Market Research7 Nov 2018 11:28
I went to the stand alone café in Solihull on Sunday afternoon (late) and the 'in Debenhams' one in Telford yesterday. Both seemed clean and well run by enthusiastic staff and had good footfall.
The Solihull one was (as the young would say) 'lush', fantastic range of French patisserie style cakes. Probably a bit more expensive than Costa but then again that is not such a bad thing as it was more up market. No litter or screaming kids. Was impressed, only downside I could see was that it was nearly closing time and there seemed an awful lot of expensive cakes and savouries (£3+) remaining, which would need to be binned to retain a quality image.
The Debenhams one was far more basic, little variety on offer, but again nice staff and clean. Like the fact that newspapers were available at both locations, something I look for when I am out.
Not too concerned about the small number of ones in Debenhams, if that one is typical they are on a smaller scale so if some Debenhams shops close I cant see it being a huge loss. There are plenty of small retail units in shopping malls, presumably at good rents, so probably any loss of such outlets could be replaced.
I saw comment somewhere that the shares are expected to re list at around 60p - clearly that is pure guesswork but seems plausible. Have read the background to the Chairman (Luke somebody, yes I know he isn't flavour of the month at the moment amongst PIs) and he is undoubtedly a clever man. With him taking a more active role, which is likely given his investment here, and the continued love of consumers for coffee shops, I do see this as a good bet.
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