Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A combination of rising costs and falling sales has forced Savilles Cook Shop of Malton, North Yorkshire to shut down.
The business was established in 1985 but was taken over by Richard Mellen and his family in August 2005. The shop closed its doors for the last time on Saturday.
“Malton was once a thriving market town but sadly is dying,” Mellen told HousewaresLive.net. “We’ve lost all our multi-national shops and we’re a town of charity shops and pasty shops now. Up until three months ago I was getting my share of foot traffic; now it’s all but dried up.”
He said that when he took Savilles over the shop had been in decline but that he quickly turned it around.
“In my first year I increased turnover from £84,000 to £102,000, and then we held steady at around £100,000,” he explained. “But the last accounts to the end of January were down to £92,000. Sales had gone off and costs had gone up.
“We’d been running at a loss for many weeks if not months. Debts were becoming unserviceable and the decision was made by my landlord as I’d been unable to pay my rent. With the decline in foot traffic in Malton, spiralling costs and the worst Christmas period I’d ever experienced it was only a matter of time.”
Mellen said he was hoping to remain in the industry “as the housewares and cookshop industry has been so wonderful to me and I’ve made some truly wonderful friends.
“I’m currently helping a friend launch and establish his company CS Solingen UK Ltd. They’re supplying cookware to retailers but are very new. But other than that, I’m scouring the jobs sections looking for work within a wonderful industry.”
He added that along with his retail experience he had a seven-year background in advertising and marketing.
