A balance of shops

Local lass · A balance of shops

Calne is badly in need of a array of shops and not clumps of them.why does calne need..
8 hairdresser,
3 charity shops,
3 supermarkets
3 fish and chip shops
3 Chinese
2 Indian
2 kebab shops

yet there is no where in calne to buy a mens suit or children clothes.

competition is fine but with more of a balance in calne it would attract those who do not live in calne in to the town.

GTB

You can't really dictate to a town what sort of shops they can have. If a shop is successful then surely it is doing no wrong? Diversity is something every town strives for.

iamelliot

Right, but Calne's lacking lots of basic types of shop!

Someone needs to manage working out what shops Calne needs, and then working out how to attract those types of shops here. I know some of this stuff is already done by various groups, incl. the town council, the district council and others.

It's always going to be down to who's prepared to set up shop here, but work needs to be done making Calne look like an attractive place to do business.

Local lass

Peter Dolman

there is a shop selling childrens clothes, namely Face Value situated in the old post office building. not sure if the cater for all ages but they do have some.

for 18 months you could buy mens clothes in the town but as some of you know i closed it because not enough people shopped there.

i therefore do get a little up tight when i hear comments about the lack of shops in the town. why should i or anyone else open a shop, and all that entails, just on the likely hood that some one may, just may, decide to visit it and god forbid buy something?

i don' quite agree with the list as i am assured that there are 11 hairdressers in the town, but don't ask me to name them all.

planning issues are not within the remit of the town council and all decisions must be based on planning law not that we have enough takeaways in the town already (no matter that there is).

rosco

Peter's right here, it has to be market forces. If there are 8 hairdressers, that must be because there is enough trade to keep them going: no one is running them as a charity.

iamelliot

exactly.. if the 11/12 hairdressers are doing well then that's fine. There probably is a market for lots of things in the town but 1) everyone/most people shop elsewhere and 2) the shops aren't there anyway.

If there's ever going to be a big change in the shopping habits of Calne residents, potential shoppers need to be encouraged to shop in the town and potential businesses need to be encouraged to set up shop.

kathy27

Local lass

so is it a end to high streets all together?not just calne?

Peter Dolman

I had tee shirts starting at £5.00, ok not as cheap as Primark but you did'nt have to go all the way to Swindon to buy them.
I chose to open and to close when I did.
I do get annoyed when people complain that there are no shops in Calne, when there are do they get supported. The answer unfortunately is no.
A prime example being the shop that took over the old Jearys chemist shop next to Lloyds Bank. Another being the tee shirt shop.
Both closed due to the lack of business.

kathy27

so what about the toy shop, trotmans, bazzar and yes face value to name just afew that have been here for years and have been well supported by the town people.

the couple of times i came into your shop, i didnt see t shirts for £5, except during the closing down sale!
my point is peter, you can not blame the people of calne for your shop not doing well, as with any business the buck stops with the boss, if its not working change it!!

Local lass

The problem with calne is that if i wanted to get some shoes i wouldnt go to calne .calne is not the place to go and have a look around .in 15 minutes proberly less you can walk to one end of the shops to the other .there is nothing what jumps out.woolies would have been great for the town as they had such a range .

Peter Dolman

I am not complaining about the decision I took to close my shop I am arguing that people who live in Calne should when ever possible support those shops that are here. I have heard countless number of complaints that there is not enough shops in the town by people who shop elsewhere.
If every one went elsewhere, then the town centre would be empty and a waste land. I would not be happy with that scenario and am not sure if many people would be.

Local lass

to be able to support shops in calne .the retailer must provide the people of calne with what they need.there has been a very big lack of this.so not all blame can be passed on to the shopper the retailer has to be 90 per cent blamed for not meeting those needs.

Bear

I have to say I think Calne is one of those chicken and egg towns where there are no shops because most people buy elsewhere and people buy elsewhere because there are no shops.
Any suggestions on how to reverse this are welcome

Peter Dolman

That's the situation in a nutshell!

Chepfer

Hmnnnn.

How about a new town centre for starters.

Calnes grotty phelps parade, should have been flattened all in one go and built to a better standard, creating a centre that we could all be proud of and "WANT" to shop in.

The District council though have said there is another good 20 years in the building as it stands and that it doesn't have the money to spend ......

Shame ... such a shame ...

Peter Dolman

Great idea but, do tell, where's the money going to come from. Even before the credit crunch it would have been diffilcult to justify that amount of spending in Calne.
The main problem would be to persuade councillors from other towns to vote for such expenditure as they want it for their town.

Perhaps the town council should invest £1.50 for a euro lottery ticket this Friday with a jackpot in the region of £35,000,000 they would be able to do lot for the town!

Bear

Perhaps the town council should invest £1.50 for a euro lottery ticket this Friday with a jackpot in the region of £35,000,000 they would be able to do lot for the town!

