What's the rumour with Currys?
I read in a post on here that the 'rumour of Currys demise and Cafe Nero's intentions are true'. What's this all about? Are Curry's pulling out of Dorking? If they did it would be another disaster for our High Street.
More and more we find ourselves forced to drive out to other places to buy basic goods, our options are becoming less all the time. I suppose we still have an abundance of coffee though.
posted by The Cockerel @ 9:33 PM
16 Comments:
Currys are definitely closing nationwide. They are forcing the customer to buy the stuff via the net or go to one of their super duper stores on the outskirts of London ie. Purley Way, Croydon. The Dorking branch is one of the first to be earmarked for closure and I have seen on the internet job sites that Caffe Nero is looking for a manager of their Dorking branch. So, I guess time will tell if Caffe Nero go ahead and open up yet another bland 'chain' coffee shop in Dorking. Jo
They said this at the start of the year:
"
It was announced on 17 January 2007, by John Clare, the Group Chief Executive that the leases on the remaining 'Currys High Street' stores (not the rebranded Currys.Digital stores) expire, it is unlikely that the leases will be renewed, hence the stores will be closed at the earliest opportunity. This was included as part of 'Jeremy Warner's Outlook', a business comment panel in the Independent newspaper
"
(From ttp://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece)
Thanks for the information Jo and Alan.
It seems Cafe Nero are indeed going to open another coffee chain in the town.
Cheers
Come on people! We need more coffee shops and the bigger the chain the better. Whilst we're on the subject, lets have some great theme pubs with their reasonably priced warm lager and small children drinking alco pops. It's what Dorking is crying out for. Lets drag Dorking into the 21st century. Boots the Coffee Shop, sofas in Leslie Gilbert, Kiss FM full volume in the Edinburgh Wool Shop. Write to your MP's, demand modernisation..... Must stop now, Nurse is here to give me my medication.........
Notice that the front door was to the former Surrey Gourmet unit. It looks like some work was taking place today (Saturday). Any idea on what is opening up? Anyone want to hedge any bets -- a charity shop, a sandwich shop or about another coffee shop?? Will pry this coming week and will report back via the blog on what the newest addition to Dorking will be?? As for the post above, I would advise you to stay well clear of that very nasty medication.
DORKING Dan
Had a gander at the website of Martin Brown and notice that John Eccles Furniture has recently gone on the market. This is near the Cancer Research charity shop and the carpet shop on the High Street. Interestingly, it seems to have approval from the council for A3 use (approval for a restaurant). This furniture shop has two floors and is very large in size. A family restaurant with a difference would be ideal. I know that we have been banging on for years and complaining about the lack of variety in Dorking - I would love a Mexican restaurant to ply their trade in Dorking or how about a Nando's? ~AP~
Can see Caffe Nero as a front runner for the furniture shop. Will probably divert its intention for the pending move to Currys and go in and make a ridiculous offer to Martin Brown for John Eccles. Then...let the coffee war commence - with Starbucks on the opposite side of the High Street and Caffe Nero on the other side...it will be a real turf war.
No sign of anything going on with the former Surrey Gourmet unit? Also have heard from my work colleagues that there are quite a few shops that are going to close in Dorking. It is a combination of high rents, unrealistic landlords and not enough people are coming into Dorking to shop, eat and drink. Also, there are a few restaurants and pubs going on the market shortly. Again, it is the same thing, lack of customers. Dorking is dying.........x
Well, I live in Leatherhead and pop into Dorking at least once a week. I also have noticed how Dorking is looking really shabby, shop units look very run down, street furniture is often broken and the pavements have weeds sprouting out of them and look very neglected. What a shame to see a town that was streets ahead of Leatherhead, is in a serious state of decline, shops closing on a weekly basis and yobbos can be routinely seen congregating in very large groups spitting, swearing, shoving and causing as much mayhem as possible. Even though, Leatherhead is struggling (yes, it has its fair share of empty shops too!) the town is quite lively during the day. We have a wonderful sandwich/coffee shop run by a Polish couple called the Blue Cafe, Prezzo has recently opened up, Bartons (used to Corbetts) Bookshop has opened up in the former Woolwich Premises. We have a wonderful street market on Thursday and a guy who sells lovely Jamaican food with music every Friday. Dorking in the meantime, has added only a Coral betting shop to the High Street. The market in Dorking is hidden away in St. Martin's Walk and the amount of empty shops in the town has reached crisis proportions. In Leatherhead, we have a town centre manager, who actually cares. She can be seen walking around the town, speaking to the shopkeepers and following up enquiries from perspective shop tenants. We have also have a WPC from the Surrey police who can be seen very often walking (yes walking!) the streets of Leatherhead. She is a real bonus to the town and is a real credit to the police service. In Dorking, I have not seen a police officer walking the beat for months and months. Sadly Dorking definitely attracts the yobbos from far and wide and it is beginning to just cater the binge drinking thuggish element. Families are heading elsewhere for a night out and I am afraid that town centre management in Dorking is adopting a real hands off approach to its residents. I have tried in vain to speak to her and she has yet to return any of my phone calls. I just hope she does not do the same thing to perspective shops who would like to open up in the town of Dorking. If she does, this really could be the end of Dorking...
