For several months now we have been dealing with the prospect of moving our newsXpress Forest Hill newsagency temporarily to accommodate major construction works at Forest Hill Chase.
Yesterday, the final piece of the proposed temporary move fell into place and it is set to become a reality.
In two or three weeks we will downsize our 330 sq meter newsXpress Forest Hill store into a 95 sq metre store for between four and six months while our current location plays a key role in a major extension to level three of the centre.
Frankly, I am glad to finally have certainty of the move plans. It has been time consuming and challenging navigating the considerable complexity of even the possibility of a temporary move of this size. In addition to our own needs, we have had to work in with the needs of our landlord and other key stakeholders.
The change is also coming at a time of management change in the business with our long term manager deciding to take on another role in the business.
We are looking forward to the challenge and opportunity of taking our larger format newsagency business and condensing it for our time in our temporary location. In addition to temporarily downsizing, we are moving from level 2 to level 1. We expect to learn a lot about the business and come out the other side, when we relocate to our new permanent home, with a fresh offer for the folks at Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre.
I’ll blog here about the journey from time to time, using the moving shop category.
Some product categories will be rested while we are in our temporary location. Broadly speaking, however, we will cut magazine range by 25%, stationery by 60%, social stationery by 50%, gifts by 50% and cards by 5%. We are finalising this list at the moment and will start to speak with suppliers this coming week.
There are bound to be road blocks and speed humps along the way. There are also bound to be valuable discoveries. We are keen to embrace all of the challenges because we are certain that we will be better retailers as a result.
Footnote: the photo at this post is of the perimeter of the construction zone outside our entrance. It is a thrill to see the newsXpress logo there next to the logos of other key retailers in our current part of the centre. The landlord decided on this list!
Mark, what will happen to the ‘rested’ stock?
Will it be relocated to other stores, or stored and restocked as required?
I should imagine it would be quite an exercise in stock control, particularly in preparation for the move proper.
All the best!
Y&G our plan is to quit everything we can so that when we move back to the new shop we start with all new stock.