Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
It's all rather academic as Business Rates go to the government rather than the Council - for now. My guess is that the Council are preparing for the time when they get to keep the Business Rates, the last thing they would want to do is give free space away so losing a "charity" shop is a good business move. Given the amount of new stock I now see in Charity shops I would question whether they should all be entitled to the relief in any case. Selling new stock from the same suppliers that other Retailers buy from without the business costs of standard Retailers is simply not fair.
Many might argue that having an air ambulance that has to rely on charitable donations for its existence is hardly fair either.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Many might argue that having an air ambulance that has to rely on charitable donations for its existence is hardly fair either.
In some countries, air ambulances are a nice calm green colour.

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And coordinated by organisations with amusingly Father Ted-inspired names - http://www.phecit.ie/PHECC/Publicat...nd_s_First_Emergency_Aeromedical_Service.aspx ..
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Well it's a charity shop. All air ambulance shops are. Other towns have been able to reach an accomodation, Stafford hasn't.

The borough council has a shit attitude to all traders and businesses. If you haven't discovered that for yourself already them it's only a matter of time before you do, I'm afraid.

It's why instead of expanding my business interests in Stafford and creating 9 additional jobs in Stafford, I moved to the Shrewsbury area and took the 6 existing Stafford jobs with me.

Oh I have, though not sure if it’s the local borough that calculate business rate valuations for a property or not. Most of the good stuff was well into the £20k rateable value, absolute joke. Fortunately I managed to find one that was £90-odd per square meter so kept below £12k just about.

I didn’t realise the devolved format was the norm for charity shops so that makes a lot more sense now.
 

ChrisLewis

Well-Known Forumite
It’s just interesting when you search through the charity Commission web site and look at the annual reports how many organisations who trade shops do so as a separate legal entity and then legitimately gift aid the profits - a perfectly acceptable way to trade a retail arm of a charity, hence mitigating any risk if thing went pear shaped! Come on SBC look at your policy, not good PR for the town☹️
 

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
The Kitchen Corner on martin street:
Due to financial burdens we will be closing our doors for the last time on Friday. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our lovely staff and customers. We hope we have created a home from home during our time in Stafford.
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Feed The Goat

Well-Known Forumite
The Kitchen Corner on martin street:
Due to financial burdens we will be closing our doors for the last time on Friday. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our lovely staff and customers. We hope we have created a home from home during our time in Stafford.
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Less Shops = Less Shoppers = Less trade for cafes and restaurants. Its tough in town centre and getting tougher by the week.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
But it must be true cos the description refers to Norton Bridge station as being close. Shame no trains have stopped there since c2004.

I find that estate agent descriptions are generally pretty out of date. They still reference the university for instance.

You can always tell the ones that know the town.
 
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