White stuff on LL closing down plus Oliver Jonas

[teddyboy23]

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Edited July 23 by teddyboy23
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[tiddles]

How come?

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Never shook its image as an 80s "rah" apres ski retailer? Or is that just me?

[Cyclemonkey]

Weekend clothes for management consultants.

[Sue]

It was a very stupid and confusing name for a shop not actually selling "white stuff", and the clothes appealed to a very small subsection of people who buy clothes. Plus they weren't cheap.

In my probably wrong opinion.

I think they had been in trouble for a time. They had massive reductions on some of their clothes, which still didn't seem to sell, if memory serves (which it probably doesn't).

Are all their shops closing, or just this one?

[Sephiroth]

I don't think they are closing store en-masse - but they have slowly been closing individual stores in recent years . the one in Eddie Road in Sheffield closed last year and in their heyday that would have been their prime target area

The one in Lewes seems to be pretty quiet mostly - wouldn't be surprised to see that go soon. They have always been weirdly divisive and I don't know why. Like any clothes shop, they have a target and if you don't like it, move on to next one

They did have a niche when they were smaller but think they just expanded and stretched themselves too much 

took me down memory lane

 

 

[Earl Aelfheah]

Their menswear is very conservative / dull. Agree with CycyleMonkey - weekend clothes for finance bros (that's not a bad tagline for them). Never good to see a business fail, but I am a little surprised they've kept going as long as they have. Hopefully it will be replaced by another shop quickly... it's a fairly big unit for the Lane.

Edited June 19 by Earl Aelfheah

[TES]

It seems to be a well-worn cycle now for many of the adventure-sports linked clothes brands: start in a niche and get a strong committed following (in White Stuff's case it was skiing). Overtime dilute the relationship to the original sport to attract larger market. Open stores in London and other urban areas, often unrelated to the original sport. Become a relatively middle-of-the-road brand. Lose popularity and get forced into consolidation.

 

See also Finisterre which shifted from a Cornish surf brand, to a finance-manager's anorak of choice. Or at a global scale, Quiksilver an Australian surf brand that went bankrupt in the mid 2010s.

[Jenijenjen]

So much excitement at one time it was going to be an M&S, now look at us. Maybe a Waitrose?

[Sue]

31 minutes ago, Jenijenjen said:

So much excitement at one time it was going to be an M&S, now look at us. Maybe a Waitrose?

Surely too small to be a Waitrose? 

They seem to be having a rethink about their way forward:

https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/white-stuff-opens-more-stores-in-marks-and-spencer/7046348.article

 

https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/white-stuff-ramps-up-international-expansion-with-us-wholesale-launch/7046391.article

 

Edited June 19 by Sue

[northernmonkey]

35 minutes ago, Jenijenjen said:

So much excitement at one time it was going to be an M&S, now look at us. Maybe a Waitrose?

I continually hope for a Lidl - but feels like replacing the Coop with that would be a better fit.  Will be interesting to see what can take on this unit though as its fairly large.  Perhaps a pizza place doing gel nails on the side...

[DuncanW]

Did Quiksilver go bust? I thought it was still going strong as the flagship brand of Boardriders Inc who now also own Billabong, RVCA and others.

[TES]

35 minutes ago, DuncanW said:

Did Quiksilver go bust? I thought it was still going strong as the flagship brand of Boardriders Inc who now also own Billabong, RVCA and others.

Invested heavily in expansion in the late 2000s, Not particularly successfully. Filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Emerged from that a year or so later with a private equity backer who rolled up a few brands into Boardriders. That got bought up Authentic Brands Group recently, a very large fashion group and now Quiksilver seem to be (from what I've seen) a pretty generic brand with a beach/surf theme. I guess that might be seen as going strong but it's a far cry from the late 1990s and early 2000s when they actually were an authentic surf brand and had long partnerships with pros like Kelly Slater and were big backer of the pro tour. 

[Earl Aelfheah]

Maybe we could get a pound stretcher to compete with pound land across the road.

[Earl Aelfheah]

That's a shame about Oliver Bonas. Always seems very busy / popular.

[northernmonkey]

I"ll miss Oliver Bonas - its a shame its going.  

[Zak]

Way back, I seem to remember  that Walsh Double Glazing occupied both these shops. 
Might one factor, in the decision of both companies to close down at the same time, be leases coming to an end and the landlord ramping up the rents? 

 

 

[teddyboy23]

Yes 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

52 minutes ago, Zak said:

Way back, I seem to remember  that Walsh Double Glazing occupied both these shops.

Walsh Glazing Contractors is busy as ever and running a tidy little business out of their shopfront on Half Moon Lane. 👍 

[Cyclemonkey]

Oliver Bonas mainly seems to be at big main line stations these days.  Perhaps that is where they want to focus in future.

They started off selling interesting household nick nacks, affordable jewellery, and cards but increasingly they are a clothing retailer.  The ED store is too small for that really. 

Obvioisly their main claim to fame is the owners wife left him for Matt Hancock.  Poor chap.

[mima08]

How do we know that Oliver Bonas is going too? The staff in the shop have no idea about, not been told the shop will be closing?

[Froglander]

Why does it say Olver Jonas in the title?  At least get the name right if you are going to speculate about a possible closure.

[Jenijenjen]

Well, as we're being pedantic 

Olver?

 

 

 

[teddyboy23]

.not speculating. Watch this space 

Edited August 4 by teddyboy23

[teddyboy23]

White stuff as now gone.oliver bonas could now be staying?

Edited August 8 by teddyboy23