So I'm on the move to the very top of the market, opposite the Grosvenor Centre. I don't particularly like the idea, but feel I have to give it a try as I'm getting some bad days where I am now, particularly Fridays.
I know every trader you talk to has taken a hit since NBC moved the market in March, so I'm not the only one complaining. We did tell them the move made no sense and it wouldn't work, but it was like talking to a wood 'n' church.
So there's no doubt now the market move isn't working for the benefit of the stallholders. Since we moved we've lost over a dozen traders, and it gets worse every week. The 'black hole' of empty stalls in the central area of the market can plainly be seen every day of the week, including Saturdays. Take a stroll up the mini-aisle and see for yourself, you don't have to take my word for it.
When they moved us to the top end of the Square in March we could hardly breathe, we were so closely packed in together. Now that some traders have left, and others have given up some of their stalls, great holes are appearing in the infrastructure of the market.
We warned NBC about this, as did the people of Northampton who gave us great support with 11,000 signatures against the move. But NBC went right ahead with their expensive consultants' plans and moved us, and now it is very evident that we were right and they were wrong, as the market gradually collapses from the centre outwards.
All the expensive events being put on have made no improvement to trade generally; in fact the noisy daytime events drove prospective customers away. By next spring the market will be even more empty than it is now, and they will have to make it even smaller to make it look half-decent. Enough of the future for now, let me tell you about the stalls I'm moving to.
The corner I'm moving to outside the Grosvenor Centre is a queer one. Only one or two fruiterers in recent market history have ever made it pay. Over the years several have given it a try and packed it up after a few weeks, going back to their previous positions. I shall give it a shot and see how it goes, but I'm not happy about it.
Nobody likes change, and to see your business moved twice in one year is very worrying to say the least. Customers expect to find you in the same place, day after day, month after month, year in and year out. They get a shock when you're no longer there. Some think you've packed up, so don't bother to look anywhere else, and some go to the nearest of your competitors. Others vaguely remember you told them about it last week, and try to remember where you were going. It takes ruddy months to get sorted again; every time you move you lose trade and money, so I'm not looking forward to it.
I'll let you all know how things are going in a couple of weeks, when we've moved and settled into the new routine.
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