Some of you may have heard that we are closing our Derby store at the end of March. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is that it has not made money ever since it was relocated when we were forced to move around five years ago. We have supported the shop in the hope that it would turn around over time, and it was making some progress in that direction in these past eighteen months. Now, however, it has been hit by a slight dip in sales caused by the credit crunch, allied to our landlord having our lease up for renewal.
Given the current retail circumstances one might have expected it to be possible to negotiate a lower rent for continuing in the unit – however that proved impossible in terms of something that would make a material difference to the shop’s potential for profitability. In light of this, regrettably the store will be shutting for now; perhaps when local landlords are willing to make rentals more realistic we will return to the town. We apologise to all our much loved local customers and to our excellent and loyal staff, but in the current market environment we felt it was the only prudent step to take. We would urge you all to support your local comic stores and make hard times on the high street a little more bearable for all.
Tue, Mar 3, 2009
Comics and cartoons