skimpy bikinis subconsciously give us all something to look forward to. Now with Thomas Cook delving into the Treasury pockets to stay afloat, we will be bombarded with Pontin’s and Center Parc adverts instead, unconvincingly showing us that we can still strip off and splash about nearer to home. No doubt these ads. will be followed by Vick Synex nasal spray and Lemsip remedies! Double dip recession, sliding back into nil growth,
restored…Who paid? The Council of course, but had the new business applied for the so-called grants that are supposed to be available to encourage new business, he would still be wading through the paperwork now and upon completion would probably find that the form had been superseded by another one in 10 different languages.
not getting your whites as white as they should be, we are all full of doom and gloom at this time, especially this year, (yes I have the starring role in this years village Christmas pantomime “Scrooge”), but it does get you like that when you have so long to go before you see any new shoots of growth pushing their way to the surface, financially as well as horticulturally. I have gone from blaming the banks to blaming the media (not
Footwear Today of course) as we are always hearing about the down side to business, hyping up the recession and all its woes, but where is the good news? They never tell you about the new businesses opening and the entrepreneurs who see a gap in the market and can get a good deal from the bank (now that really is wishful thinking). Surely someone has experienced a miracle at Lourdes this year, or the stolen dwarves from Santa’s Grotto have been returned complete with newly painted bobble hats? New shopping centres are full of identical shops so you could be
anywhere from Newhaven to Newcastle and the smaller shops are being boarded up or used as ad-hoc galleries to keep the windows interesting. For those of you managing to break even or daring to make a profit WELL DONE YOU, there should be a shoe trade medal for all the shops that have withstood the past 5 years (although if you have entered yourself into the February Footwear Awards, perhaps you will get one!). You would think that it would be easy to renegotiate your lease or get a good deal on one for a shop that has been empty for 6 months – but is it ‘eck as like. A friend of mine approached the bank for precisely this reason as a card shop had been closed for over 2 years and the fabric of the building had started to deteriorate. He made an offer thinking they would bite his hand off and didn’t hear a word, the shop still stood empty. A few months later a charity shop opened up selling both old and new products and despite being a charity the fascia was completely
14 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JANUARY 2012
So on a continued happy note it only remains for me to reassure you that many of us are still doing okay. Thankfully I am one of them – not that I want ‘her indoors’ to know or she will be booking Center Parcs and investing my hard-earned in woolly trunks, goose-bump cream and ear-warmers.
One bright spot on the horizon for us all is this years MODA
exhibition and the forthcoming Awards Dinner. Well done Datateam, MODA, the trade press, all the generous sponsors, and our trade organisations (IFRA, BFA and the SSF) for collectively getting behind the event which will take place on the Sunday night at the grand Forest of Arden Hotel not far from the NEC. If you haven’t already booked your place please hurry to do so as it promises to be a very enjoyable evening (they told me to say that) with a chance to mingle and talk to all your colleagues and friends in the footwear industry. This awards ceremony will prove we have much to celebrate and be proud of, and ironically there has been a lot of new businesses opening as they tell me that “Best New Shop” category has had one of the largest entry’s. Another popular category is the award for online shoe stores, so all parts of the footwear industry will be in attendance. The dinner and wine will be good, I am told that no one will be making an acceptance speech so no-one need panic about who to thank and who they’ll miss out, and it is followed by a good old knees-up. Priced affordably to encourage lots of us to attend, there is no excuse not to be there and enjoy a night out. So on a continued happy note it only remains for me to reassure
you that many of us are still doing okay. Thankfully I am one of them – not that I want ‘her indoors’ to know or she will be booking Center Parcs and investing my hard-earned in woolly trunks, goose- bump cream and ear-warmers. The fact is I have opened more new account’s this season that at any other time in my career - although the cynics amongst you might say that two new opening’s is nothing to shout about – roll on 2012!!!
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