Ref Turnham Green Terrace, I know that at least some of the very long standing stores are feehold, i.e. the owner also owns the property and therefore has no rent to pay. One store owner in TGT is frequently approached by commercial property companies offering crazy sums for the freehold (he has been offered £3m+ for what is actually quite a small store) but always turns it down because he knows he would be out of business in a year if he had to pay commercial rents.
Unfortunately in the UK we have this "free for all market" mentality which means that renats can be pushed up until everyone except the big chains have died. In France and other countries they are genuinely concerned to maintain the look and heritage of their local town / village shops as they realise that it forms the heart of many communities. They have a series of national laws which prevent small stores from being bought and changed into a mobnile phone shop. If a local community has a bakery store, or a greengrocer, or a record store, you can buy it but it has to stay as a bakery, greengrocer, or record store. The French understand that once local shoppers get in their cars and drive to the Supermarket 5 miles away, the local stores close down and the community eventually dies. Sadly, our "free market" approach only values those things which can be measured in ££££s and places no value on things like "the local community". So commercial landlords are allowed to put their rents up until we lose all our interesting stores like DaDa. It's a real shame because David the guy that owns it is a fantastic retailer and someone who really understands his customer and the product he sells. This will be a real loss to Chiswick, I have been taking my kids in there every couple of weeks for a long time now and they have been exposed to some fantastic world cinema and classic films which they would never buy online (you have to fight your way through all the disney ads before getting to something interesting). Browsing DaDa's world movie section has been a great pleasure for the last couple of years and it is a great shame to see it go.
But - that's the market for you. |