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BIG CHANGES AT SHARED EARTH
You may know that our shops are legally split into three companies
- Shared Earth Ltd: our shops in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol
- Shared Earth UK Ltd: our York shop and wholesale department
- Shared Earth Franchising Ltd: our franchise on the Isle of Wight
The current retail recession in Britain has been the worst since before World War II – surviving on the high street is not easy. In Fair Trade we pay our producers decent prices, making it very difficult to compete with those who buy, for instance, from factories in the Far East.
Shared Earth’s sales have dropped so much over the last two years that it has become impossible to continue as we are. Only two of our seven shops are now profitable (York and Liverpool) and in summer 2012 Shared Earth Ltd entered a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) to pay its debts. Following a poor Christmas, we had no alternative but to put SE Ltd into voluntary liquidation.
This is a bitter pill to swallow; some of our shops have been open for more than 20 years. Fortunately, in addition to York, we have managed to save three shops. In Liverpool our landlord immediately agreed to a new lease, and in Leeds and Cardiff, our landlords have agreed to substantially reduced rents, which should bring these shops back into profit in the coming year.
Our current level of 7 shops will therefore reduce to 4. Wholesale sales will continue as normal, so the impact on producers, in terms of keeping up orders, should not be too great. We have done our best to ensure that post-CVA producers’ invoices up to the end of November 2011 were paid (subsequent invoices, for goods which have not yet been despatched, will be paid by Shared Earth UK Ltd before the end of January).
We are deeply sorry that we have had to close our shops in Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, but for Shared Earth to continue at all, this was unfortunately necessary. We are sorry both for our staff who have lost their jobs and for customers who will miss us.
As founder and MD of Shared Earth I always try to be positive, and despite these closures, I give thanks that we are continuing at all. We aim to continue to do our very best for our producers, and also for our staff and customers. We request that you do all you can to support us in these difficult times.
Jeremy Piercy |
