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Coffee time over for Tchibo store

9:06am Monday 7th April 2008

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TCHIBO coffee shop and merchandise store has closed due to a downturn in profit.

The shop, in High Street, Southend, closed on Saturday after six years.

Deputy manager Emma Despy said: "We haven't been making a profit and the rent is so high."

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Dan, North Leigh says...
9:54am Mon 7 Apr 08

that's a shame, my dad always used to look forward to the new junk they sold each week!

Seriously though, rents in the High Street are too high, they need to come down to realistic levels to reflect the competition from other areas.

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matt, eastwood says...
10:00am Mon 7 Apr 08

another shop closes in southend, The new victoria plaza most of the shops empty,when is southend council going to do something about our declining high street, the cost of parking is so high I drive to lakeside rather than pay the over the top pricing.

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Peter Pantsless, Southend-on-Sea says...
12:02pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Let not forget our darling conservative council is intentionally running historic York Rd market down aswell, in readiness for (Residential/Flat?) developments in conjunction with their bestest buddies Renaissance Southend!

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Grandmaster Marshmallow, Wink Wink Lodge says...
12:13pm Mon 7 Apr 08

The council wants to turn Southend into a charity shop clone town with shops that can afford the high rents.

Perhaps SOMEONE at Nudge-Nudge Lodge can save Southend at the next proper meeting of the powers-to-be? :p

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Danielle, uk says...
12:14pm Mon 7 Apr 08

yet costa is allowed to open another store - do we really need another of the same chain?

I enquired to cafe nero about if they planned to open a store, so we werent starbucks city, and they implied the rents were too high for them to consider.

As long as it's not raining heavily (or snowing!) I'm lucky enough to be able to walk to the high street in about 35mins and I'd rather do that than fire up the car for that short trip and pay £3 ++ in parking.

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Steve, Leigh says...
1:28pm Mon 7 Apr 08

It's a vicious circle; the rents are too high so the 'names' stay away, the parking charges are too high so the punters stay away and so the charity shops with their rate advantage move in. This then turns the area into a boring shopping area so everyone stays away. The council needs to lower parking charges and cuts rates/rent to the retailers or they will be looking at a ghost town centre in the near future.

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SJohnstone, says...
3:28pm Mon 7 Apr 08

The problem is the High Street is too long and all the bigger stores ie BHS, M&S, Debenhams and TK Max are all at the bottom end so that is where I tend to park up and wander around. I only have an hour and a half and can't justify spending the time walking to the Victoria shopping centre. I think Debenhams should move to the top and then they should bulldoze the Royals and use that area to open up the High Street/Seafront and then the main shopping area would be shorter. In order to encourage businesses they should be offering low rent options etc for a year at least until they get established. The price of parking is also way over the top. The council should be doing everything it can to prevent people from going up to Lakeside and Bluewater and this should be cheaper parking etc.

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Peter Pantsless, Southend-on-Sea says...
4:16pm Mon 7 Apr 08

SJohnstone, unfortunatley the council is doing absolutely nothing to prevent shoppers abandoning Southend High St in the continuing mass exodus to the likes of Lakeside, Bluewater and even Eastgate!

Did you know that the reason given by the council for the recent price increases in parking was, and i quote "to make it fairer"! I Kid you not!

As the yanks would say; Go Figure!!!!

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Dan, North Leigh says...
4:34pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Unfortunately the fault lies not just with the Council but also with the greedy property agents, who clearly value the high street properties at far more than many are prepared to pay for them.

Hopefully with the impending credit crunch crisis and new government legislation that is reducing the amount of time commercial property can remain vacant before its owner has to pay full business rates on it, these fat cats will be encouraged to cut their overrated rents.

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