Leatherhead Lip
Heaven help us if Leatherhead is deemed as a better place to shop, have a bite to eat and go for a bit of a drinking session. I agree that Dorking looks very rundown and the people seem to have to have deserted it for the much larger towns in the area. We still need to support it. There are good quality restaurants and pubs but the shopping leaves a lot to be desired. We desperately need a food shop that stays open beyond 8pm, we need a fishmonger, a green grocer, a children's clothing shop, a good quality shoe shop. If Ashtead, Bookham and Cranleigh can pull this off, why cannot Dorking? Also, thought I would mention that my card got cloned at a cash dispenser in Dorking a few weeks ago. This morning, I tried in vain to take cash out from an atm inside the bank. The Natwest one was out of order and the Abbey was closed this morning for staff training and there was a very large queue at the Barclays. In the end, I gave up and jumped in my car to Leatherhead. ~AP~
Heard a rumour that a few of the retailers were going to have a meeting this week and try to force the town management to do something. Also heard that there have been some tetchy letters between S Grant and one of the shop-keepers (not sure which one)
Shrewd is the shopkeeper in question which is having it out with Sandra Grant & town centre management. The lady in charge of Shrewd has been complaining about the number of retailers which are leaving the town, the high business rates, the unreasonable landlords and a company which has been offering free advice on how to beat the customer downturn. She has written a stinging letter to town centre management and Mole Valley but they have just dismissed it as being completely over the top and that the town is doing just fine. Typical.
I was told by a mate who knows him that the senior guy at the council has written to Cafe Nero telling them that we had too many coffee shops in the town and that the public were getting pissed off with so many. He also wrote to Curreys to say that we wanted them to stay and that they would try and find them a bigger shop if they wanted one, but it depended on how much they wanted to pay. Seems sensible, maybe some of those greeddy bastard landlords will realise that they need to charge lower rents and the shops may stay! Maybe if we all write to Curreys and ask them to stay they will listen. Shame they don't sell good stuff.
Currys I am afraid is well past its sell by date. The staff are more interested in selling you their guarantees rather than offering a good deal on a washing machine or a television. People would rather by electrical goods and appliances at a name that they trust like Dorking Domestic Appliances or Clears, go to a large superstore on the Purley Way or buy their stuff for half the price on the internet. I have only bought one item a couple of years ago and it broke about six months later. Their customer service was zero and they told me that I could not return it even though I had a receipt. I hope that Caffe Nero does not open up in Dorking and the town is saturated with very average coffee shops with very little in the way of atmosphere. We desperately need a real shake up in the town if it is to weather the poor economic climate.
DORKING Dan
I am sorry to say that most of the posters on this thread are seriously deluded. If you really think that writing to the Head Office of a company whose store is closing will persuade them to stay, then you are barking up the wrong tree. Don't just sit at your computers whinging about this situation, but do something about it by actively supporting these stores (not just Curry's) and putting money in their tills, so that they don't have to close. And when you do buy from them don't demand stupid discounts just because something has been on the shelf for 5 minutes. If your idea of bad customer service is going without lunch breaks so that customers can get served, and collecting and delivering items in your own time, then the staff at Currys are obviously doing a splendid job. Before you start criticising the staff, spend just five minutes walking in their shoes and see if you would like people constantly coming in and asking when you are going to close, as if they give a s*** Next time you go in, open your eyes and ears, as I have, as a regular customer, and think of someone other than yourselves. There are jobs and lives at stake here, and these are more important than you having to travel a few extra miles to get to another store.
i work for currys digital in woolwoch and as i ave been told tht were not closing down we ave a new buyer and pc world and large currys store are cumming together
from tom ellwood 0029
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