Business Summary:
High Quality Department Store & Spa
Specialising in Hair, Skincare, Cosmetics, Fragrance, Lingerie & Ladies Fashion Accessories
Ref.AK037
Location Lancaster
Asking Price £ 550,000
This historical and well established department store has been part of the fabric of Lancaster for over 46 years and in that time it has developed into a truly wonderful destination store for the city. With its high profile location in the High Street and distinctive character property appearance the business draws in visitors from near and afar with many customers travelling significant distance to visit such is the quality and range of the offerings and agencies in store. The owner has spent a great deal of time effort and resource on the design, fitting and branding of this ladies department store to ensure that shopping is a thoroughly enjoyable leisure experience.
Not only does this retailer have many highly valued and exclusive agencies, many of which are not available in other establishments within the region, the store presents its wares in such a way that they all complement each other beautifully.
This boutique is situated over 5 floors(basement and top floor are currently used for stock, staff facilities and storage) and is split into the following core revenues centres:
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| Year
Business was Established: 1963 |
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| Number of Employees:
40FT |
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| Facilities / Terms of Lease:
The premises are ideally located on the main thoroughfare in the city and are highly visible from the road and consist of two adjacent properties. The buildings are listed and as such are full of character and in an excellent state of repair. There is plenty of customer parking close by. Total current prime retail space is circa 4000 square feet split over 3 floors In addition to this there is the basement floor currently used for storage and staff rooms (circa 450 square feet) together with the top floor which is also used for storage (circa 450 square feet). Total Square Footage circa 4,900.
The vendor is happy to negotiate a suitable lease for a new owner. Alternatively they may consider selling the freehold should a new owner so require. Freehold value is circa £900,000. Rates payable are circa £9,500 p.a. |
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| Potential
Growth/Expansion:
Such is the reputation this business enjoys there is no reason why the “brand” could not be developed further. Furthermore there is no reason why the product range could not be expanded to cater for more areas of the traditional department store sector.
The business has not really addressed e-commerce opportunities to date. This is a massive growth opportunity as is the proper development of the business’s customer database. The business could also benefit from further investment in I.T. particularly on the accounting and payroll functions. |
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| Competition:
The business advertises in the quality lifestyle magazines including Lancashire Life and has in the past undertaken some radio and local press advertising. It also has an informative website and brochure. As part of this the business also runs a loyalty card scheme and gift vouchers which are immensely popular. |
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| Owner
willing to train:
The current owners would be happy to provide full training and support at handover. |
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| Reason for selling:
N.A. |
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Seller Reference Number: AK037
BusinessMart.com Listing Number: 69511 |
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