Channel 7 Perth did a story this week on the imminent closure of McGhee’s Newsagency in East Victoria Park, Western Australia. I have spoken with Rod plenty of times, at workshops I have run in Perth.
My view is that newsagency closures are avoidable regardless of location and availability of capital. The most important requirements are desire to stay open and preparedness for change.
I respect the McGhee family and their history. However, the future of this channel needs stories about the future and not the past.
Mark, there comes a time when everyone running a business wants to retire/move on to the next thing. There aren’t exactly people knocking the doors down to buy a newsagency these day’s. If your lease is up and no one wants the business then closing is unavoidable unless you want to sign up for more years of something your over doing it’s just the reality.
I don’t know the McGhee’s personally but the closing of their store has been in the news over here in the west so I know they closed their business and sold the shop it was in which they owned. Given the choice of carrying on operating hoping to sell the business, almost inevitably at a low valuation and a under market lease to make it happen or close up and sell your valuable Vic Park shopfront. I’d make the same decision as the McGhee’s, in fact I probably will have to make the same decision in the end. Unfortunately my shopfront isn’t anywhere near as valuable as the McGhee’s.
Steve I don’t disagree with you. It all depends what one wants. My point is there are options if you plan ahead and embrace change. Thanks to online and other factors, the lure of a shopfront today can be beyond what it was years ago.
Walked past their newsagency on the weekend – just like everybody else was doing. The world has moved on and that business didn’t. Interestingly enough the Record Store around the corner was flat out and so was the Indi bookstore across the way. Both of those stores look relevant inviting and interesting even though they are selling product from so called challenged catergories. Its a busy and dynamic street that continues to evolve…….apart from the newsagent. No surprise really – the fact they couldn’t sell the business says more about how it was managed than the industry its in.