- Aug 8, 2005
- 27,229
That's surely no shock re: WH Smith. Almost everything they sell can be bought in Tesco itself and generally significantly cheaper. I'm not sure why anyone would think that would be a good location for a shop that sells what Tesco sells.
The pet shop there is an utter disaster too. I popped in yesterday evening as our puppy has just about destroyed every one of his toys this week. A Kong Extreme thing was £16.99 in there. I checked Amazon on my phone and it was £7.49. It's being delivered today. I don't mind paying a bit more for the convenience of having something NOW, but that was just ridiculous. Even more ridiculously, everything they sell is individually priced with sticky price labels. What's that all about in 2017?
Agreed on WHSmiths and the Pet Shop. And this is my point really, I don't think that a retail unit like this (after the initial excitement) is a long term bet unless located somewhere where a lot of new visitors will go. No shop is making any money at Tescos Durrington other than Tescos Durrington. Worthing during the summer gets a lot of visitors, they don't go to Durrington. Albion fans will generally buy online or at the stadium on match day. Non match day the place is empty, completely empty.
Current Albion fans won't buy more because it is in Durrington, well not enough more to justify the cost of premises and staff. I suspect more might order online and chose to pick up from the shop rather than have it delivered. But is that more sales? Probably not.
Shopping has gone online for so much and I think the seagulls stuff is no exception. I'd love to see it, but in a location that can also benefit from town visitors as well as the average Worthing based Brighton fans. Teville Gate would be perfect when it comes, but for now why not one of the vacant units in town, particularly if they can get a short term lease.