The owner of an independent fashion store, which has closed down sixteen months after opening its doors in Wilmslow, is calling on the Town Council and Cheshire East Council to support local independent businesses.
Jason Lyons opened Boutique Babylon at the top of Church Street in November 2011, selling mainstream fashion at affordable prices.
However, with rent at £21,000 a year plus £6000 in business rates for a 400 square feet unit, Jason questions "How can any business in Wilmslow work?"
Jason explained "I got £18 a year small business rate relief and Cheshire East Council wanted to charge me £1500 a year to have a bin collected from the shop.
"We never had any Xmas lights on Bank Square, at Xmas everyone thought were we were shut, and when it snowed the Council never cleared the snow. They did on Grove Street, why? Second class springs to mind!"
Jason, who was born in Wilmslow, has worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years and used to manage 'The Works Clothing Company' on Alderley Road.
Boutique Babylon was inspired by his daughter Poppy, whose name appeared on the shop sign, and was aimed at the mid-market - with prices starting from £25 to £30.
Jason Lyons announced he had ceased trading on Facebook this week describing the experience of running Boutique Babylon as a fantastic but very challenging journey. He also called on Cheshire East Council and Wilmslow Town to look after independent traders otherwise they won't survive.
Jason said "This year has been very challenging in Wilmslow, rates were terrible, no rate relief and not enough footfall to make it pay.
"We're really disappointed to have to of closed and we would like to thank our customers for their loyalty over the past 16 months."
He added "Wilmslow Town Council needs to act quickly to ensure they keep their independents. Otherwise Wilmslow will end up like to Altrincham."
Comments
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Whilst the small business rates scheme is not something I would ever like to see removed, it could be so much more comprehensively developed to specifically support small businesses when first starting up and in their early years. Farcical discounts of £18 are more of an insult than a help.
Neither Wilmslow Town Council or Cheshire East Council are involved in determining business rates. See http://bit.ly/14UnGK8
Cheshire East Council administers business rates (ie collects etc) on behalf of central government (Westminster)
Small business rate relief is again administered by Cheshire East Council on behalf of central government (Westminster).
Rent is set by the property owner.
What exactly do you believe that Wilmslow Town Council or Cheshire East Council can do to help?
The report also states that ""We never had any Xmas lights on Bank Square, at Xmas everyone thought were we were shut". I recall attending the 2012 Wilmslow Christmas Light switch on organised by WTC and which was held in Bank Square. WTC also paid for the Christmas tree and the lights and wrapping of several trees in Bank Square. It's the business's responsibility to attract customers to their store by window dressing etc. Was the store open on the night of the christmas light switch on? I specifically walked down Grove Street on that night to see what business were open.
My recollection was that less than 20% of them were open. WTC organised an event to attract shoppers into Town. If the business's don't take advantage of these opportunities then that's their failing not WTC's.
Whilst CEC are not 'at fault', there a few incentives offered to get people spending in the town centre. All parking in Wilmlsow with the exception of streetside is currently privately owned. Retailers on Chapel Lane have been attempting for months to have a sign errected to direct people to more shops, to no avail. And even by their own admittal CEC organised a 'spring clean' to make the centre more attractive, surely something they should be capable of keeping on top of without asking for help?
How can CEC be blameless when potential customers have nowhere to park, don't know where all the shops are and are faced with large amounts of litter all over the place?
I'm also quite sure that Jason's general axe to grind wasn't the presence or not of a Christmas tree, more the feeling of being short-changed for £6000 of business rates.
WTC did provide new Xmas lights in 2011 at a cost of ~£45K and extended the illuminations for 2012, at additional cost. They also paid for the capacity 2012 switch-on party at Sparrow Pit (Bank Sq) and the reindeer procession from South Drive to Bank Sq via Grove St.
In the years before WTC existed, it was hard for Wilmslow to raise funds from local business and still is. If Wilmslow Business Group et al want more Xmas lights how about some matched funding, in these days of austerity?
I don't see how they or Wilmslow Town Council (WTC) can do any more than they are to help small independent business's. We live in a free market economy whether we life it or not.
And on a minor point.
i) the spring clean is not being organised by CEC. It is a WTC initiative.
ii) All parking in Wilmslow with the exception of streetside is not currently privately owned. The majority of off road parking in the town centre is owned by CEC. ie South Drive (Sainsburys), Hoopers, Spring Street (Water Lane), and Broadway.
The culture of both national and local government needs to change to encourage enterprise by reducing taxation, and cutting back on unnecessary public expenditure by money wasting authorities such as East Cheshire and Wilmslow town councils.l.
This poor bloke has just lost his livelihood and what seems to have become the focus of the argument is who paid for the fairy lights, and whether or not he had a business plan!
My enduring point is that business rates do not represent value for money, period. They are merely a way to fund central government on a wholesale basis. This point is proven to perfection by the recent retraction of the empty property rates poilcy.
The council had decided that people should walk or cycle to the shops.
Considering one of the biggest traders in the village is an independent DIY shop selling such things as 8x4 plywood sheets and 20kg bags of cement straight away the idea was thought to be sheer madness.
The local newsagent wondered.who would put a £1 in a pay and display machine to stop on the way home from work to buy a birthday card for 50p.
.Having a haircut on the way to work would cost you a couple of quid extra to park next to the village barbers.
The people of Holmes Chapel voted out the plan and took the view the town planners were trying to introduce schemes that weren't practical and many people privately cited Wilmslow as an example of what they didn't want to happen to the village .
With regard to parking; the Rex car park was more or less commandeered (and rented from the Stansbys) and charges introduced. I believe that the car park at the Carrs is on land donated to the people of Wilmslow and charging was introduced to stop all day parking by local office workers. This is the nub of the parking argument. The excessive supply of offices by you know who, who then rented the parking separately if at all has lead to large numbers of free street parking places being occupied all day by commuters. Note Altrincham Road, Hawthorn Street, Beech Lane, Linfield North, Hill Top, parts of Pownall Park, Chapel Lane (on the pavement all day), Pepper Street, etc, etc. I know that many people avoid trips into Wilmslow, especially for small quick purchases, purely because of the parking issues. Sainsburys get the blame for costs on a car park which has nothing to do with them (part of that land was also donated to the people of Wilmslow) but we can cast our minds back and ask why the underground or roof top car park which was part of the original plan 30 odd years ago never happened and who paid for the leisure centre instead!!!!!
Local and central Government are far more concerned with increasing income rather than providing facilities for local residents hence the plans to relocate the library and leisure centre in order to build yet more offices, shops and housing all of which provide income and cut outgoings.
Jason had app prior experience of the sector and identified a business opportunity. At this point did he undertake any market research to assess foottfall or pot sales from his proposed outlet, & factor in cost of rent, business tax , income & cost of stock vs projected income, all of which would be required to produce a viable business plan for inverstors?