Shops At The Abbey Centre

Internet: The Internet is one of the latest forms of communication technology. L. E. D. U has its own website under www. ledu. co. uk and is just as useful as visiting the L. E. D. U office. It has all the necessary links to setting up a small business, business plans and business finance etc… and I can print out any information that might be useful.

Bank: I can go to the bank and organise an interview with the manager.

By doing this I can go through all the options that I need to take into account when i am setting up my business. To set up my business I will need a starting capital first of all which means I can go to the bank for a loan. The bank can offer me a wide range of accounting and finance: A bank overdraft= an agreement with a bank that allows a customer to draw out more money than is in their account, up to a limit.

This however is only means of getting over a short term cash flow problem and not effective for starting up a business.

A short term loan= money borrowed for up to one year used to finance a firm’s working capital such as sale of goods, factoring etc… For starting up a business a loan over a longer period of time would be needed rather than a short-term loan most likely. *A long term loan=money borrowed over periods of 5 years, usually for setting up business or a mortgage The bank services will charge interest on all money borrowed from them but the money borrowed can be re-paid over a period of time.

The bank also offers leaflets and information on setting up a business, how to go about it, and now there is also Internet banking, accounts and finance.

Map: The map of the Abbey centre is useful as it clearly shows the location of other competitors and the main anchor tenants. It also shows exits and entrances to and from the centre. Shops that are currently open to leasing are shown so I can see were my choices of location lie and what. competing shops may be around my business. Interview: An interview with the manager is used, as it is a face-to-face way of communicating.

It can give qualitative and detailed information and is usually the most informative way of obtaining information as any additional questions or inquiries can be answered. It is also a prime example of field research which is important as it involves the collection of original data and is specific to the research I am doing. Nikki Goodall Business GCSE Studies Coursework To investigate the possibility of setting up a business in my local shopping centre Introduction The Abbey centre opened in 1978, when phase one of the centre was completed. Since then, the Abbey centre has been continually growing from the starting unit number of 37 to a current 80 unit stores.

Phase one was built in November 1978, phase two built in May 1981, phase three built in 1994, its current phase four built in November 2000 and proposals for further phases to be added. The Abbey centre sits on a 10-acre area of land, an overall of 300,000 square feet and a retail area of 234,670 square feet, also a car park covering 120,000 car parking spaces and nine service yards for vehicles to deliver goods to. In 1992 the Abbey centre was purchased for 18. 5 million by its current landlord, Abbey centre limited, and it is to date worth 62 million.

The centre’s managing agents, Lambert Smith and Hampton, have four other shopping centres under their control, Forestside, Northcott, The Flagship Centre and Foyleside in Derry. The Abbey centre was the third shopping centre ever to open in Northern Ireland, the first one to open was in 1966, Springhill in Bangor though few economists they can go on. Industry feels it has reached its saturation in shopping centres. For the Abbey centre retail is still running strong.

From the report I made from my questionnaire results I found that the majority percentage of favourite shops were clothes shops and also the majority percentage of shops most wanted to see at the centre were clothes shops. For these reasons I decided to carry out my database searches on clothes stores at the Abbey centre as there is a clear demand for clothes retailing and it is a clear favourite with the customers. My first search was on all clothes stores at the Abbey centre. 26% of the Abbey centres shops consisted of clothes stores.

Showing that it is a profitable business type to set up and is clearly successful at the centre. My second search shows all small sized clothes shops at the centre. 4 shops out of the 17 clothes shops were small sized. My third search shows all medium sized clothes shops at the centre. 9 out of the 17 clothes shops were medium sized. This is the most popular size and has some of the most popular stores viewed by customers. My fourth search shows all-large sized clothes shops. Like the small sized clothes shops there are only 4 out of the 17 clothes shops that are large.

One of these stores being one of the main anchor tenants. My next two searches showed female and male clothes shops. 8 out of the 17 clothes shops are female; only 1 shop was male and the rest unisex. The fact that only one clothes shop is for men shows that there is a severe lack of male clothing stores. From the interview with the manager, questionnaire results, general conclusions and database conclusions I have decided I would recommend to open a clothes store, as there is a high demand and popularity for this type of business.

From the start of my investigation I obtained information from the Abbey centre manager that two of the shops that generated the most sales per annum were clothes shops: showing that the clothing retail industry is clearly a profitable business. From the report I found out that the majority of the customers are below 30yrs old, so I aim to target my business at this market segment. The most popular shop is D2, which is a shop catering for both male and female tastes but it is more male orientated.

Other research I carried out showed there is only one male clothes shop so for this reason I feel there is a lack of male clothes shops and the clothes shop I recommend to set up should cater widely for men. The questionnaires showed French Connection was in the running for the most wanted shop at the Abbey centre. French Connection sells for both male and female though is more male orientated, which is that kind of shop I want as it will decrease the lack of male clothes shops yet also satisfy the female demand for clothes shops.

French Connection also suits the fashion for those below 30 yrs old. From the database searches I found that medium sized clothes stores are the most popular. I feel I want to avoid setting up a small sized clothes shop as I will not benefit from economies of scale as shown in the spreadsheet conclusions and I also feel that small sized shops do not attract many customers as they appear crowded and having little variation in the clothing.

I also want to avoid setting up a large sized clothes store as I am only setting up in business and will need money for resources in my business and so a large shop would drastically effect capital and increase risk. For these reasons I recommend a medium sized clothes store. From the map showing zones in the Abbey centre I recommend setting up my business in zone 4, away from competition of the other popular male clothes stores such as D2, Burtons and Jeanster.