Best idea so far!

Then perhaps they could invest it in some high return Icelandic bank to geteven more/less from it.

Upsy Daisy

I have lived on the south side of calne for over 20 years now. When we first moved here I used to shop in Calne reguarly, always came to the market when it was in the Pippin car park and was large and had a wide variety of stalls.
Now I rarely come in except for the odd thing from somerfield, why? Because its a pain getting through to the Sainsbury's side. I either have to go all the way round the bypass or go through the centre and then wait in a queue for ages to get back.
There is nothing in Calne that would encouarge me to visit.
I used to work in the video shop when it was in Phelps Parade and after the move to opposite the off licence. In the early days it was exceptionally busy, and it was fun working hard and whizzing round like a lunatic finding videos, then it all trailed off and it was dead as a dodo! Hence it shut!! I think that was about the time they altered the road layout through. Surely it would have been better to have traffic going through past the vauxhall garage and then coming out down the old High St making the Kings Arms and post office an island.
Really not sure what to say to improve the situation, but I love the colour of the Lansdowne Strand, and that silly ornament of a half finished head by the library I think sums up Calne 'never finished'!!!

Local lass

exactley what i been saying when they narrowed the road by the wheat shef they seperated calne and forced south calne to shop over devizes as its quicker to get there than what it is through our town.

Peter Dolman

Traffic in Calne has always been a problem even before the inner relief road was bulldozed through the town centre.

The northern relief road was built after a campaign by poorly informed individuals. All those extra houses just resulted in many more cars on the roads.

Yes the revamped Curzon Street fiasco has added to the problems but to reopen the High Street will only make it worst.

There have been many meetings to discuss the High Street option but all have concluded that it would not improve traffic flows.

I think that traffic like water will find the easist way to flow. I travel regularly from North Calne to South and always go via Curzon Street . It is a pain but the delays are normally not a problem.

Perhaps what we all need is a little more patients!

kathy27

Chuck · Calne Shops

There is a school outfitters in Portemarsh Fynamore which is having some building work done now maybe they could be asked to consider some sort of adult provision as well.

Chuck

Peter Dolman

Just returned from a bit of shopping in the town, had several conversations and it seems that there are rumors that 3 more shops are likely to close in the next few weeks. Not 100% sure of that this rumors are correct so I will not name the shops but it would be sad if they did disappear!

GTB

Blimey, three shops? That would make a dent in any town's shopping centre.

Peter Dolman

Trotmans closure today is the end of an era linking the "old" days with the new. Trotman's was the oldest retailers left in the town still owned by it founders family. For those of us old enough to remember, it brings back memories of Buckeridges, Dixons, Gabbs (the butchers), Maslins cafe, Parkhouse's (another butcher), Wilkins (toy shop), Heaths (paper shop), Wiltshires (supermarket next to the cinema) and many many more shops from the past.

More closures, not all voluntary, are forecast in the next few months.

It is highly unlikely that Calne will ever see an increase in retail shops to the level of the 1960's. The lure of other towns and the perceived "low" prices of the internet will see to that. There is nothing councils or other bodies can do to alter that reality.

I await with interest the results of the initative launched by the Chamber of Commerce this week.

Biggles

Chris P Bacon

Things are cheaper on the net, I very often buy items i cant buy localy eg. went to trotmans couple of years ago to enquire about an electric coal affect fire, they could get the one i wanted but i would have to wait 2 weeks and £220.00.
Went to an ebay shop £140.00 and delivered 2 days later.
Now I hear the sorting office is closing so if I miss postie have to go to Bumpers farm to collect

Local lass

sorting office in calne?thats the problem you can get so many things cheaper on the net .the chip for my camara can be got for 27 quid on the net yet in the shops they are 70 quid.

Biggles

yes local lass was i news this week

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk...40055.Bid_to_save_sorting_office/

Peter Dolman

Is the answer then that all the shops close down and we all buy goods of the internet?
This could include food as all the major supermarkets have an internet business.
What would happen to the empty shops and who would employ all those retail workers many of them women who need the income from their jobs?

Biggles

a tad extreme methinks, never even mentioned shutting all shops, just commented about your previous comment about "perceived savings"

Peter Dolman

You cannot have it both ways, a busy vibrant town and then buy off the internet. If everyone did the same then logic dictates that shops will close and are closing due to the rise of internet shopping.

This will mean town centres all over the country becoming deserted and rundown

kathy27

But peter, you also cant have it both ways....whats wrong with the chinese in calne???
People will shop where they can get things cheap or where they get a good service!
I think the only way out is for whoever the shops have to pay rent to should try bringing the rent down abit, to save the shops after all some rent is better than none and the shop sitting empty waiting to have its windowns smashed!!

