Hollywood Express closing Davis location

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Sad. Just sad. And greedy. According to an employee the rent situation is "out of control" therefore Hollywood Express is merging the Davis Sq. stock into their Porter Sq. store. The Davis location will be closed as of July 27. If you have an account and go in before the closing day, you can get a coupon for 10 free rentals to be used by (I believe) September at the Porter location only. Yet another local store pushed out.

Comments

Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[plittlergirl.livejournal.com]

Hi Everyone,

Well, unfortunately I do know what is going into the Hollywood space.

A 53 million dollar a year business based out of Arizona, called Buffalo Exchange will be opening.

Buffalo Exchange is almost identical to my store, poor little rich girl.

For those of you unfamiliar with my business, I have been open in the square now for 7 years, and specialize in second-hand modern and vintage clothing for women. Initially I was open in the space of Magpie at 416 Highland.

I do now know how to feel exactly about this, but all I know is that it will have a devestating effect on my ability to afford Davis Square rent, and it will affect Artifaktori, and La Chic Boutique, probably Goodwill too.

They have a great business model, are very successful, but are in no way shape or form a local business, they are a giant chain.

Buffalo Exchange is not a consignment store. Instead they pay out (fairly) low $ for items upfront.

I will probably change the poor little rich girl consignment policies to a 30 day contract (60 days currently) so everyone can get paid faster, since I know the temptation will be to go to an instant payout. Although people who wait for consignment profits make considerably more money.

I am not afraid of competition, I know that with Buffalo Exchange in the square more second-hand fans will come to Davis, but I am absolutely terrified about the drop in sales affecting my ability to pay rent, and to pay my employees decent living wages.

I can be reached directly at plrgbuys@gmail.com if anyone wants to contact me in regards to this, or I can be found at the Somerville Local First booth at Artbeat.

Thanks to all who patronize poor little rich girl, I really appreciate it. We may look like a big business due to the size of the space, but we are truly a small business.

Sincerely,
Meredith Byam
owner, poor little rich girl

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[plittlergirl.livejournal.com]

Excuse the spelling, I meant devastating. :)

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[ron_newman]

Perhaps there should be a guerilla sign-making movement before it opens, plastering the square with "Buffalo Exchange is not a local business. Please don't patronize it."

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[plittlergirl.livejournal.com]

I just wish it was a local business going in.

Small business (we are a 5 employee store) cannot compete with corporate chains, but, I will not give up! I plan to adapt to my best ability.

Meredith
poor little rich girl

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

How about signs saying simply: "Buffalo Exchange go back to Arizona!" ?

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[thespian.livejournal.com]

changing your booking policy so that bookings for consignment are not '6-8 weeks in advance' *just* to bring it in and *maybe* have you agree to sell it will also help you. I have some stuff that's right up your alley, and I'd love to sell it through you, but I can undersell what you'd ask, on Etsy, and get more money than I would from you, in less time.

Buffalo Exchange seems to have multiple open buy days each week; if they'll give me $20 now, and you'll give me $25, but in a month when it sells, after i've waited 6 weeks to see you...I have to admit, I'm taking the $20 now.

I love your store, and I have things you want, but the 1-2 month lead time for a consignment meeting is far too long.

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[plittlergirl.livejournal.com]

Hi Stephanie,

I have tried (and am still trying) different ways to get consignment appointments in the door quicker.

Problem is, each appointment takes about 15 minutes to go through the items, then an additional 20-30 minutes of processing (steaming, hanging, entering, contract paperwork etc.).

We generally take 8-10 appointments a day, 6 days a week.

I will start doing one or two nights a week open buy in August, as this was my plan even before the Buffalo Exchange situation arose.

I changed the policy in 2007 so if you have an active account (meaning you have brought things in during the last 3 months) you can drop-off without an appointment the first two weeks of the month, then we go thru it and give you a call. I did this so people who have good stuff would be able to bring in repeatedly without delay.

I used to work for Second Time Around for years before opening my store, and the appointment delay there was just as bad.

I think this is standard sadly in most urban consignment shops due to the fact that everyone is trying to sell...The wait was not nearly as long before the recession hit. Everyone wants a way to make some money right now.

You can email me at plrgbuys@gmail.com and tell me if you want to come by next week, I will be consigning in the back and will take a look at your items. :)

Also, I give consignors a 20% discount anytime they use accumulated store credit, so it is like Buffalo Exchange (or the Garment District) with the split turning in your favor when using funds to purchase.

Sincerely,
Meredith
poor little rich girl

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[ilovedaviss.livejournal.com]

I heard bowl and board might go out as well. I also believe that we should start a campaign against corporate monsters coming into the square. Pretty soon we will have walmart, chuck e chees there. Buffalo exchange is a horrible idea. How many used clothing stores do we need in davis? We have to many. I think the high rent for hollywood was a copout exscuse. They could of opened where cd spins used to be and do well. The store was way to big for a dvd/vhs rental store anyways. Maybe a for rent sign in the window would of helped the diversity of the square. All i know if someone wants to start a petition or a website telling city hall we dont want this in our square i would sign it. Go to local business in the square and group together. I don't think it is fair a small poor little rich girl gets bigger then some corporate junk opens up and kills the biz. Let's work together tell the city to say no. That type of biz would damage all stores in Davis. Say no to buffalo! Let's start a petition, no more used stores downtown. Look what happenned to Allston, used stores everywhere.

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[ron_newman]

I don't see anything wrong with 'used stores' -- in fact, it makes some sense for stores of this type to cluster together in a district. I just don't want to see a local business person driven out of the neighborhood by well-funded national competition.

Zoning laws cannot prevent this. A retail store is allowed to replace another retail store in the same space 'by right'. (Rules are somewhat different for restaurants.)

Re: Bad news for local business, mine in particular...

[petula73.livejournal.com]

I have been trying to partner up with a friend for about 4 years now to find a space in Davis for a small spa/hair salon type place so I have a little insight on this.

The Hollywood Express rent was $7000 (a few hundred under I believe). So yes, there is no way that you can survive with rent like that in the video business.

The Bowl and Board space just turned up on loopnet.com and it is obscene what they are asking for it. $30 a sq foot, which means if you take the whole space (which they want you to do) your rent would be $37,500. My guess is that those landlords in particular are not getting that right now, but probably half.

My friend inquired about B & B and the Poor Little Rich Girl space and could not even think about paying rent like that.

I am sure that new building intends on charging insane rent too, plus I have heard that they do not want retal there anyways, but a restaurant.

We have given up on renting in Davis, and are now looking in Harvard Square because honestly, the rent is cheaper.

It totally sucks about Buffalo Exchange too, they opened right next to a friend of mine in New York and cut into her business big time. She told me it is a well known fact that they scope out businesses that do well, then open right next to them.

Pet