fanatically thorough and will also consider in depth
my position at the conclusion of the lease; an area
easily overlooked when you just want to get the
store open.
The keys were fi nally in our hands on Monday
19th October, almost three weeks later than planned.
With other commitments that week and bespoke
materials awaiting delivery it dawned on on me that
this was not the best time of year to be undertaking
a shopfi t.
Nevertheless, Jane and I walked the fl oor to
visualise the imaginary fi xtures like you are the fi rst
customer in the store. It’s exciting to say the least.
I have always done the shopfi tting myself,
despite promising myself I would pay to have
it done this time. The fact is I cannot resist it. I
do have a love/hate relationship with shopfi tting
though. I absolutely hate the fi rst bit of ripping out,
re-wiring and general building work that nobody
ever appreciates. You’re back in your steel toe-caps,
your hands have gone soft from working in the
offi ce for the last six months and your bones feel as
if they have aged ten years.
But after a week or two I am in my element. You
toughen up and stop bleeding everywhere and you
are very soon into the fi nishing materials that start to
bring the place to life.
Shopfi tting is like fi tting a domestic kitchen and
in this case I probably saved £20K for a few weeks
of pain. On larger shops you can save two to three
times that amount if you can turn your hand to it.
This is bottom line cash that is being saved, not
turnover. Just think how much turnover it takes to
make £20K profi t so you can pay a shopfi tter?
Doing the work yourself also allows you to make
changes as the project progresses. With the wall
I mentioned earlier I didn’t remove it entirely but
instead used it to create some features in the store.
First I managed to set the counter area back to create
additional space and make more of a feature of the
wall. I also managed to recess an Apple display unit
into another section giving quite a surreal depth to
the fi xture.
The rest of the shopfi t was fairly straightforward
and presented no great problems although I also
changed the front of the store slightly for the sake
of aesthetics. I enjoy resolving these issues to
perfection, but in reality customers seldom notice.
Frankly, if customers are noticing the shopfi t I
need to look at my stock lines again so I apply a
general rule of: ‘if you’re eye is not drawn to it, the
solution is good’.
* Terry Harvey picks up the story
again next month from Opening Day to
Christmas Eve.
www.greetingstoday.co.uk 105
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