Executive Sadman Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 At a time when their financing rates have fallen from 5.0% to 0.5% (ie 90% lower costs)... I was chatting me ma the other day, she happened to mention she got talking to a shop manager in the Grafton Centre in Cambridge after noticing a sizeable (i'll have to take her word for it, I havent been to Cambridge in many months) number of units were vacant. The shop manager said they are moving out too because they cant afford the rent. (apparently the grafton centre is owned by the University, who admittedly usually give f*ck all about the rest of Cambridge anyway) Saw this in the paper today, so thought id post... http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Grand-Arcade-rent-higher-than-London-20012012.htm The cost of renting retail space in Cambridge’s Grand Arcade is higher than in some of London’s poshest shopping streets, The rent being paid by jewellery firm Azendi in the plush mall is understood by the News to be about £100,000 a year – just over £100 for every square foot of space the shop occupies. But a shop currently up for rent in Oxford Street, described as the capital’s "leading luxury shopping destination", although bigger, is proportionately cheaper to rent - £82 per square foot. It is even less expensive to rent per square foot in west London’s upmarket Kensington High Street. A vacant shop there is up for lease at £75 per square foot. £100 a square foot??!!! To rent?! For one year?! Thats what i aim to pay to OWN a place. Absolutely insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Maybe Cambridge want the land to build more uni stuff on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cells Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 At a time when their financing rates have fallen from 5.0% to 0.5% (ie 90% lower costs)... I was chatting me ma the other day, she happened to mention she got talking to a shop manager in the Grafton Centre in Cambridge after noticing a sizeable (i'll have to take her word for it, I havent been to Cambridge in many months) number of units were vacant. The shop manager said they are moving out too because they cant afford the rent. (apparently the grafton centre is owned by the University, who admittedly usually give f*ck all about the rest of Cambridge anyway) Saw this in the paper today, so thought id post... http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Grand-Arcade-rent-higher-than-London-20012012.htm The cost of renting retail space in Cambridge’s Grand Arcade is higher than in some of London’s poshest shopping streets, The rent being paid by jewellery firm Azendi in the plush mall is understood by the News to be about £100,000 a year – just over £100 for every square foot of space the shop occupies. But a shop currently up for rent in Oxford Street, described as the capital’s "leading luxury shopping destination", although bigger, is proportionately cheaper to rent - £82 per square foot. It is even less expensive to rent per square foot in west London’s upmarket Kensington High Street. A vacant shop there is up for lease at £75 per square foot. £100 a square foot??!!! To rent?! For one year?! Thats what i aim to pay to OWN a place. Absolutely insane. It depends on the location and shopping centre Last year I rented a unit in a shopping centre and it was 950 rent/service charge & 200 for business rates per square foot per year Your not really paying for space you are paying for footfall. I could have rented a warehouse probably for less than £5 a sq ft but would have done zero business Put it this way that store owner is probably paying between half and 1 penny for each person that walks last his store Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Ap Word Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 It depends on the location and shopping centre Last year I rented a unit in a shopping centre and it was 950 rent/service charge & 200 for business rates per square foot per year Your not really paying for space you are paying for footfall. I could have rented a warehouse probably for less than £5 a sq ft but would have done zero business Put it this way that store owner is probably paying between half and 1 penny for each person that walks last his store Half and 1 penny per person ... really ... that's 10 million people per year ...? At 363 trading days a year ... that is circa 27.5k people a trading day (at 1p per person: 10 million pence = 100 000 GBP). That's circa 2700 people/hour or 45 people per minute. So a sustained footfall throughout the trading day, every day, of 45 people per minute. I don't think so, sorry. Unless the store front is only slightly wider than the door and you line the people up in a *very* orderly fashion 950 rent/service charge & 200 business rates for a store of what size? Aidanapword Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Half and 1 penny per person ... really ... that's 10 million people per year ...? At 363 trading days a year ... that is circa 27.5k people a trading day (at 1p per person: 10 million pence = 100 000 GBP). That's circa 2700 people/hour or 45 people per minute. So a sustained footfall throughout the trading day, every day, of 45 people per minute. I don't think so, sorry. Unless the store front is only slightly wider than the door and you line the people up in a *very* orderly fashion 950 rent/service charge & 200 business rates for a store of what size? Aidanapword typo: think he means paying over a penny for everyone walking past the store, not going in it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tbatst2000 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Maybe Cambridge want the land to build more uni stuff on? No, the Grand Arcade (or Bland Arcade as the locals call it) was only built 3 or 4 years back. Also, I don't think Cambridge University has much (or any) direct stake in it. From what I recall it was a joint venture between the Universities Superannuation Scheme (UK university joint final salary pension scheme) and Grosvenor Estates (Duke of Westminster) with USS buying out the entire stake back around 2010 time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashinmattress Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Simple. Don't live there. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Ap Word Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) typo: think he means paying over a penny for everyone walking past the store, not going in it, Thanks for the heads up on the typo. I had assumed he meant walking *past* though ... At 45 people per minute that is 1 person every 1.3 seconds walking past the store front at a sustained level (which, to be fair, is my point). Very few of us walk close enough to each other to move at this sort of rate (except, perhaps during a Tube Strike) ... and even fewer of us would be comfortable walking through a shopping centre this crowded. And even Oxford Street is not this crowded at the beginning or end of the shopping day in the run up to Christmas ... let alone the lull of a random Tuesday in March? And then there is the Q about whether the person(s) walking past there store are: i) economically active ii) in the store's target market (less NB for stores with high volume product (eg: PaperChase vs an i*VeryExpensiveAppleThing* Store) iii) etc. This rent is 275 GBP per day. Open for 10 hours, at an average of 5 transactions per hour ... that's a premium of 5.50 per transaction to cover the rent alone. *That* is scary .. no? No wonder the web folks are making more money (facing smaller losses)? My numbers might be wrong but even if they are wrong by half then it is still scary that people think this business model is sustainable. Aidanapword edit: for maths Edited January 21, 2012 by Aidan Ap Word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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