Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

[Cue]

Are you competing if they closed down the only place you could be competing with, which was you?

Competing with the chain in general, plus they could license it to someone else in Stafford too.

 

[Tumble weed]

Yep, been down there today… Geek Retreat is indeed closed

That really does suck, the owners and staff were passionate about that business and it always sucks to see that get stamped out. I don’t think they could have been doing too terribly if they were about to hire more staff either?

Looks like it's just temporary and they're looking for someone else to run the Stafford branch.

 

[Cue]

Looks like it's just temporary and they're looking for someone else to run the Stafford branch.

They did that with every store that closed last year, I wouldn’t make much of it.

Pretty sure the lease would be in the name of the franchisees so a new lease would also be required.

 

[EasMid]

 

[EasMid]

From their Facebook earlier today (Weds)
I think they’ve had to be a bit cagey to comply with franchise conditions but there’s a few telling comments in the replies if you look at their page.

 

[Cue]

From their Facebook earlier today (Weds)
I think they’ve had to be a bit cagey to comply with franchise conditions but there’s a few telling comments in the replies if you look at their page.

Pretty sure it’s not them posting it, from what I’ve heard you lose access to your socials and it’s an identical copy/paste to every other GR closure.

If you search for the first paragraph you’ll find plenty of identical FB posts, which is really kind of disingenuous on the part of Geek Retreat as they’re pretending to be the owners and being all “thanks for the support!” while also being the ones that forced it closed - nobody gives a shit about the brand, they’re supporting the franchisees who just got fudged over by the franchisor.

I saw some comments elsewhere that they weren’t hitting sufficient targets, but the franchise model is basically setup to fail as they get completely ripped off on stock prices (which they have to get from GR) on top of paying 8% of their revenue to GR Head Office. As we all know, Stafford does not have a terribly thriving town centre but it doesn’t mean GR adjusted their expectations. I suspect it would do just fine as an independent where they are free to get actually reasonable prices on their stock.

(None of this is information from the Stafford owners, it’s all available online, before anyone gets in trouble…)

 

[Bodger]

Geek Retreat premises already marketed https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/co...h_identifier=d8d443a19bf10594f3d40c203e5998a5

 

[proactive]

nobody gives a shit about the brand

This is the crux of the matter that's never taken into account by people taking on franchises. Unless you're becoming a McDonald's or similar franchisee, nobody gives a shit about the brand. What they care about is the personal interaction they have with the individual running the business.

For most types of business, franchises are a total waste of money for the person wanting to start a business. They'd be far better off investing a fraction of the cost of a franchise on a business management course at their local college.

 

[Cue]

Geek Retreat premises already marketed https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/co...h_identifier=d8d443a19bf10594f3d40c203e5998a5

Good that the landlord was willing to let them break lease, a lot of landlords would just force them to keep paying.

This is the crux of the matter that's never taken into account by people taking on franchises. Unless you're becoming a McDonald's or similar franchisee, nobody gives a shit about the brand. What they care about is the personal interaction they have with the individual running the business.

For most types of business, franchises are a total waste of money for the person wanting to start a business. They'd be far better off investing a fraction of the cost of a franchise on a business management course at their local college.

It’s £6,500 upfront plus 8% revenue from what the net tells me but it seems you don’t get much for that. The main thing a franchise would give is having marketing support, but you’d be better off retaining a graphic designer/illustrator to help with that tbh.

I think Geek Retreat probably only works as a franchise model because the average franchisee is gonna be doing it out of passion, they aren’t looking for mega-experienced business people as those kinds of franchisees would know damn well it’s a dumb deal, so they prey on the lack of experience.

Not to say that the owners had no business acumen as by all accounts it was a good venue and seemed to be running pretty well, but the business model offered by the franchisor is really not a good one at all. The fact that they closed 20-odd stores last year demonstrates an issue with the franchise model, not the franchisees.

 

[tek-monkey]

Good that the landlord was willing to let them break lease, a lot of landlords would just force them to keep paying.

Some may agree to remarket and they're only on the hook til a new tenant comes along?

 

[Bodger]

Some may agree to remarket and they're only on the hook til a new tenant comes along?

Most lease agreements have a get out clause after a certain time span that's if both Tennant and Landlord agree.

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

If it does become a geek retreat version 2 then they need bigger coffee servings!!!

 

[EasMid]

Pretty sure it’s not them posting it, from what I’ve heard you lose access to your socials and it’s an identical copy/paste to every other GR closure.

Yeah I thought that myself. It was more about the replies. There’s one from possibly an ex franchisee that could be relevant. (Did it close for a short while not long after opening originally by that person, not for the flood damage but long before that)

 

[EasMid]

I’m sure if they decided to open a similar independent local venue they’d get a lot of support. Whether that could happen with a “failed” business on their record is another thing though.

 

[Glam]

Don't all shout at once, but 2FatGoblinz is still going.

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

Don't all shout at once, but 2FatGoblinz is still going.

Correct, however the time I shared with my daughter at Greek Retreat couldn't be duplicated at 2FG....

 

[Wormella]

Don't all shout at once, but 2FatGoblinz is still going.

Yeah, I love 2FatGoblinz, but what we've just lost is the space to play games as easily - they ran a lot of social stuff - my son played an under 14s D&D game one a month. Finding somewhere acsessible to replicate is proving to be problematic (and expensive)

But that space costs a lot of money to provide

 

[tek-monkey]

Yeah, I love 2FatGoblinz, but what we've just lost is the space to play games as easily - they ran a lot of social stuff - my son played an under 14s D&D game one a month. Finding somewhere acsessible to replicate is proving to be problematic (and expensive)

But that space costs a lot of money to provide

They used to do some gaming in the back room of the shrew, unsure how that would work for under 14s though!

 

[Gramaisc]

They used to do some gaming in the back room of the shrew, unsure how that would work for under 14s though!

And the Market Vaults, but that was some while back.

I wonder if it's something Redrum might do, upstairs? There could be a good bit of crossover in the patronship.

 

[Thehooperman]

They used to do some gaming in the back room of the shrew, unsure how that would work for under 14s though!

They still do on a Sunday afternoon. They seem to be the same gamers each week but I've not seen any under 14s playing.

I'm sure all ages are welcome though.