Tuesday 12 June 2018

Royal Victoria Place Popup Update


Hi 

Thank you for your feedback on the shopping centre. I have taken it all back to the centre and renegotiated the terms with the management and I'm extremely excited to let you know that we have been provisionally offered a unit inside the shopping centre on the top floor. 

It used to be Optical Express and was more recently Dassie Artisan. This is a huge unit in an extremely popular location. The shop will be branded and kitted out ready for a six week period. I am still working on figures but we are looking at £250 for the six week period at the moment. Spaces will be limited and subject to conditions but if you are interested please drop me an email and I'll add your name to the list

Kind Regards

Hope Marshall

                                                        ****
                                                                                    
               
My reply:

Best bet is to wait 'til Christmas.

The footfall will be non-existent this time of year, Hope.  We've been trading in the Royal Victoria Place since 1994 ~ two years after it was opened by Princess Di snipping a cord.  Back then the aisles would be packed on a Saturday.  But that's a distant memory now.
  
Grenville Allen
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Sunday 10 June 2018

Pop up project with Royal Victoria Place

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Grenville Allen
Date: Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: Pop up project with Royal Victoria Place
To:  Hope Marshall

Michael ~ a good aficionado (left of pic) ~ me on the right
#HazeltheMallMoll (left) & an old friend of hers (right)

Our days in Ely Court
where we rarely saw a customer.
The café was almost next door and was one of the last to go.
I think you could be flogging the proverbial dead horse, Hope.  It's clearly a terrible last-ditch attempt by the management to make something of this debacle.  Was a lovely mall until Westfield took over a few years back and wrecked the place.
It's been downhill ever since.
All the best 
Grenville Allen
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On Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 4:28 PM Hope Marshall wrote:
Hi

I hope you're well. I had a meeting with the management from the shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells today and I have been given the opportunity to take nine units for a six week period to hold a six week long pop up. 

At the moment I'm looking for a bit of feedback as to who would be interested. I would be taking over the whole of Ely court, all the shops will be repainted white with our branding throughout along with large window vynls on the street facing shops promoting the project. We also may potential have the opportunity to run a cafe aswell.

The project does come with a few conditions which is why I'm emailing you all to see if this will work. Ive listed bellow a few points I took away from the conversation and I'd love your feedback on them if you have time. At this point I do not have prices worked out as I don't know what the rent, insurance, electric and staff costs will be.

  • The shops will need to be open the same hours as the centre so seven days a week 9-5.30 with late night opening on a Thursday evening. This is great for you all as your products will be available for a long period however theres only one of me so it will involve me hiring nine members of staff to run each shop. One thought is whether you would be interested in volunteering to work in the shops in exchange for having your products in there for free. 
  • I would not take any percentage of sales however you would need to sign up to a minimum of three weeks. (The project runs for six)
  • Part of the agreement with the centre is that I am in charge of the appearance of every shop. So it would involve dropping your stock into me rather than setting it up yourself. We will have shelving units rather than tables. 
  • If the project goes well I am told we have the opportunity to take over a larger shop in the centre of the shopping centre, and we may also be allowed to come back at Christmas for another six weeks.
  • Lastly I need to get a rough idea of how much you are willing to pay, Support Local is a community and for that reason I am always trying my best to keep prices as low as possible for you. However as I said above I do have rent, insurance, electric and staff to consider. staffing costs alone would equate to a minimum of £18,000 for the 6 week period.

Please do let me know your thoughts, this is a fantastic opportunity which I hope you'll all be excited to be part of

Kind Regards
Hope Marshall