Ultraconsultancy

Joe if local councils arranged their recycling monitoring on an award basis rather than punishment, then that staff time given over to handing out fines could be handing out [say] half price vouchers for sports and leisure facilities, or [say] a free half hour consult in a legal/planning/energy advice shop. theis would then give you an opportunity to approach your neighbours and evangelise the advantages of good practice, rather than being in your current position, whwere you seem forced to be critical of them. its about whether, as a society, we think vituously or viciously. UC

scylla100 - much of it goes abroad in huge shipping containers [and i'm sure you don't have to work hard to guess which countries] where it is commercially recycled, or just goes into landfill where it is recycled by desperately poor people scavenging among the barrels of dioxins. capitalism at work on your behalf.

Jonboy Taps? or tapas? Ultraconsultancy

Hi Ant There is such a law [ Provision of Goods and Services, I think] but it applies to items not to premises. So it is illegal to claiam an item is half price for a tenner if it hasn't spent a specific period of time going out at twenty. Sportswear [or what has become known as sportswear - when was the last time you tried to buy a box, or a gumshield?] is a very perishable business; goods lose their novelty value quickly, so there is always lots or remaindered stock kicking around. Sounds like these guys have allowed this side of the business to take over. Looking forward to this green thing tho - good luck with it. Ultraconsultancy

Hi Ko Businesses do generally have a legal obligation to keep both interior and exterior shipshape - but that obligation is to the landlord, not to government or local authority, and is enforced in order to protect the value of the freehold. Statutorily enforceable obligations are to keep the venue safe and accessible, and not much else. Ugly, you can pretty much get away with. ultraconsultancy

Hello Amelie Sorry if I've given any offence - closing by dictat seemed an odd idea and I wouldn't want you to think I had anything personal in querying it online. You seem to know a good deal about business gossip on LL - if you are in the mood I'd still like to buy you a coffee and have a chat. Best wishes Ultra

Amelie - leases I've seen that stipulate opening hours would usually be minimum hours and times, usually set by landlords that have some kind of interest in guaranteeing that, like a shopping centre or retail park. But I've never seen one that stipulated closures, other than alcohol licences or special residential aspects. Bank Holiday closure I'd have thoought was habitual, as it is in most "villages"; Easter Sunday is still the only day you can't legally open a shop, even then it has exclusions. Anyone know for sure? Karter? Amelie you seem to know a bit about commercial sites in LL - can I pm you and buy you a coffee sometime?

Amelie - that would surprise and shock me. Do you know if this is true?

A locally agreed late night is a top idea - most places find Thursday gets the best results. If it reaches a tipping point it then becomes somewhere people go to as the destination for their mid-week top up; nothing succeeds like success! If you have someone around who can do a bit of local rag PR [what? in ED?] it is easy as pie to punt it to the locality as a good news story. Apologies for the slightly mixed metaphors.

Top idea Mark, and May is a good time for these kind of local focus weeks. I'd say do it informally this year and get to work in February next year for a unified, co-promoted, late spring sales pitch. Does ED have a Traders Association? Surveying and colating something a basic as a SWOT analysis can be enormously useful.

Wonder if controversial EDD management will read this and see how customer complaints can be turned around to gratitude and return business? Well done Little Kickers Team!

Criticism from your customers - even criticism made in the heat of argument - is one of the most valuable free resources that business managers can benefit from. And it's totally focused on your shop too. it's gold dust; so listen up. Complaints in the shop should be dealt with by the most senior person onsite, immediately.It is a foolish retailer indeed who thinks he can do without any kind of customers; all their money is the same you know.

Look forward to that - they put out a new album about three years ago, but it wasn't so good. i think they played our student union in the 80's - them was the days.

Not at all uj64. Most retailers nowadays have got past the antediluvian idea that success can be a result of literary merit alone; customers now demand a high quality personal service in selling goods, and in a wecoming, safe, and interesting environment too. if you want to see what a good independent bookshop looks like then try; http://www.mrbsemporium.com/ http://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/ There's no reason why there couldn't be a swathe of such shops throughout London Ultraconsultancy

There's an oft quoted rule that says the critical numbers of outlets that drive culture change in companies are 7 and 27. I've never found them to be untrue; in fact I have seen the 8th and 28th units bring about downfall on several occasions! In reality the main issue is local managerial delegation; those who do it will adapt, those who don't will wither on the vine. The public synergise into this narrative often in a subconcsious mindset, too. You feel manipulated in cookie cutter businesses because [even osmotically] you know you are. Ultra

Retrospectively to Rosie H Wordsworth was indeed a great shop. But the reasons for it's down fall were a little more complex. In the main it was about a fall in sales during a refurbishment, where the landlord doing the refurb wouldn't compensate the shop. They couldn't make it through the dry spell. Also I think their intermediate landlord went bust, causing a lot of legal difficulties. but there were problems with the shop itself; the staff were indeed excellent, but the product offer was too arty, political, and chi-chi. They should have had a lot more mainstream, family, and disciounted stock, and more kids and stationery too. Pretty much what Waterstones has just diagnosed for itself really. Chener i think has a complacency problem; ironically the same one they had six years ago when I decided to stop going there. Friends of mine say that the discount book chains are eyeing the ED area with envious eyes; trouble afoot. Ultra