Chapel Street trader Jim Pothitos: "Residents come to this area looking for shopping and lifestyle and we're no longer giving them that." Photo: Justin McManus
IT WAS once feted as the home of cutting-edge fashion and the place to shop in Melbourne, but Chapel Street traders say their beloved strip has fallen into a terminal decline and now only offers a ''third-rate'' shopping experience.
The Chapel Street Traders' Association, which represents more than 1500 businesses in the local area, is calling on Stonnington Council to spend $10 million on a beautification plan for the popular shopping strip, saying it is littered with pedestrian hazards such as broken pavements and has been neglected.
''We're not only losing shoppers to other areas but are seeing a steady decline in the number of businesses coming here,'' says president Jim Pothitos, who has owned The Greek Deli & Taverna on Chapel Street for 28 years.
Chapel Street footpath damage. Photo: Justin McManus
''I believe our local residents deserve better … they come to this area looking for shopping and lifestyle and we're no longer giving them that.''
Mr Pothitos points to a council report released in April that found that 50 per cent of residents surveyed said the Prahran and Windsor sections of Chapel Street were unattractive or very unattractive.
Traders say the council should spend $10 million on a structure plan for the area, that would include footpath extensions, street furniture and public art.
Stonnington Council is only a month away from delivering its annual budget, and the Chapel Street traders have been lobbying hard, employing a public relations consultant to raise the profile of their gripe in the media.
In the past decade Melbourne's retail landscape has changed - Chadstone has increased its number of luxury, top-end brands, and the CBD and rapidly gentrifying inner-city areas such as Fitzroy and Collingwood have encouraged boutique-style shopping strips.
Teresa Liano, the director of Chapel Street fashion label TL Wood, said Chapel Street had always had a ''grungy'' feel, but agreed sections of it needed more regular cleaning and she would welcome more landscaping. ''It has never been this pristine street that's glamorous - it's not like High Street - but I would love to see more cleaning happen … there's always dog poo and lots of graffiti,'' Ms Liano said.
But despite this, Chapel Street had retained its pull for tourists and shoppers, as evidenced in the recent opening of a flagship store for international fashion brand Topshop, Ms Liano said.
A spokeswoman for Stonnington Council said a Chapel Street ''improvement plan'' was being drawn up by the council, with $320,000 in works to be carried out in the new financial year. The ''Chapel Vision'', a structure plan that sets out the long-term aims for the street, will also be revised in coming months.
UPDATE 1-Ralph Lauren sees lower wholesale sales this year - Reuters
* Q4 EPS 99 cents vs Street view 84 cents
* Sees FY revenue up but wholesale sales down
* Shares fall 3.8 pct in premarket trade
May 22 (Reuters) - Ralph Lauren Corp said it expects lower wholesale sales this fiscal year, hurt by a slowdown in Europe and the closure of some China wholesale operations it will eventually replace with its own stores.
The clothing company and retailer expects revenue for the current fiscal year, begun April 1, to be up by a "mid-single digit" percentage, compared with a 20 percent rise in the previous year.
Wholesale sales will edge down, while retail sales should be up by a low-double-digit percentage, it said.
Ralph Lauren shares fell 3.8 percent to $140.77 in premarket trading.
The company expects sales to be hurt by its having fewer distribution points in China. It is in middle of an overhaul of its business in China, closing most of the locations where its products are sold with the intention of replacing them with higher-end shops over which it will have more control.
Sales will also take a hit from J.C. Penney Co Inc's plans to dump Ralph Lauren's "American Living" brand later this year.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, ended March 31, the company reported a higher quarterly profit, helped by double-digit sales growth at its own stores and large gains in its Internet business.
It also said it is doubling its quarterly dividend to 40 cents per share.
Ralph Lauren, with brands like Polo, Club Monaco and Chaps that range from mid-tier basics to high-end luxury labels, said revenue rose 13.7 percent to $1.62 billion.
The sales charge was led by a 12 percent gain at stores open at least a year, with sales at Club Monaco stores rising the most.
Net income was $94.4 million, or 99 cents per share, compared with $73.2 million, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier. That was 15 cents better than the average Wall Street forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Behind the scenes with the grower to the stars - Daily Telegraph
He sold his plant centre in his thirties, went travelling for a year and returned to take up a job with Crocus at its inception, originally as the products buyer and then switching to plants buyer. When Tom Stuart-Smith asked if Crocus could supply a full plant list for a job, Mark found himself looking at a spreadsheet that was 1,000 lines long (the garden was Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire). “To source all the plants on a list like this is hugely time consuming, very stressful and you’ll get let down with every excuse you can think of,” says Mark in his famously direct way.
