A long-standing Wilmslow clothes shop has closed its door after trading in the town centre for over 40 years.
Wardrobe, which stocked European menswear, relocated from St Ann's Parade to Alderley Road, in the unit which was previously occupied by the Hoopers' menswear department, in April 2017.
Andrew and Claire O'Grady owned the business for 12 years and rebranded it in the autumn of 2014. However, the business traded in Wilmslow for 43 years, previously under the name of Leonard's, which was founded in 1975.
Speaking about the closure, Andrew and Claire O'Grady said "We are sad to say that our store is now closed. Wilmslow, like many other towns across the country, has become unviable for retailers. Rent, rates, parking charges and poor town planning have all contributed to the painful decision we have been forced to make.
"All we can say is please shop locally. Every single small business relies on your custom. We would like to thank all of our loyal customers, many of whom have become friends, over our 12 years of ownership, and the 43 years the business has been trading in Wilmslow."
If you have any alterations that have not been collected, these are being held for you, contact 07538 336241 to arrange collection/delivery of your items.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
The towns future is in their hands and once its gone it will never return !
Play the music and a tumbleweed rolls through
I am a retailer in there centre of our lovely town (a coffee shop) - so hopefully I have some insights
There are a number of challenges for retailers
Rent
Parking
Footfall
Rates
Traffic
Out of town shopping
Online shopping
VAT and Tax
Some we can blame on the council - which we all enjoy doing these days
(remember if you don't like them vote them out, or stand yourselves)
Some we can blame on landlords - rents are increasing.
- one shop had its rent increased from £16,000 to £26,500 very recently and closed down because of this.
(ask yourself if you could survive if your mortgage went up that much)
Now at the moment we have over 20 shops closed or about to close
(I have a list if anyone is interested)
On the upside we have had al least 10 new businesses open in Wilmslow this year - which is vey positive
Sadly there are no simple answers
It's hard to survive as an independent business on the high street.
All I can say is "shop local" and "shop independent", if you want your town to thrive.
James
As James has said, we need to use local shops, or they go out of business, and greedy landlords just add to the problem.
As Oliver Romain has posted, it only takes one bad experience to mean that a customer won't go back to a store. I have posted similarly for a different store. I last went to Robert Leonard's in about 1985 and it was fine, but I've had no reason to go back since.
Reducing business rates implies increasing domestic rates or - as most recently - when domestic rates are already increased by the maximum amount allowable, reducing services. Charge stores less but make householders pay for green bins, perhaps?
Local shopping is a nice idea, but only if local shops offer what I want. It's clearly hard to survive as a local independent store, but my needs are mainly better met elsewhere. And I live in the middle of Wilmslow, so "parking" isn't an excuse that applies in my case.
However, all that said, it does generally seem to me that there is a reasonably viable and vibrant retail environment in Wilmslow which continues to attract people.
I was tired of driving round looking for a space - at various times of day during 9-5, so I went to cheadle hulme instead
also wythenshawe as well now, in fact wythenshawe will be a brilliant place once the A555 is finished, wont be long now.
of course, I could walk to wilmslow, but why should I? its not convenient enough.
footfall will never improve if people cant park, car is king and theres no getting away from that.
Had I known it was still trading but under another name, I'd have continued using it. Is it always a good idea to re-brand?
Off the top of my head:
- it costs nothing
- it helps you stay fit and healthy
- it can actually be quite pleasant
- it stops needlessly consuming fossil fuels
- it reduces pollution
- it reduces wear and tear on your car
- it reduces the rate of accidents
- it stops clogging up the car parks
- it stops clogging up the roads
Like Oliver, I went into Leonard's once many years ago but it seemed old fashioned and not my thing. I hadn't realised until this article Wardrobe was the same business rebranded and not something completely different.
I'm still not sure what "European menswear" is... Their website doesn't work so is no help. My guess is things I'd find a greater selection of at Harvey Nichols or Selfridges...?
When the original family management passed to the next generation the store changed, direction and presentation, and went decidedly 'upmarket' and to be even handed, my requirements also changed. I can't comment on what the pheonix Wardrobe offered but my guess is it was still very much upper end and upwardly mobile targetted and thus a limited market - even in Wilmslow.
Wilmslow centre has changed almost beyond recognition compared with the bustling, vibrant 'village' of the 50's-80's of the 20th century but I seem to recall it was always a high range rental area with the Westminster estate owning most of the plum properties but some of the quoted examples of recent increases appear to be insane (unless landlords are looking for tax relief on unoccupied property in order to offset big profits from even higher rental portfolios elsewhere - HMRC not plugging these profiteering loopholes is not the stuff for this forum however).
We have to accept that shopping habits have changed significantly in the past decade and it must be really hard for independant shopowners on the high street these days but I endorse what has already been said on this thread - support what you have, help it work and prosper or lose it - probably forever!
Rent is nothing to do with CEC - they have no influence on private landlords.
Rates are another matter - and as we all know they struggle to use there budget to cover all the costs for everything and that we would prefer better care for the elderly - than fill in a few pot holes.
(I know they are famously rubbish inefficient and do not have the best reputation) but still have a lot to things to cover.
Thats why they approve a lot of new builds - expansions etc - because they can charge them rates and therefore get more money
What they can do is look at town centre infrastructure / traffic and parking that has become dangerous ---- after they spend there money on the really important stuff.
I know you all will now say that they are inefficient and probably incompetent
But if we don't like it vote new people in (without blindly following party loyalty) or stand yourselves.
#lovecec (a little bit) #hateincompetence