Local lass

Biggles

Peter Dolman

I was not blaming the internet but was responding ot others who did!
The town council of 1999 to 2003 were the ones who pushed for the curzon street alterations and some of them are still councillors. They are some of thise complaining about it but they are responsible for the problem.

Perhaps the voters should think about it and vote accordingly!

Biggles

gimme a hint which ones voted for it then and i certainly will come election day which isnt far away now i believe

Peter Dolman

I can tell you who was on the council from 1999 to 2003 and are still there. What I cannot tell you, as I don't know, is which way they voted regarding the Curzon Street traffic calming scheme.

They are Councillors, Baggs, Trotman & Golding, it may be a coincidence but they were/are all Conservatives.

They will of course say they voted against won't they.

Local lass

They will of course say they voted against won't they.

thats the problem with them no back bone to stick up for what they belive in.

Peter Dolman

The sorting office I am told has been reprived at least for a year. A new manager took control just before Christmas and has been given until the end of March to stop the lossess. I am also told that the Bumpers Farms sorting office is at 100% capacity since the closure of the Corsham sorting office and that if Calne does close then its possible that all that business will go to Wotton Bassett.

I went shopping in Chippenham something I have not done for some time and was shocked (perhaps I should not have been) by the number of empty shops.
In Emery Gate, Borough Fields and the High Street I counted 11 empty shops. The recession is not only leaving Calne worst off but hitting Chippenham despite all the money that has been thrown its way for years.

Yes and it cost me 50p to park in an almost empty car park, I could have parked in Calne for free!

Biggles

Calne car parks are only free on the north side, us on the south side have to pay (behind the library), even Church street now is only 30 mins waiting and you cant shop in that time

rosco

Biggles

not practical with a weeks worth of shopping lugging it all that far though eh, ok for pickign a few odd pieces up though which i do

Peter Dolman

I fail to see why you cannot park in the Pippen, ok so at certain times of the day there is a delay due to conjustion. Many drivers make the journey without to much hazzle. Sainsburys are open from 7am to 8pm. AT 7:30am or pm there are no traffic problems.

Biggles

i can park in the pippen if i can get there, ive timed it last few times i average over 20 mins getting there and parking from my house owing to the so called calming, i can get to Lidl in 6 mins and no sign of a queue or tail back, and Morrisons in 9 mins (admitted sometimes the odd queue in London Road Devizes) and no queues and much more enviromentally friendly if the car is moving and not sat there pumping out fumes.

Block67

I think the quote was from Bear..

Block67

whilst I remember, I went into HM furniture today just to have a look at their stock and prices.
I am sorry if this offends, but what a joke! The old furniture in there is fit for firewood and not restoration, the prices are ridiculously over the top, and to top it off, a lot of furniture in there was damaged and grotty, yet still demanded hundreds of pounds!!!
Ok, so some of it was second hand (I think the grime and scratches gave that away!), but even if it were a "junk" shop (which it should be classed as in my opinion), the prices were simply way above what young families, pensioners, unemployed people, etc, could afford.
Therefor, Calne could do with a decent second hand furniture shop!
As for the rest of the town, its like the "average" wage, most people aren't earning any where near that amount, the average is bumped up because of the higher earners, which are fewer than the majority. When the shops realise this and cater accordingly, then they may survive and prosper.

Peter Dolman

shop keepers have little control over their overheads eg rent & rates.
can't see how this can be resolved, if all the shops close what will become of the town centre and that could happen to Chippenham/Bath/Swindon as well as in Calne.

do we want to see town centres becoming an empty getto, do we?

Block67

Block67

Local lass

if the shop gave us what we want there would be no need in having ths shops closed down.

Peter Dolman

It is well known that I opened and closed a shop within the space of 18 months. I had no employees and had a wide mix of items for men & women. I opened the shop after a lot of research and listening to people in the town.

I closed because not enough people shopped there but if all those who have said its a shame I closed had then I would not have had to close.

I took the gamble, my choice, because I am passionate about Calne and would love to be able to shop more in the town. I wish more people would have a go, perhaps some of them would succeed.

kathy27

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 10:59 pm Post subject:

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Block67

Block67

- also, I tend not to shop in Calne as there is little choice and the prices are too high.

Chepfer

H.M furniture were very good a year or so ago.

There problem was that it was going to be taken over bY Wetherspoons and they sold all there stock. Then when Wetherspoons pulled out at the last minute, the furniture shop was left standing with a rent still to pay....... I think that possibly they are waiting for another deal to get rid of the shop and are trying to at least afford the rent on it for the time being..... not sure but thats my guess.

Shame all the same, as we have bought sofa's and carpet in the past and it was quality and chepaer than dfs and the like !

Block67

you are right chepfer, it is a shame.
If I had the finances available I would have a go, but alas I don't at the moment.....

A balance of shops

Calne Shops