Syds vintage clothes shop closing

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JMLF
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Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by JMLF »

The very lovely vintage clothes shop has a sign saying this Saturday will be it's last day and for people to pop in for last look/shop and to say bye.

I think it's a tough area to have a little boutiquey clothes shop at present so can understand/can't say it's unexpected but the beautiful window displays will be very much missed.

Hopefully any future replacements will be as charming! I'm dreaming of a sweet little cafe using art deco's furniture inside and out and doubling up as a display showcase/sale room a la the montage.. That's be nice ;)
harrym
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by harrym »

Very sad news.
JMLF
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by JMLF »

Could be wrong but appears the former syd's vintage is looking to be a vintage/antique bear, doll/doll house and ?other similar items type of shop. Tiny business card up in window seems to allude to opening hours on Wednesday and Saturdays but unclear if for this location or another of theirs.
elle
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by elle »

I came here to post about this too. Looks really exciting! I love the giant antique teddy in the window.

Love the idea of Kirkdale becoming a hive of little curio and antique shops like this. The costume hire shop, Behind The Boxes, now the antique toy shop- it's rare to find little places like this and I'm really happy to have them here :)
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

I agree Elle. If there were lots more businesses like that, it would attract more people (as it does in Crystal Palace).
JMLF
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by JMLF »

Could be totally wrong with this but got a sneaky feelin one I the shops opposite the road from Wooster & stock (as previously mentioned in the exciting developments thread) may be an antique shop of some sort.. From some brief glimpses as I've been past it looks like it has some stuff which fits that (although could just be decor for somehjng completely different/unrelated!)...
I was actually saying this exact thing to a mate the other day - Kirkdale needs a little string of antique/curio shops to support what it already has to bring people for a little shop around or it needs something different to bring people here. Fingers crossed looking promising for the first and maybe the second to boot if the new coffee shop/wine bar/craft beer place is as awesome as it is in my head ;)
elle
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by elle »

New sign going up at the shop opposite The Woodman/Wooster & Stock today- "Cash Brothers Consortium". I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like a Money Lender place.
JMLF
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by JMLF »

Unfortunately you look pretty spot on - does also say buy sell trade so could well be a pawnbroker type of place :(
Can't decide if that's better then an empty shop?! Maybe just!

The old syds vintage seems to still have vintage clothes for sale and potentially books among the bears/dolls and appears to be a charity shop/base (as only limited opening times).
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

An empty shop has potential to be something worthwhile, so I'd say an empty shop is better.
marymck
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by marymck »

You'll love the pawnbroker's signage Lee. Just when you thought Kirkdale couldn't look any worse ...
:wink:

When Wooster and Stock put in their planning application to trash the Woodman, they promised an antique shop at 109-111 Kirkdale.
JMLF
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by JMLF »

After a bit of thought, think I agree with you lee though compared to an empty shop, it may be useful to some of the community at least? But yes, guess if empty it has a chance to become something nicer/perhaps more functional.

Indeed Mary - it has to have one of the least aesthetically pleasing signs I've ever seen! :( Does the job in conveying the business but hmmmmm yeah. Lee - be warned!
elle
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by elle »

I've got to agree that an empty shop would be preferable. The sign alone will make innocent passers-by want to remove their eyeballs :shock:
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

I've seen it.

What it seems to say is that the owners don't care about their high street, or their neighbours. They have no pride in themselves.

We need less shops like these.
We need less signage companies doing rubbish work like this.

I'm not sure how the roller shutter and signage got through planning either. Which highlights another issue. I don't think many councils planning offices are really fit for purpose when it comes to high streets. They are under staffed, many follow rules in the face of common sense, nothing is policed and the vast majority of shops don't both going through planning in the first place because they find it complicated, slow and anti-small businesses. Something needs to change.

I think planning for signage should be localised (sorry Tim) in some cases (where relevant), and be led by town teams who have a much better knowledge of their local area. Much money has been spent doing up high streets by councils and the GLA, but unless we treat the reasons why they end up looking rubbish in the first place, they will continue to look shabby.
Tim Lund
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by Tim Lund »

Lee - you know perfectly well that localisation in practice is likely to lead to control by even more incompetent local politicians and endless pfaffing about.

Sensitivity to the locality will emerge when landlords have an incentive to invest for the long run; meanwhile, it would be great to minimise, streamline, and yes centralise the necessary bureaucratic elements of planning.

[Edited to restore the syntax, which got rather mangled in the first version.]
Last edited by Tim Lund on 16 May 2014 10:46, edited 2 times in total.
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

No, sorry, you are wrong Tim.

It works. Shopping malls have controls, they work. Regent Street has local controls. They work. Markets have controls, they work. It depends on good management. It shouldn't be controlled by local cllrs or politicians, it's nothing to do with them. It should be controlled by local people qualified to comment on such issues. Most landlords don't care. They just want rent. You know this Tim. ;-)

Localising planning for high streets would mean a more efficient, leaner, more bespoke, better cared for, better looking, more attractive high street. It would free up planning departments.

I've worked on many projects with many councils now and planning for signage and high streets in it's current form is broken. It does not work. Councils don't have the staff, or the will or are too laden in red tape to make the system efficient and bespoke and after have stupid borough wide rules that run in the face of making places feel bespoke and unique.
Annie.
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by Annie. »

Local people know how they want their Highstreet to look,
local planning officers could make all the difference.

