Two High Street stores close in Basildon

7:00am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in Echo News

Priceless Shoes will close its Basildon store at the end of the month Priceless Shoes will close its Basildon store at the end of the month

THE manager of a shop that closed down Basildon yesterday launched a scathing put down on the town after claiming the store only managed to claw in £2,000 of profit in almost a year.


Artwork store Inside Out was forced to shut its Town Square outlet yesterday because of poor trade, and Priceless Shoes, which is based on the same precinct, will follow suit at the end of the month.


The closures have called into question the viability of council’s masterplan for Basildon, which sets out ambitious plans to transform the town centre and attract dozens of new businesses.


Gurram Mallareddy, manager of Inside Out, said: “No-one is earning any money in Basildon because people don’t have jobs here.


“The shop has made just £2,000 profit in the 10 months that we’ve been open.


“We did a lot of preparation for Christmas but it was totally disappointing. We opened up early and put on a load of promotion but we just didn’t get many customers through the doors.


“We’ve been trading pretty poorly since we opened; we get people coming in here saying that our stuff is too expensive.”


Staff at Priceless Shoes told the Echo the store will close on January 26, but would not comment further.


The paper put a call into the chain’s head office for a statement but received no reply.


While bosses at the town’s Eastgate Centre boasted that business was booming for the precinct over Christmas and New Year, it seems outside traders are struggling.


Last month, the council rubber-stamped its ambitious masterplan for Basildon, outlining several ambitious projects over the next two decades.
 

By 2017, the council wants a cinema, bars, cafes, and restaurants in the town to create a nighttime economy.


But Labour councillor Pat Rackley, who represents the St. Martin’s Ward the town centre is based in, said she had reservations about the council’s masterplan.


She said: “There are a number of units empty outside the Eastgate and they are not being filled. Businesses aren’t going there because of the current climate.


“It’s great that they want to regenerate the town centre but when the market gets moved my concern is whether shops actually are the future.


“In 20 years time I don’t think we will have many shops and the majority of shopping will be done online.


“It’s always very sad when shops close down, and we’ve also lost Jessops too.

"The town centre seemed very quiet during the Christmas period – people are just buying what they need.”

Comments(16)

caroljb says...
7:18am Wed 16 Jan 13

"people in Basildon do not have jobs" said one trader. Well Basildon Council - those with jobs do NOT shop in Basildon. Why should we? I finish work fairly early at 430pm, yet Basildon is a ghost town with many shops closing. One shop in Eastgate would not let me go upstairs as "we close in half hour and we've already cleaned upstairs" Where do I shop? Lakeside. Shops open until 10pm, In the warm, FREE parking. I have to pay £1 to park in Basildon even if I'm just popping into the post office. Basildon needs longer opening hours and free parking.

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Yachtsman says...
7:48am Wed 16 Jan 13

"AWARD WINNING PAPER"? ONE SHOP CLOSED DOWN BASILDON.
Does anyone check what is published?

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StuckInTraffic says...
8:13am Wed 16 Jan 13

"The shop has made just £2,000 profit in the 10 months that we’ve been open"

Actually thats quite good, I think a lot of businesses at the moment would like to be making profit, quite a lot are running at a loss.

With many businesses not making enough money to be able to pay their staff, for this business to be making a profit in this climate is unusual, and it seems strange that you would consider closing a business that is making a profit.

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bumper says...
10:11am Wed 16 Jan 13

the way things are going we will not have shops on the main streets .

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J_blond says...
10:35am Wed 16 Jan 13

Priceless has been 'closing down' for ages though!

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black jack ketchum says...
10:47am Wed 16 Jan 13

I agree with most of the comments here, but the art shop wasn't going to last as its not something people will go in & buy on a regular basis,
as for the shoe shop I bought some boots from there a long time ago which fell apart a few weeks later after light use, took them back & the staff were rude beyond belief! I don't buy shoes from cheap outlets now as they don't last, if there was no money in basildon then places like M&S, Debenhams etc would be moving out & judging by the queues in both shops at the weekend that isn't going to happen!

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Steve H says...
11:17am Wed 16 Jan 13

It is a shame but 'In Style' always had the look of one of those shops that was here today gone tomorrow. Alot of the stuff in there seemed quite pricey and I suppose people didn't want to shop there incase it went and left no recourse for returns.

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Eric Whim says...
12:30pm Wed 16 Jan 13

if they get round to actually regenerating the town centre I think they should seriously think about halving, at least, the number of retail units. After all how many 'pawnbrokers' and 'poundshops' do we need?

The space created by this could be filled with some of the thousands of housing units the council want to create in the area thus keeping some greenbelt/open space safe for a bit longer

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Alfiee says...
12:39pm Wed 16 Jan 13

All towns need free parking, So true Lakeside is free warm and inviting. Southend is the same to expensive to park High Streets are dead. I am a 50 year old and scared to shop in town for fear of losing my purse to a pick pocket. How sad when people feel that way. My mother lost hers and heartbreaking to see that happen to an old aged pensioner. Safer to stay home and shop on line :(

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Carnabackable says...
12:53pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Sign of the times, on-line shopping rules the roost, unless you've succumbed to hard times, and have to go on foot, the heyday of retail shops is vanishing daily, no wonder the post office has seen such an increase in parcel deliveries.

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Eric Whim says...
1:13pm Wed 16 Jan 13

add to that the increasing amount of out of town retail parks with free parking - Mayflower and Heron in Basildon both with supermarkets/food outlets/clothing stores/electrical retailers etc.

It all adds up.

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notinwestcliffanymore says...
3:30pm Wed 16 Jan 13

The retail high street is dead, online and out of town have seen to that and we can only blame ourselves. But if councils need to build homes build them in town centers . . good transport links. what could be secure parking and plenty of empty buildings. It also takes the burden off the green belt

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JessyJar says...
4:23pm Wed 16 Jan 13

make a bigger republic!

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Carnabackable says...
9:29pm Wed 16 Jan 13

I cannot believe the councils still attempting to fill their piggy banks, with the cash raised from car parks and fines. When the people decide to vote with their feet, and start enjoying the big retail parks, with their free parking, and all in one place shops, or those niche elusive ebay deals, they WILL NEVER go back to places like Southend High street. All too late, will be the cry, as yet another shops gets boarded up.

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Alan Jacobs says...
2:24am Thu 17 Jan 13

The fact is Basildon town centre is grim , why would anyone want to go there if they have the means of going somewhere else.
The whole lot wants knocking down and starting from scratch.
Obviously the budget doesn,t exist for that, so in the meantime stand back and watch it's decline.............
....

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iluvmrking says...
4:35pm Thu 17 Jan 13

The comment from Eastgate Shopping Centre management saying everything is fine and dandy - that's what they are paid to say!

Shopping Centre owners aren't going to say the truth, they will always lie. At Xmas, shopping centre owners said all tills were ringing in every shop, yet afterwards we hear from individual shops that they had a bad Christmas.

Never believe the shooping centre owners...

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