Midland chandlers - Store closures?

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Depends on who you vote for....

 

We are out in the sticks, and Evri/Hermes are by far the worst. Cardboard boxes chucked over the entrance gates at 9pm when its raining,....or delivered 2 miles away(when the people are honest enough to drop it in)

Their customer service is woeful and even their UK top man wouldnt listen.

 

As I say - my experience differs, and I can only say as I find.

 

Our Evri driver even collects my outgoing parcels (at no charge) so save me driving miles to the nearest drop off point.

 

I don't believe it is the 'company' that has the problems, it is the actual 'couldn't care less attitude' of some of the drivers.

Get a 'good' driver and you get good service, and, vice versa.

[Wafi]

25 minutes ago, LadyG said:

The staff and the customers look foreign.

What do people who "look foreign" look like? What are the distinguishing characteristics between someone who "looks foreign" and someone who "looks British"?

[system 4-50]

I regret the demise of MC.  They were useful when I was a beginner.  But they were not perfect.  They couldn't sell me a stove and matching chimney.  They asserted that a manufacturer never made a particular type of paint when I had an empty tin on my boat.  And they screwed up my ££££ fridge. And lastly they could close up the shop before closing time on a bad weather day.  

But the business I regret losing the most, by far, is Maplin.  They were so good many years ago, their catalogue was a fount of knowledge, and then they decided to open shops…  I shed a tear every time (including yesterday)  when I open an electronics package (veroboard) with their name on (I like stockpiling).

[Speedwheel]

21 minutes ago, matty40s said:

 

We are out in the sticks, and Evri/Hermes are by far the worst. Cardboard boxes chucked over the entrance gates at 9pm when its raining,....or delivered 2 miles away(when the people are honest enough to drop it in)

Their customer service is woeful and even their UK top man wouldnt listen.

 

It depends massively on who your local person is. We are also out in the sticks. Our previous Evri person was terrible. Wouldn't come down our farm track, stuff got lost, delivered to the wrong place. We now have an excellent local Evri chap who is brilliant (ETA - I suspect he is in the minority when it comes to Evri staff though). 

 

It's Yodel we struggle with most. 

 

 

Edited February 13 by Speedwheel

[Tonka]

6 minutes ago, Speedwheel said:

 

It depends massively on who your local person is. We are also out in the sticks. Our previous Evri person was terrible. Wouldn't come down our farm track, stuff got lost, delivered to the wrong place. We now have an excellent local Evri chap who is brilliant (ETA - I suspect he is in the minority when it comes to Evri staff though). 

 

It's Yodel we struggle with most. 

 

 

Funny enough we are in a rural area and our Evri guy is brilliant, although we did have a problem once. our car was at the local school picking up our grandson and the Evri guy left our parcel on the silver Seat Ateca parked outside the school. The car he chose was someone elses

[IanD]

 

Like in so many things, what matters when rating companies is what large numbers of people -- thousands of them! -- find, not what a few individuals (even me...) find... 😉 

 

All the big surveys including the Ofcom one I referenced regularly put Evri at the bottom of the pack -- for the last three years in a row in this case, so it's not a fluke.

 

25 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

I regret the demise of MC.  They were useful when I was a beginner.  But they were not perfect.  They couldn't sell me a stove and matching chimney.  They asserted that a manufacturer never made a particular type of paint when I had an empty tin on my boat.  And they screwed up my ££££ fridge. And lastly they could close up the shop before closing time on a bad weather day.  

But the business I regret losing the most, by far, is Maplin.  They were so good many years ago, their catalogue was a fount of knowledge, and then they decided to open shops…  I shed a tear every time (including yesterday)  when I open an electronics package (veroboard) with their name on (I like stockpiling).

Maplin were certainly the biggest public-facing electronics component supplier with a huge range and an excellent catalogue, though for particular areas you could often find a specialist (without shops!) who was better and/or cheaper. Even Tandy were useful for some things, though they were more consumer/gimmick biased, but of course they've also gone...

Edited February 13 by IanD

[pete23]

34 minutes ago, Wafi said:

What do people who "look foreign" look like? What are the distinguishing characteristics between someone who "looks foreign" and someone who "looks British"?

They look foreign to me. 