“But the good thing is that once you start doing it on a reasonable scale, nursery people start taking notice of you.” Requests for supplying Chelsea gardens followed. “Our ethos, which I quickly learnt by doing Chelsea shows, is that there’s no such thing as 'no can do’, so when I heard, 'Oh, I can’t, mate,’ or, 'Oh no, mate, it’s five minutes past five,’ I immediately got rid of them and surrounded myself with people who can do.”
He admits to doing a fair bit of shouting and swearing when suppliers don’t deliver – a trait that Jinny Blom, who’s a close friend, recognises but says, in his defence, “He only uses his appalling temper to get a better result.” With his reputation for seeking out only the very best specimens, he soon built up a little black book of top-notch nurseries such as Orchard Dene, Phoenix Perennials, Howard Nurseries, Woottens, Fromefield and Chichester Trees and Shrubs from the UK; Jan Spruyt, Laurica and Solitair from Belgium; Lorenz von Ehren from Germany; and Lepage from France.
Finding the plants and keeping an eagle eye on their progress – with the plants that need to overwinter in southern Europe, this means frequent trips to the nurseries – is half the job. The other half, he says, is “managing expectations” – shorthand, I detect, for managing the designers themselves.
Some, such as Stuart-Smith and Jinny Blom, have a very clear idea of exactly which species they want; others (naming no names) will say, “I need big, white, towery stuff for a shady spot.” Even with experienced designers, he has to scrutinise their lists carefully. “When I discovered that Ulf was expecting his Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna’ to be three feet high – the height they reach at his home close to the Arctic Circle – I immediately let him know that we could not get them to that size here.” Designers add to his stress by not coming to the nursery to see their plants or at least phoning to check on progress. And then in the run-up to Chelsea, he says, they all panic. “They get to see drawings of all the others and they all think 'mine’s rubbish’. And in the week before the show opens, it’s the Tuesday that’s particularly manic as the plants that the designers have usually sent back the day before have to be loaded on to the lorries again, because they’ve changed their minds.” Mark doesn’t get annoyed with these last-minute substitutions – it’s part of the job – but it is a logistical nightmare. And of course every year there are plants that have either gone over or haven’t come far enough on, and the ones that crash off the trolleys or are demolished by reversing lorries. That’s partly why Mark grows four times as many plants as will actually be used.
Why does he do Chelsea, apart from the obvious financial gain? “I have no idea why. It’s certainly fun at the beginning, sourcing the plants, but by the time showtime arrives I can’t stand the idea of going up there.” But then he admits, “It’s really important for me that the gardens get a gold. Your whole heart and soul’s gone into it and you become friends with the designers because you’ve been through hell and back with them.” This year he’s excited by the burnt orange Verbascum 'Petra’ with a velvet shimmer grown for Joe Swift. Two grasses have also caught his eye: Molinia caerulea 'Dark Defender’, a mid-green grass with elegant leaves and black flower stems that stay on for a full year, raised by Marina Christopher and being grown for Andy Sturgeon’s garden; and Deschampsia flexuosa, an “absolutely stunning dark green grass” chosen by Sarah Price for
The Telegraph Garden.
It’s Sarah he picks out as standing a very good chance of winning Best in Show. “She’s moved away from the obvious Chelsea garden shapes and structure and is using lots of lovely water plants. It’s all coming together beautifully,” he says.
The same could be said for Hortus Loci, which is destined to become a one-stop shop for top landscape architects and designers.
Hortus Loci, Hound Green, Hook, Hants (01189 326 495; hortusloci.co.uk)
Vitacost.com Upgrades Mobile Shopping Experience - Yahoo Finance
BOCA RATON, Fla., May 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vitacost.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:VITC - News), a leading online retailer of health and wellness products, announced today the inclusion of new features for its Apple iPhone and Android mobile apps, designed to encourage comparison shopping and improve the user experience. These apps now include a bar code scanner allowing for easy price comparisons, as well as shopping lists and offer the functionality to set a "vitamin alarm" to ensure compliance with health regimes.
The bar code scanner allows customers to scan any product from any retailer to check whether the items are available at Vitacost.com. If the product is among the thousands of items sold at a discount on Vitacost.com, the customer can purchase it through their Vitacost mobile app rather than paying full-price at the store. If the item is not in Vitacost.com's inventory, other product recommendations will be offered. Another improvement to the Vitacost mobile apps is shopping list functionality--so customers can create and save a list of their favorite products and have the option to purchase every item with just the click of a button. In addition, with the "vitamin alarm" feature, customers can set daily alarms reminding them to take a vitamin or pill, drink water, exercise--or any other healthy habit. The customer does not need to be browsing on their Vitacost mobile app to receive the alarm, as this technology notifies the consumer automatically.
