comment On the move


Bruce Crane, co-owner of Loose’s Cookshop in Norwich, tells Housewares Magazine why he is moving from bricks to clicks


working well now for a number of years within the confines of Loose’s Cookshop. We’ve also been working closely with well-


known knife brands for a several years, and many customers are now referred to us by them for sharpening and repair work. So, on closing the shop, we decided to retain


our knife business which currently represents around 25% of existing turnover.


Monday February 4 2019 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM


the knife expert


Farewell Loose’s Cookshop…hello The Knife Expert


Independent high street retailer Loose’s Cookshop in Norwich pulls down the shutters at the end of this month. Owners Bruce and Claire-Louise Crane said the closure of the award-winning business will coincide with the launch of their new online venture. Explaining their move from bricks to clicks, Bruce says:


We decided to close Loose’s Cookshop back in the autumn of 2017, but had been considering closing since 2015. We could see things slowly deteriorating and


we didn’t believe the trading conditions on the high street were going to change in the short term. The underlying costs of running our business


have risen over 25% in the last few years - at a time when footfall in the city centre has declined. These two things have been very significant


factors. However, the internet and changing social patterns have also contributed to our decision to come off the high street. Since the beginning of May, several well-


known high street names have announced they are closing or shutting stores, and this just confirms our belief that we have made the right decision to close now, and secure the long term future of our investments in the light of what we see coming. Preparations for closing are going well and shop sales are up significantly. We expect to do the same volume in May as we did last November. Margins are only a little tighter because we are discounting most lines by around 20%. But


20 | housewareslive.net


we are continuing to sell all our cake decorating and sugarcraft at full price and all our knives at only 10% off, and these areas are still selling strongly - so all is well. We will see further discounting as we get closer to the closure date, and we’re monitoring the stock situation very closely, as you would expect. Most customers have expressed great sadness on hearing our news and wish we were staying. We were very fortunate because the announcement of our closure generated a huge amount of publicity on ‘Look East’ [BBC One’s regional television news programme for the East of England] and in our local newspapers.


Because of this, we had the opportunity to explain our decision in more detail. This helped enormously with the launch of our closing down sale, generating levels of footfall more common in the last few weeks up to Christmas. Over the past 20 years we’ve grown our knife sales significantly and as sales have increased, so has our area of expertise which now includes a busy knife sharpening and repair service. This originally started because many


customers needed advice on how to look after and sharpen their knives, and they didn’t just want ‘anybody’ to do it; they wanted someone they could trust. We recognised this as an opportunity, and what began as an initiative to support our sales quickly grew into a destination service. Customers bring knives into the store (if they


are local) or go online to our website, purchase the sharpening and repairs and then send their knives to us through the post. This has been


• HousewaresLive.net


The Knife Expert Our new online venture, which will trade under the name of The Knife Expert, benefits from a much lower cost base and, being internet- based, is more flexible in every respect - which is important for us as we plan the next stage of our adventure in housewares. The decision to trade online was more a consequence of recognising that within a very short space of time, the costs associated with retailing on the high street could not be covered by the benefits of being on the high street.


Online was just one of several options we


were considering, and we’ve been around long enough to know that online trading comes


Established in 1791, Loose’s Cookshop has been trading in Norwich for over 200 years. The premises in Orford Yard off Red Lion Street is in the heart of the city centre, set in a quiet courtyard.


• twitter.com/Housewaresnews


June 2018


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