Also it would be nice to have person/people who are accountable and approachable to deal with some of the shop owners/tenents who honestly couldn't give a damn.
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

Working with local shop owners to improve their signage with a friendly, local group that inspires shops and helps them with their signage and makes it easier to make their businesses an asset to the high street rather than having to go through a slow, bureaucratic, complicated, confusing planning system, seems to me, to be a positive way forward.
Tim Lund
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by Tim Lund »

I don't see how you can say so categorically that I am wrong, because we agree very much on what the problem is.

For instance, in this:
leenewham wrote:It works. Shopping malls have controls, they work. Regent Street has local controls. They work. Markets have controls, they work. It depends on good management. It shouldn't be controlled by local cllrs or politicians, it's nothing to do with them. It should be controlled by local people qualified to comment on such issues. Most landlords don't care. They just want rent.
I agree up to the point where you say "It shouldn't be controlled by local cllrs or politicians", and my disagreement starts from "it's nothing to do with them"; but only mildly - I'd just say it shouldn't be that much to do with them. The difficulty is how you identify "local people qualified to comment on such issues", and what to do if there aren't any such, or just that there are outsiders with even better ideas than the local, self appointed, great and good.

Somebody has to make the decisions about how local shopping streets and markets are controlled, by which I mean having the authority to sign off the actual contracts which lead to someone getting paid for doing something. There are two possibly bases for such authority - political or commercial. In either case those making the decisions have an interest in listening to local opinion; in the case of politicians, because it makes a difference to how likely the are to be reelected, in the case of commercial landlords and business owners, because local opinion will include many good ideas specific to an area which an outsider will miss. That may be too cyncial - both politicians and business people can be normal, decent human beings, who subject to other constraints, will want to do as good a job as they can for an area.

Of course landlords want rents, just as policitians want votes, but it's no good just having a general moan about them.
leenewham wrote:Localising planning for high streets would mean a more efficient, leaner, more bespoke, better cared for, better looking, more attractive high street. It would free up planning departments.
This may well be true, but who are the locals who will be given the authority to make the actual decisions? Let's take Kirkdale as a test case. Should it be:
  1. The local councillors for the ward - Alex Feakes, Philip Peake and Anne Affiku?
  2. The local councillor of a neighbouring ward who also interests herself in the area - Chris Best?
  3. The Directors of a social enterprise set up with Council support - e.g. SEE3 - so Chris Best, Alex Feakes, Richard Hibbert, Annabel McLaren & Becca Leathlean?
  4. Representatives of local Amenity Societs, such as SydSoc, e.g. Mary McKernan, Pat Trembath & Annabel McLaren?
  5. The local business owners - e.g. Becca Leathlean, directors of Wooster & Stock, Sainsbury's, Ram, owner of the convenience store?
  6. Local commercial landlords - e.g. Wooster & Stock, St Gabriel Properties?
How do you decide, or do you just want to decide yourself what should happen, and hope for world in which everyone accepts what you say?
leenewham
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by leenewham »

The answer is:

I don't know. It needs to be thought through but it should support a range of local interested parties and those with experience in such matters. An architect, designer, local shops, landlords would all be good people to throw into the mix as a general rule as long as they have the local community in their hearts.

I said you were wrong because you said:

"you know perfectly well that localisation in practice is likely to lead to control by even more incompetent local politicians and endless pfaffing about."

Which is wrong because I don't think it should be controlled by local politicians. They aren't (generally) qualified to know about signage or shop fronts. They should support it, as they should any local initiative that makes the area they live/work/want votes from, but not control it. They should be involved on an as needed basis.
Tim Lund
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Re: Syds vintage clothes shop closing

Post by Tim Lund »

leenewham wrote:The answer is:

I don't know.
And nor do I, but I think I can say that it would help to have the sort of franchising model that I suggested for the relatively simple task of getting the right mix for the Sydenham Monthly (weekly?) market. That means professional Town Centre managers, with a financial interest in the Town Centre succeeding. That could be as a direct risk taker themselves, or more likely as a career professional who would be able to point to the success of Town Centres managed and either move onto better things, or negotiate a pay rise. In other words, something like the role an Estates Manager would have working for the Grovesnor Estate in Westminster or de Walden Estates in Marylebone.

Suitable candidates will probably be found working for Savills. The role of the Council should be to negotiate the contracts on which such professional companies operate, for terms of say 10 years - so much as the Council contracts with Glendale to manage parks and open spaces on a ten year cycle. Part of the contract would involve attendance as local meetings, in the same way as Glendale staff attend the meetings of Friends of Parks Groups. They even let us think we make all the difference, even when we know perfectly well that when serious, professional work needs doing, to a budget and deadline, we let them and the Council get on with it.
leenewham wrote:It needs to be thought through but it should support a range of local interested parties and those with experience in such matters. An architect, designer, local shops, landlords would all be good people to throw into the mix as a general rule as long as they have the local community in their hearts.

I said you were wrong because you said:

"you know perfectly well that localisation in practice is likely to lead to control by even more incompetent local politicians and endless pfaffing about."

Which is wrong because I don't think it should be controlled by local politicians..
But is right, because here in Sydenham, it will be, even if it shouldn't.
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