yes and the way rates are going up this alone can kill a business, my site costs 22,000 in rates.
1st the council refused my rates cheque, they sent it back…
2nd three months later they claimed we had not paid
3rd they used the lack of payment as an excuse to do a rates review
4th they doubled the rates assesment. and they back dated it…
it went up from £12,000 two years ago to £22000. On appeal we expect it to be dropped to around 15,000 but it will take 6 months for the appeal, in the mean time we have to pay the back rates and this years rates at the full amount, even though we know it will be reduced. The cost of running a business in this country is mental and you can blame your stupid councillors for some of the woes…rates will soon be higher than rents…and they wonder why I cant employ more people.
OOh I could go on but you all know how I feel about the involvement of needless authority in our lives…
werent they motorcycle city then when they went bust, they got bought out buy dixons motorgroup who owned the carnell brand which reopened them as riossi, they in turn went bust and some of the stores got taken over and turned into infinity motorcycles. i hope no one loses there job’s but the staff at the infinity store’s i have been into dont instill much confidence in you.
I can remember even further back. The Infinity in Clapham High Street was a Wheels before it was Motorcycle City. Wheels who were based on the A5 beyond Dunstable bought the Clapham Shop from whoever had it before them shortly after Jackie bought a GTR1000 from Wheels back in 1988. I remember going to the shop before Wheels owned it to pick up a an exhaust for Jackie’s CBX550 which must have been 87. That site is clearly jinxed!
My 2d worth - The Twickenham Infinity has always had friendly (minimal numbers of) staff, good stock and the ability to get other stuff in pronto, and I have very rarely been there without other punters mooching about. It isn’t a ‘prime site’ (High-Street-wise), but it is directly on the A316, and so accessible to those who have noticed it is there…
I hope and trust all will carry on as normal next week, and that the staff get paid for this week…
we all need to buy at high prices and ignore the internet cheap shops or there will be no mor bike shops left,boo hoo…wont happen, its a tough world for Bike shops…they need to be able to offer a complee package and infinity seemed to be doing things right. I just guess that expenses got too much…
I bought my r1, my bandit, my 900 quid leathers and 300 quid sons gear, 5 helmets and loads of bits and pieces…and will buy my zx10 from them when they open up…and likely a 1250 bandit if i can afford and some new leathers…
Guys the reason why they are closed is because one of the three partners is pulling out and the other two are buying him out, this means that they have to do a stock check, and value up the business.
All I can say is that I have been in exactly that position. I worked in retail, back in the 70’s - we had three branches and we stocked over 3000 different items in each store. These were the days before stock control and finances were computerised. One of the three partners was forced to leave in a hurry after he was found with his hand in the till. We had to do a stock take, value the business, buy him out, and sell his share to a new partner. We didn’t close at all we simply paid everyone to come in on a Sunday and do the stocktake and carried on trading to ensure maximum value for the business. The business did go insolvent two years after I left so I can only claim a small part of the credit for that!
Like everyone else, I hope the staff get a good result out of this. It is very good news that people are working to continue the business as a going concern and UI hope things are resolvesd promptly - the faster the better.
Which if business continues the way it does I will be moving out to South Wales.
I’ve been quoted £280 a month + VAT for a 500sq ft unit and 480 a year in rates.
As virtually all my business now is mail order it doesn’t matter where I am. Also as I expand back into doing workshop type stuff the labour rates are the same out there as they are here yet the costs and wages for staff are considerably lower.
shutting for any period to evaluate a company is commercial suicide overheads,rent, wages ,suppliers,tax,vat,these are all still payable so not opening can only make a business bankrupt.out goings with no incoming equals terrible management at any level.i worked with recievers for years i hope im wrong but id say things arent bright.
(note the positive tone of my post:) )