[Speedwheel]

13 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Like in so many things, what matters when rating companies is what large numbers of people -- thousands of them! -- find, not what a few individuals (even me...) find... 😉 

 

All the big surveys including the Ofcom one I referenced regularly put Evri at the bottom of the pack -- for the last three years in a row in this case, so it's not a fluke.

 

 

Well, yes and no. If you are looking at general trends over a large number of data points in order to pick out the best probable outcome without any particular knowledge of local specific factors, then absolutely. 

 

But, when those local specifics outweigh, negate or even reverse the "trend" then that's important consideration. So, to me, at the present time, within the present circumstances, "what matters" actually.....doesn't. 

 

Previously, I actively avoided Hermes/Evri. With the chap I have locally at the moment, I have no hesitation using them. 

 

[frangar]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Just go to Whilton, run by former Midland Swindlers Braunston chap Jim....you can get a decent breakfast next door too.

I wondered where jim had gone the last few times Id been to MC in braunston.....now we have moved its not much more effort to drive the extra to Whilton....I will give it a go....thanks for the info!

 

[IanD]

12 minutes ago, Speedwheel said:

 

Well, yes and no. If you are looking at general trends over a large number of data points in order to pick out the best probable outcome without any particular knowledge of local specific factors, then absolutely. 

 

But, when those local specifics outweigh, negate or even reverse the "trend" then that's important consideration. So, to me, at the present time, within the present circumstances, "what matters" actually.....doesn't. 

 

Previously, I actively avoided Hermes/Evri. With the chap I have locally at the moment, I have no hesitation using them. 

 

And if your local chap is replaced with a more typically rubbish Evri one tomorrow, your experience will change... 😉 

 

Same as whenever there are discussions about absolutely anything and the consensus is that "XXX is the best!" but somebody pipes up with "Well they were rubbish for me" -- or vice versa. An individual experience proves nothing about the overall standard of a company -- you might be exceptionally lucky or exceptionally unlucky, but that's of no help whatsoever to others trying to decide which company to use. Which is where large-scale surveys come in... 😉 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Depends on who you vote for....

 

We are out in the sticks, and Evri/Hermes are by far the worst. Cardboard boxes chucked over the entrance gates at 9pm when its raining,....or delivered 2 miles away(when the people are honest enough to drop it in)

Their customer service is woeful and even their UK top man wouldnt listen.

Pushing my luck but we seem to have great delivery people here

[Speedwheel]

12 minutes ago, IanD said:

And if your local chap is replaced with a more typically rubbish Evri one tomorrow, your experience will change... 😉 

100% agreed. He, in his beaten up, old, brown Renault Kangoo, are the only reason for my positive experience. 

[frangar]

22 minutes ago, IanD said:

And if your local chap is replaced with a more typically rubbish Evri one tomorrow, your experience will change... 😉 

 

Same as whenever there are discussions about absolutely anything and the consensus is that "XXX is the best!" but somebody pipes up with "Well they were rubbish for me" -- or vice versa. An individual experience proves nothing about the overall standard of a company -- you might be exceptionally lucky or exceptionally unlucky, but that's of no help whatsoever to others trying to decide which company to use. Which is where large-scale surveys come in... 😉 

Agreed...we had an excellent Evri driver....packages were left in sensible places if we were out...doorbell always rung...he was spot on.....sadly his replacement is less caring....the village group is full of lost parcels...one of my proof of delivery pics literally showed my package in mid air as they threw it over the fence in the rain.....

[Liam]

It seems inevitable when a company sends a driver in a van up the M6 from their warehouse in Tamworth to their retail outlet in Preston Brook with a single item to "restock" (in this case a boat pole).

 

They reckon they'll save £73m by closing their 3 stores.

 

The Preston Brook store is set to close on 20th March.

[Tony Brooks]

9 minutes ago, Liam said:

It seems inevitable when a company sends a driver in a van up the M6 from their warehouse in Tamworth to their retail outlet in Preston Brook with a single item to "restock" (in this case a boat pole).

 

They reckon they'll save £73m by closing their 3 stores.

 

The Preston Brook store is set to close on 20th March.

 

I fear that is the inevitable result of minimising stock holding and relying on "just in time" logistics or is in some cases "out of time" because the customer wanted it when they called in.