Vitacost.com began transforming its mobile site in October of 2011 in response to customer feedback, requesting an improved experience. Additional enhancements in March of 2012, including recommended products and the ability to checkout with PayPal or Bill Me Later, were designed to make the sales cycle--from research to checkout--easier and faster.
Customers can shop from their iPhone, Android, Blackberry or on the Web at www.vitacost.com, to see Vitacost's extensive array of more than 35,000 health and wellness products, priced up to 50% off retail prices, with orders over $49 shipped free. Exclusive coupons for mobile customers--offered during weekend promotions provide additional savings to the Vitacost mobile customer.
"We are excited to add the ability for easy comparison shopping to the Vitacost mobile apps, making it easier for customers to find the products they want at more affordable prices while they are conducting their everyday grocery and vitamin shopping," said David Zucker, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Vitacost.com. "The addition of list functionality makes shopping with Vitacost's mobile apps easier than ever, and the vitamin reminder will help customers comply with their health regimens more easily. We are proud to offer a free mobile shopping experience that is good for customers' health--and their wallets."
About Vitacost.com, Inc.
Vitacost.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:VITC - News) is a leading online retailer of health and wellness products, including dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs and other botanicals, amino acids and metabolites, as well as cosmetics, organic body and personal care products, pet products, sports nutrition and health foods. Vitacost.com, Inc. sells these products directly to consumers through its website, www.vitacost.com. Vitacost.com, Inc. strives to offer its customers the broadest selection of healthy living products, while providing superior customer service and timely and accurate delivery.
Lisbon shopping guide: hide and chic - Daily Telegraph
On Rua do Loreto, I step inside the wood-panelled Casa das Velas do Loreto (in the same family since 1789) and find tall, honey-scented ecclesiastical candles for £15. At A Vida Portuguesa, on Rua Anchieta, my heart quickens at the fine Portuguese soaps and beautifully-packaged tinned sardines. Junk stalls in the Estrela park yield some irresistibly touching, framed black-and-white family photographs from the 1930s, costing a few euros each. Exploring the new waterfront design area, Santos, provides a satisfying few hours.
Back on Rossio, at the the 120-year-old Chapelaria Azevedo Rua, I finger a handmade man's fedora for £57 – the double of one I swear I saw on Jermyn Street at £120. I postpone checking out handmade riding boots at Vitorino de Sousa on Rua dos Correeiros. And it is just as well that, before I hit the antique shops of Rua de São Bento, I meet the art-restorer owner of the new Palacete Chafariz del Rei boutique hotel, a 1906 mansion he renovated. "Lisbon has great antique stores," he says, "but so does Oporto – and 50 per cent cheaper." So it's advisable to take a large suitcase there? "A van!" he says with a grin, and points to a beautiful 1920s leather sofa and chair bought for £170.
How to do it
When to go
Any time, but May is best: it's not too hot, the purple jacaranda is in blossom, and you can take a 30-minute train ride to the beaches at Cascais – home now to the Casa das Histórias, showing the surrealist work of Portugal's brilliant Paula Rego. Bear in mind that Sunday is quiet; only museums open.
Where to stay
On the outskirts, the Lapa Palace and Pestana Palace hotels are very grand, but all the chic new spots are central: LX Boutique, Inspira Santa Marta and, just off Rossio, the Altis Avenida (00 351 29 172 4307, portugal-live.net; rooms from £115), with young staff, black-carpeted rooms, a spa, and a seventh-floor roof terrace brasserie. For more information, see visitlisboa.com and flytap.com
What to do
Pack flat shoes: you will walk a lot. On arrival, get the Convida Lisboa shopping guides, free at all hotels, and a three-day Lisboa Card (£28) for the trams, Metro and buses. In bustling Baixa, see the new Mude design museum (mude.pt); in Chiado, old shops; in Principe Real, new design stores, cool cafés such as Orpheu, and boutiques such as Kolovrat (lidijakolovrat.org) at Rua Dom Pedro V 79, for witty printed silk scarves and spider-web silver necklaces costing £330. Go to Bairro Alto at night, for the bars, and medieval Alfama for almost hilariously mournful fado. Hottest area: waterfront, ex-industrial Santos, buzzing with lifestyle stores, bars and restaurants; see LX Factory (lxfactory.com) and Ler (lerdevagar.com).
Where to eat and drink
Have cocktails at new, glass-walled Le Chat (00 351 91 779 7155) at Jardim 9 de Abril. Have dinner at rough-chic 560 (00 351 21 346 8317, restaurante560.com) at Rua das Gáveas 78: wild mushrooms in Azores cheese, swordfish with banana, then pineapple carpaccio with coriander sauce. Finish at the new Sol e Pesca bar (00 351 21 346 7203) at Rua Nova do Carvalho 44.
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