[agg221]

I will be sorry to see them go. When we first bought Oates there were some significant issues. Fortunately we made it off the Trent but on the run from Shardlow the throttle control linkage fell apart and I had managed to leave the tiller at home. We reached Willington on the Saturday afternoon and were able to get bits to fix the throttle linkage, buy a new tiller tube (needed anyway as the original was too short) and also a boat pole and a pole for the boathook.

 

When trying to sort out the stern gear I could pick up a replacement prop shaft (imperial) from Braunston with a minor detour. That saved me days and was part of how we got back in to the water and back to our mooring before the winter stoppages. Various other parts for our boat and another were bought at the same time.

 

We picked up a few things when passing Willington again last year and a friend who was with us was able to physically look at cookers to see which one to buy for his forthcoming refit (it will sadly not now come from MC) and buy a boat pole. He doesn't drive, and doesn't live aboard, so trying to coordinate delivery to the boat at a weekend when he's there would be nearly impossible.

 

We use the chandlery at Taylor's Wharf in Market Drayton, and at Norbury. Both are good, but they are smaller and more general purpose. I can still use MC for online purchases of items like 8mm gas valves which are difficult to find from other suppliers, but it isn't as helpful.

 

Alec

[matty40s]

Willington Mercia is a big enough marina, destination, boatyard to take over that chandlery and make it a successful addition to the expanding site.

I don't know the Preston Brook one, so can't comment.

The Braunston one with that frontage, garden area could well be turned into a cafe, bar....a good operator could run a boat shop with cafe....

Or Jim could move into a bigger premises and do what he does very well.

 

[DandV]

Always liked a browse through Midland Chandleries to see what they had, and so what to get or at least specify, in case something broke, or what could make things on the boat better. 

Big well laid stores so you could eyeball the alternatives, and the specials. 

But then I enjoyed browsing Maplins, Debenhams, British Home Stores et al. 

 

 

[John Brightley]

5 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

As I say - my experience differs, and I can only say as I find.

 

Our Evri driver even collects my outgoing parcels (at no charge) so save me driving miles to the nearest drop off point.

 

I don't believe it is the 'company' that has the problems, it is the actual 'couldn't care less attitude' of some of the drivers.

Get a 'good' driver and you get good service, and, vice versa.

It's not just you, here as well, our Evri driver is the best of all the parcel delivery firms. He's really conscientious and will go out of his way to help people.

[Alan de Enfield]

4 hours ago, IanD said:

All the big surveys including the Ofcom one I referenced regularly put Evri at the bottom of the pack -- for the last three years in a row in this case, so it's not a fluke.

 

Well, it appears that the experience of forum members with regard to EVRI is very postive - but, as I said it is the driver not the company that makes or breaks their reputation.

[MtB]

9 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

It would be interesting to know what proportion of their present sales are via the Internet- that could well be the reason for the decision. Business rates and maintenance, staff costs etc all add up multiplied by the number of stores, but don't expect the saving will be passed on!

 

Their site at Braunston is probably worth about £3m sold for housing, at a wild guess. 

 

This is probably quite a big factor in their decision to take that money off the table. 

 

 

[LadyG]

5 hours ago, Wafi said:

What do people who "look foreign" look like? What are the distinguishing characteristics between someone who "looks foreign" and someone who "looks British"?

I suggest you look through the windows, they are not like a traditional gents hairdressers.

The shops are usually  " Turkish Barbers ", the staff and the customers tend to have dark skins.

 They also seem to be shaving their customers, not a service Joe Public would use.

The youth of today dont use these establishments, they go to places which are more traditional.

 

 

Edited February 13 by LadyG

[Speedwheel]

12 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Their site at Braunston is probably worth about £3m sold for housing, at a wild guess. 

 

This is probably quite a big factor in their decision to take that money off the table. 

 

 

Pretty sure they don't own it,  or any of the others. 

[MtB]

Wasn't Jean Charles de Menezes shot by British police for "looking a bit foreign"? 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Speedwheel said:

Pretty sure they don't own it,  or any of the others. 

 

In which case perhaps the lease is up for review and the rent has doubled, or something along those lines. Or the Business rates. 

 

I bet the site has something fundamental to do with it. It always does! 

 

 

[Speedwheel]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

In which case perhaps the lease is up for review and the rent has doubled, or something along those lines. Or the Business rates. 

 

I bet the site has something fundamental to do with it. It always does! 

 

 

Rent, rates, wages, NI, a Government that's hostile to business - I suspect they all play a part.